Five Assassin Snails in a 10 gallon tank with a Betta

I currently have five Assassin Snails in a 40 gallon tank with Guppies. This tank has a lot of algae and I would like to let a pest snail population grow to help control the algae. I am wondering if I could put my Assassin snails in the Betta tank and feed them some sinking carnivore pellets. Once the pest snail population gets rolling in the 40 gallon tank, I could harvest pests and feed them to the Assassins.

If the pests get out of hand, I could move some of the Assassins back to the 40 gallon tank.

Solid Plan?

 

How about 3 in the 10 and keep 2 in the 40 just to keep up with population control

 

How about 3 in the 10 and keep 2 in the 40 just to keep up with population control

I might end up there, but thinking I want to grow the population without limitation for a while. Then if I have too many, put one Assassin back. Still too many after a while, put another back. And so on until I have the right balance.

I was also wondering if Assassins kill only what they eat or if they would kill whatever is in there.

I rarely see more than two or three of the Assassins at any time so realistically, it might be a while before I capture all the Assassins. And the Assassins may have bred so I might soon have more Assassins that I think I have.

 

I move assissans around to suite tank needs and I don't think you'll find them kill for the sake of it

 

I move assissans around to suite tank needs

This is what I am thinking eventually. Maybe I will end up with one or two in each tank to keep things in balance.

For now thinking that I would put all the Assassins in the Betta tank to let the snail population grow in the other tanks.

Can I feed them sinking carnivore pellets? Maybe some excess pest snails from time to time.

 

Remember they will breed albeit slower but once you've got a few I found them to be annoying and I can't keep up with them so I have to feed additional wafers

 

I also move them from tank to tank as needed.
I have no issue with them breeding too much because I like selling my surplus of assassins. The fish stores will sometimes give credit for them. And I bring them to the local aquarium society auctions. It takes 2 minutes to throw 10 into a bag and I usually get about $20 for a bag of 10

 

I have to feed additional wafers

Sinking carnivore pellets as good as wafers?

 

Y

Sinking carnivore pellets as good as wafers?

Yes they will eat them. Mine are pleco wafers

 

Moved four Assassins to Betta tank and four ramshorn to 40 gal. All doing well. Still looking for #5.

 

Still have not found the fifth Assassin snail in 40 gallon tank. One of the Assassin snails in the Betta tank may have died. Has not moved in 18 hours. The other three are moving around and seem fine.

In addition to the four large ramshorn snails (about 3/8 inch in diameter) have have moved several smaller snails. Some ramshorn and others undetermined type, maybe bladder. They all seem to be doing well.

I have four more large ramshorn snails in other tanks and countless (at least dozens, maybe scores) of small snails in the other tanks, including the Betta tank. However, I do not expect the ones in the Betta tank to be around for long.

I have seen some small snails in the 40 gallon that have a bit of a pointy shell and I wonder if they might be baby Assassins. But I have also seen small snails with pointy shells in other tanks so maybe they are something else.

Anyway, it will be interesting to watch it all evolve. I assume the tiny Assassins are no threat to larger snails. But I will move then to the Betta / Assassin tank whenever I see them. I plan to also harvest small pest snails and put them in the Betta / Assassin tank to keep the Assassins fed.

I put a sinking carnivore pellet in the Betta / Assassin tank to feed the Assassins and it was gone by morning. However, I think the Betta ate some, perhaps most of it. I tried to put another in and watched the Betta attack it. I was concerned that he would over eat so I removed it.

Would the wafers be less appealing to the Betta and more likely to be left alone for the snails?

 

The one Assassin I thought might dead moved....... Not dead yet.....

Still have not found the 5th Assassin in the 40 gallon tank. But my pest snail population is growing and doing a great job cleaning up algae. Seems the pest population is large enough that I would have a hard time imagining one Assassin stopping it from growing so I an not going to worry about it. May even leave him in there if I find him as kallililly1973 suggested.

And I have the Assassin squad in reserve if the pest population gets out of hand.....

 

All four in 10 gallon alive and kicking. There is a snail shell graveyard. I will syphon out next water change.

Still no sign of number five in the original tank. Seems like they will rest for a while after a good meal. Wondering if number five is still alive and just well fed and resting most of the time.

Mostly getting small snails, but I gave them one big one. Took them several days to get him. Thought maybe he was too big. Nope.... they got him. For not going to keep feeding snails from other tanks. Have thriving populations in two tanks.

Trying to decide how to guage the desired population and when to moderate the population. For now I really like what the snails are doing to the tank that was the former home of the Assassins. Incredible cleaning crew. Really hesitant to put Assassins in there since I am really liking the snails. Some of the ramshorns are growing really fast. I guess good food = fast growth.

 

Number Five is Alive!! Working on a clean and rescape in the 40 gallon tank to day. Found the fifth Assassin. Moved him to the Betta tank. I expect I will move at least one, maybe two or three Assassins back to the 40 gallon tank eventually to keep the snails in check. But for now, my cleaning crew still has some work to do.

 

My five assassins are doing well in the 10 gallon Betta tank. I feed them snails harvested from the other four tanks from time to time. The pest snails from the other tanks do not last long. I have a total of five tanks. I am leaving town for a couple weeks. I am thinking of moving one assassin to each of the five tanks. Hopefully that will keep them fed and keep the populations in the other tanks from growing too fast.

Do assassins do okay alone?

Are there any substrate considerations? I believe they prefer sand. I have sand in the Betta tank. The other tanks have a variety of gravel substrates. One tank has fairly large gravel / small rocks. Wondering if that one would be uncomfortable.

Other tanks are all around 78 degrees. Betta tank is about 81 degrees. Wondering if I should temp acclimate snails when I move them. I have not been temp acclimating when I move pest snails into the Betta tank. I did not temp acclimate when I moved the assassins from the 40 gallon to the 10.

Thinking I might put two in the 40 gallon, one in each of the other and none in the one 10 gallon with the large gravel / small rock substrate.

 

I don't find them social unless they are breeding ,mine are spread all over the tanks and never together, they're also in sand up to pebbles, I would agree on temp acclimation

 

richie.p thanks!

when you say “agree” on temp acclimation, do you mean agree that my current practice on not acclimating is okay? Or that I should be temp acclimating for a 3 degree difference.

 

I have just thrown them around the tanks with no problems but I should be a little kinder to these guys and float them for ½hr to get temperature the same as well as add some water just like a minI acclimation, but they are pretty hard, you'll not have z problem whichever way you do things