Assassin Snail Question

[Amber818]

There are a ton of pest snails in my 10 gallon planted tank. I heard that Assassin snails will eat them however I have some Bloody Mary, Amano shrimp, and 2 Nerite snails in my tank. Is 1 Assassin Snail safe to put in there?

 

[mattgirl]

If you actually have a ton of pest snails in this tank one assassin snails won't put a dent in the numbers. They only kill to eat and the pest snails will breed faster than one assassin can eat them. Your best bet is not to over feed the tank and pull them out as you see them.

 

[Amber818]

If you actually have a ton of pest snails in this tank one assassin snails won't put a dent in the numbers. They only kill to eat and the pest snails will breed faster than one assassin can eat them. Your best bet is not to over feed the tank and pull them out as you see them.

By a ton I mean like idk 15-20 in my 10 gallon. I just put a piece of lettuce in and they are all flocking to it

 

[devsi]

I have two assassins in my 180 Litre tank (which I never see), and two in my 25 Litre tank (which I always see).

I cannot keep any other type of snail. I added ~40 baby Pond/Ramshorn snails to my 180 Litre tank a few weeks back, and ~20 to my 25 Litre, because I actually wanted to keep some, and my assassins ate them all.

I have cherry shrimp and amano shrimp, and the assassins leave them alone; the same can't be said for my Bettas though.

 

[mattgirl]

By a ton I mean like idk 15-20 in my 10 gallon. I just put a piece of lettuce in and they are all flocking to it

I could never be comfortable having even one assassin snail in a tank with snails I want to keep. I had to get all the assassins out of my big tank before I put my mystery snails in the tank. I have a lot of them though. Started with a dozen but over the years the number had gone up to at least 100. Probably a lot more than that but I didn't keep track of how many I pulled out.

If you want the pest snails gone put the piece of lettuce on a dish of some kind. When the snails get on it, lift them out. If you don't have it on a dish they will just drop off when you go to remove the lettuce with them on it. By doing it this way you can control the number of snails in the tank. Only you can decide what to do with them after removing them from the tank. You may want to put them in their own home and if you don't want to keep them put a couple of assassin snails in with them.

While growing out my mystery snails I was over feeding the small tank they were in. By doing so the number of ramshorns exploded. I am having to slowly lower the number by catching them and moving them over to my snail jar. All mysteries have grown up and have been moved over to another tank. Since I no longer overfeed the small tank I am now getting a handle on the number of ramshorn in there.

BTW: when I first discovered ramshorn snails in my main tank I considered them pests and just wanted them gone. I actually no longer consider them pests. Once I realized that they do have their place in our hobby I found I like having a few of them hanging around helping keep my tanks looking cleaner. Some of my original ramshorns have morphed into snails with a white almost translucent shell and red body.

 

[SQW]

Assassin snails will also target your nerite snails if they get the opportunity.