Assassin snails

[Midnighttang]

I have a tank that contains only ghost shrimp and pond snails. The snails were supposed to be a snack for my pea puffers, but my puffers did not thrive in my tank for some reason and they both died within a month. Right now, I'm planning to heavily plant it and let the plants establish before I try adding any more fish. So, my question is, if I add an assassin snail, will it rid my tank of the pond snails for me. Then, after the pond snails are gone, what will the assassin snail eat and will I then be overrun with baby assassin snails? Will assassin snails also clean up algae? Will they eat plants? I only want to add them to the tank if they can be a happy, helpful member of my little tank.

 

[severum mama]

Assassin snails are great for controlling a pond snail population, but may not eliminate them entirely. We have assassins in several tanks, and when they run out of snails to eat, they scavenge for whatever food they can find- pellets, wafers, and sinking sticks are examples of foods they will eat. They pretty much eat what your fish eat. To my knowledge, they do not eat any algae. They have never bothered my plants. Assassins are slow breeders so no, you will not be overrun with snails. If you do happen to breed them, I'm sure your lfs would be happy to give you a little store credit for them.

 

[Midnighttang]

Hmmm, I have to think about it then. I really wanted something that would the work on the algae. I love my nerite snail in my other tank, but obviously couldn't have a nerite and an assassin. Maybe I just need to euthanize as many of the pond snails as I can, but I hate to do it. It just seems more humane to feed them to another creature. I wonder if there is an interesting fish (not a puffer!) that would live happily in my 15 gallon bow front and would eat them.

 

[severum mama]

I have several tanks with assassins and nerites together (that have been in the same tank for months). I've heard from others that it's a bad idea, but that has not been my experience. The assassins haven't bothered the nerites at all. My theory on this- which may be totally wrong- is that the assassins go after the "easy meals." Pond snails, ramshorns, and MTS don't seem to have an operculum (trapdoor) that they can close. Nerites can close up tightly.