assassin snails

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neon-tetra

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
15
Location
Blackpool, britain
has anyone had these before that can tell me a little bit more about them as the store i get my fish and info from have no clue about snails lol :)
 
There is a thread on them in the Fish Profiles section. Basically, they eat pest snails in your tank. Then they eat fish food when pest snails are gone. Mine stays hidden mostly. I see it occasionally, but I think it burrows in the gravel most of the time.
 
They will not only eat pest snails but anything smaller than the assassin snail. If, you have horned nerite snails that stays small, it's not a good idea. Other than that, assassin snail is a great addition. I'd get one if I didn't have any horned nerites..
 
Supposedly they typically hide in the substrate (you can usually see a portion of the shell) and rise up once a snail or other food source comes by and give chase (as fast as a snail can go). Mine are about 50/50 on the glass and substrate moving around and hiding, they roughly eat about a snail a day sometimes more most times less I usually throw in a bit of algae wafer so the other snails run to it and the assassins can have a quick catch. I keep pond snails in their tank since they breed rapidly and the assassins have a constant food supply, I also add in a couple ramshorns weekly.

I've read that they are typically located in fast moving streams so I've recently added a powerhead to my assassin tank, so there is no report on if it is beneficial yet.

All and all they are pretty interesting little guys. Good luck.
 
They will not only eat pest snails but anything smaller than the assassin snail. If, you have horned nerite snails that stays small, it's not a good idea. Other than that, assassin snail is a great addition. I'd get one if I didn't have any horned nerites..
are they good at eating normal nerites?
 
neon-tetra said:
are they good at eating normal nerites?

I don't have an idea. They might not be able to eat the bigger nerites but I don't want to take chances. Somebody might want to chime in who has experience regarding this stuff.
 
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I'm not sure if they'll eat that specific type of snail. I do know the "pest" snails that stowed away in my sand, get huge (roughly the size of a quarter) and the assassins in my tank gobble those guys right up!
 
I'm not sure if they'll eat that specific type of snail. I do know the "pest" snails that stowed away in my sand, get huge (roughly the size of a quarter) and the assassins in my tank gobble those guys right up!
well it sounds like it will as im fairly sure they are pest snails because they breed faster than i can count. thanks for help
 
well it sounds like it will as im fairly sure they are pest snails because they breed faster than i can count. thanks for help

I highly doubt that those are nerites that are referenced above as they do not readily breed in FW, they require brackish water as far as I know. If you have a snail that breeds rapidly then it is most likely either MTS, Pond snails or ramshorns, all of which some consider pests. Nerites/mystery snails are snails people typically pay for the looks and algae eating capabilities so they do not want to house them with assassins which WILL try to eat anything they can. If you look through the threads there are several people who have lost nerites, mystery snails etc, that were larger than the assassins.

If your goal is to house mystery or nerites just make sure your assassins are well fed, meaty proteins, I breed ramshorns and pond snails as a source of food for my assassins.
 
Yes assassins will breed in freshwater just not as rapidly as pond snails or ramshorns, but seeing that they roughly eat a snail or so a day they are a pretty good way to keep an overall snail population in line.

I have my ramshorns in seperate tanks though, since I am going for different color variants of ramshorns. I usually just feed the assassins the normal brownish ramshorns and pond snails. I either net or physically pick out snails from other tanks. If you have ever bought live plants than you will most likely have pond snails, I have them in 5 of my 7 tanks, the two that do not have them do not have plants yet.

What are you trying to do, do you just want assassins or do you want to have an assortment of snails? Ramshorns, pond snails, mts and assassins will breed in fw the only caveat is that the assassin is the only snail that actually requires a mate, so you will need to get a few I'd say about 4 or 5 should be good if you want them to breed since they need a male and female to mate and as far as I know there is no readily available method to sex them. The other snails mentioned are hermaphroditic and can reproduce by them selves or with a mate snail as they can pick and choose if they want to be the guy or girl with each breeding.
 
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