Need to gain some knowledge about assassin snails

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MetalHeadX343

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jul 29, 2011
Messages
65
Location
Tennessee
I just purchased an assassin snail to rid the pond snails out of my aquarium. I have a 45 gal aquarium and I bought one assassin. I read somewhere that they won't eat pond snails all the time because they are faster than the assassin, and that they only eat snails closer to their size and leave the smaller ones alone, is this true? I would also like to know if assassins are asexual like pond snails or do they breed with other snails?
 
most people will tell you that you shouldnt buy another animal to solve an infestation of snails. I wish i could have that problem. Usually it means you are overfeeding. id would still buy the assassin snail because they need a male and a female to breed. for a little while i would try to starve the pond snails. when you feed your fish i would turn off the filter so the food doesnt go to the bottom and only feed as much as the fish can eat within a few minutes any more and its too much. if you have bottom feeder use the sinking pellets but not as many as you normally would.
 
From what I've seen with mine, assassins have to mate with others to reproduce. A single one is not likely to even put a dent in the pest snail population. Also, they will eat leftover food if it is around, so as Homer mentioned be sure to cut back on feeding if possible.
 
Well i cant figure out what they could be eating. i feed my catfish shrimp every two days and he eats them instantly in one bite. i feed my pleco one or two algae wafers every two days and he eats those pretty fast too. However i do have a plant and that why i want rid of the snails. By the way how can you tell the difference between male and female assassins?
 
I don't know of a way to sex them, but I'm not an expert on them by any means.

If it makes you feel any better, I have lots of different snails in my planted tanks and they don't mess with the healthy plants at all.
 
I don't know of a way to sex them, but I'm not an expert on them by any means.

If it makes you feel any better, I have lots of different snails in my planted tanks and they don't mess with the healthy plants at all.

Oh yea that makes me feel better :( I only have one plant cause I'm new to plant care it's been in there for over a month and it's fine. Oh and my stupid pleco nibbles on it a lot too. I love assassin snails btw so i'm gonna go buy more of them today just cause they are awesome and if I buy a few more i'm sure they'll be different sex.
 
usually pond snails dont eat healthy plants and only eat parts that are dying.
 
I can honestly say that it is a healthy plant. There are no pale or browning leaves its grown 4" since I got it and the roots are white, however it has lost about 10 leaves in about a week or two. I'm not sure if they are eating the plant or just hanging out on it. I have 6 artificial plants in there as well and they are also quite loaded with snails. Oh yea I bought two more assassin snails and I know people say that they are slower than pond snails but that is false. I believed it at first because the first one I purchased two days ago was incredibly slow and had pond snails crawling on it. The two I got today are super fast at least twice as fast as the pond snails. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with water temp or maybe the water conditions are just more favorable for the assassins. Does any body know how often they mate or how to tell?
 
idk how they mate but from what i heard is that they dont eat snails as fast as you might like. i guess if you bred them they might do the job and once all pond snails are gone the assassins will die off from lack of food.
 
Well I plan on keeping the assassins alive until they die of age. I'll just feed them meaty fish food that sinks.
 
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