# Assassin snails breeding questions



## callmephathead (23 Jan 2013)

Hi guys,
a while back I had a problem with blue ramshorn snails reproducing very quickly in my tank...I got 2 assassin snails and after a bit of work I finally managed to eradicate them, and I have not seen a ramshorn for at least 2 months...
but this morning, I realised that my assassins snails have reproduced and I can see at least 5 specimen of various sizes which I had not seen before.
now my question is are they going to survive and on what food? can I just leave them to eat algae or do I need to supply some kind if pest snail or other food source for them?
thanks


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## callmephathead (23 Jan 2013)

Here are a few pics i took, not great but I had to ruch to get to work...

Tank is 't looking great right now because I just cut everything back last night and still need to finish cleaning it sometimes today.
Thanks


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## B7fec (23 Jan 2013)

Hi mate,

They'll be absolutely fine, I had a similar problem about 10 months back put 3 assassins in then ended up with around 15 of the little things. They survived fine keeping snails at bay and feeding off algae etc. I now have a stead supply of assassins I supply my LFS with.

Cheers Ben


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## roadmaster (23 Jan 2013)

I recently bought  a dozen for 300L tank with way more trumpet snail's than I want.
Cherry shrimp's made trapping the snail's difficult without also having to sort out the tiny shrimp as well.
Assassin's according to what I found on web,(WetWeb media) are carnivorous so some type of food other than algae should be offered.
Am curious,as to how long it was before you saw the young snail's for I undestand they don't breed all that quickly.
I'm hoping to make a few dollar's or trade some small ones at local fish store for credit,fish food's ,etc.


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## callmephathead (23 Jan 2013)

Thanks a lot guys,
I have no idea how long they have been in there, I moved house and totally rebuilt my tank at the end of october last year and did not manage ro really stabilise the water until early december.
There are different sizes of baby snails, some are about 1 to 2 mm, other are closer to 4mm...I have no idea how long it takes for them to reach that size...


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## kirk (23 Jan 2013)

I think my assassin snails are vegetarians or they need an eye test. They just slide on past every snail infact they go around them. Perhaps the snails In our tank are the wrong flavour


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## B7fec (23 Jan 2013)

I saw young snails within 3 months.... out of interest roadmaster where'd you find the info on assassins, I'd be interested to have a read and see what else I can offer them.


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## B7fec (23 Jan 2013)

kap k said:


> I think my assassin snails are vegetarians or they need an eye test. They just slide on past every snail infact they go around them. Perhaps the snails In our tank are the wrong flavour


 
Haha... I used to think that to..... I hundred a terrible snail infestation but slowly and TBH without me realising I now have no snail problem at all..... can only put it down to the introduction of assassins as nothing else was changed.


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## roadmaster (23 Jan 2013)

B7fec said:


> I saw young snails within 3 months.... out of interest roadmaster where'd you find the info on assassins, I'd be interested to have a read and see what else I can offer them.


 
WetWebmedia and.. googling care of assassin snail's on their search engine along with  a few other sites.
I have enough snail's in five tank's to feed them for some time but if and when I need to supplement their food.i will prolly use Krill,earthworm's.
Info I saw, indicated that if other food's were available,,the snail's may not be all that interested in  killing off /eating other snail's so hugry assassin's will do better job.
most of the other fishes i have are much too quick with flake,pellet,so i am hopeful the assassin's will go to work on the MTS.


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## B7fec (23 Jan 2013)

Cheers for that, will take a look. As for hungry assassins doing a better job that makes sense as I have never fed them anything other than whats on offer so guess thats why my snail problem has now been sorted.


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## jack-rythm (23 Jan 2013)

Can I just say your big crypty to the middle right looks excellent.. What sort is that?

Cheers! Jack


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## LondonDragon (23 Jan 2013)

Probably worth a read for all you shrimp lovers:  Assassin snails eat live shrimp!


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## roadmaster (24 Jan 2013)

LondonDragon said:


> Probably worth a read for all you shrimp lovers: Assassin snails eat live shrimp!


 


Yes, I read through the thread for this was a concern for me.
I have a few hundred's of cherry shrimp and doubt the snail's could put much of a dent in the population,but I will keep an eye out just the same. 
Was funny to me,,,when snail's arrived they must have had algae,or some type of bio film on their shell's, for the moment they hit the substrate the shrimp's swarmed em and began scratching at their shell's.(not so much after that)


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