New Baby Rams Horn Snails, Help!!

its a 10 gallon. The first day I saw a baby and got excited, now (a few days later) tank front is covered with them. I’m worried it’s going to spike the ammonia. I’m excited for this new experience and everything, this is the first time my critters have successfully breeded... anyways, what is step one? Try to remove all from tank? Then put them where. Don’t have any other cycles tank water and snails’ numbers are growing by the day.

 

its a 10 gallon. The first day I saw a baby and got excited, now (a few days later) tank front is covered with them. I’m worried it’s going to spike the ammonia. I’m excited for this new experience and everything, this is the first time my critters have successfully breeded... anyways, what is step one? Try to remove all from tank? Then put them where. Don’t have any other cycles tank water and snails’ numbers are growing by the day.

Congrats! They are too low of a bioload to affect the nitrate levels significantly. Usually I crush them on the glass. They are a huge pest and will keep growing in size. you could also get a pea puffer

 

So it appears you have been overrun with ramshorn snails, the problem is there's probably 10 more for every one you see. Many consider them pests things you can do to reduce their numbers is to manually pick them out, place some lettuce or zucchinI in the tank and throw it away in the morning, my preferred method was a couple of assassin snails to take care of the problem. A 10 gallon tank is to small to put loaches in which will also help cut down on the numbers.

 

Thanks. So say I want to reduce the numbers but keep a few; these methods you mentioned (both of you), do they get rid of all of them?

 

Thanks. So say I want to reduce the numbers but keep a few; these methods you mentioned (both of you), do they get rid of all of them?

Here's part of the problem, if you keep a few you will always run the risk of another outbreak. Some individuals breed ramshorns to feed to their Puffers, to reduce their numbers manual removal either with traps, lettuce, or picking them out can work. The key is limiting how much you feed your fish. I used assassin snails and it has worked great, they completely wiped out a ramshorn outbreak in one tank. They also wiped out an MTS outbreak in another tank.

 

Assassins ended the outbreak of ramshorns in my 55 gallon tank. Once they had cleaned out what I considered a pest at the time I knew the assassins would appreciate some of their favorite food occasionally. I found a few ramshorns in one of my filters. I put them in a 2.5 gallon jar and pull some out occasionally and throw them in the tank for the assassins.

The ramshorns are great in small numbers. They do a good job of keeping any kind of algae at bay. I put enough in my tank to give the assassins something to hunt but enough to give the ramshorns time to do some house cleaning before the assassins find all of them. It's a win-win solution for all except for the ramshorns.

Ramshorns are very prolific breeders so you will have to keep on top of their numbers or they will overrun your tank in no time at all.

 

mattgirl how many assassin snails could I keep to keep the ramshorn numbers under control but at a steady low number? Also do assassin snails harm nerite snails?

 

mattgirl how many assassin snails could I keep to keep the ramshorn numbers under control but at a steady low number? Also do assassin snails harm nerite snails?

I can't give an exact number. I just know I started with about a dozen of them. I wanted ALL the ramshorns out of there though. I am sure fewer of them than I started with would keep yours under control.

I don't know for sure about the nerites. I would THINK the assassins would go for the easier prey first though. Nerites can close themselves up for protection from predators.

 

I started with 3 Assassin Snails for my ramshorn invasion in my 100 gallon tank, I'll just say the feed well and reproduced. At one time I sold off about 30 of them, now that they don't have other snails to hunt the numbers are steady at about 7 or so in that tank. My 150 gallon also has about 7 adults, and the 55 about 5 adults. None of those tanks have any issues with unwanted hitch hikers on plants these days. As far as nerites go I couldn't tell you if they would be safe or not.

 

I have been told assassin’s will gang up on Nerite snails and kill them. I want to stress this is what I was told, not personally experience. I found Assassin did not even go after my Ramshorn. Not sure why. But they didn’t

 

I have one assassin in my 32 gallon to help with the snail population. So far it seems to have a good balance, maybe a few too many pest snails still, but we'll see what happens as time goes on.

 

I have been told assassin’s will gang up on Nerite snails and kill them. I want to stress this is what I was told, not personally experience. I found Assassin did not even go after my Ramshorn. Not sure why. But they didn’t

I have heard this too but I have also read that as long as there are easier prey in the tank assassins leave the Nerites alone. It is a gamble one has to decide for themselves if they are willing to take.

The assassins in my 5 gallon tank don't seem to be doing as well at cleaning up the ramshorns as they did in the 55 and are doing in the 10. I occasionally see an empty ramshorn shell but pull more out of there on the zucchinI I put in there for my young BN pleco. I don't understand why but wanted to let you know you are not alone. I have 3 adult assassins in the 5 gallon.

 

Thanks, all of you. I am not sure I want to risk my nerites being attacked, but it is possible that all of them are dead I found all three of them, one of which had been missing for over a month, the other a few weeks, the other not too long, at most a few days, all outside the tank, on the floor, the dresser top, or fell into a suspended net by the tank. I put them all in a bucket of water. We'll see how it goes but I seriously didn't know they were that adventurous.
It also just gives me a weird feeling having a killer snail in my tank... I don't know. Perhaps I could try to raise the babies in a separate tank (I have tons of spare tanks below 20 gallons), and maintain the levels of the rest by putting in the lettuce/zuchinI max h mentioned.Or maybe in a little bit, depending on how things go, I'll get an assassin snail. I know I have time for now, with the snails being so tiny that they only affect the bioload (that was a relief to find out)

 

Thanks, all of you. I am not sure I want to risk my nerites being attacked, but it is possible that all of them are dead I found all three of them, one of which had been missing for over a month, the other a few weeks, the other not too long, at most a few days, all outside the tank, on the floor, the dresser top, or fell into a suspended net by the tank. I put them all in a bucket of water. We'll see how it goes but I seriously didn't know they were that adventurous.
It also just gives me a weird feeling having a killer snail in my tank... I don't know. Perhaps I could try to raise the babies in a separate tank (I have tons of spare tanks below 20 gallons), and maintain the levels of the rest by putting in the lettuce/zuchinI max h mentioned.Or maybe in a little bit, depending on how things go, I'll get an assassin snail. I know I have time for now, with the snails being so tiny that they only affect the bioload (that was a relief to find out)

If they are ramshorn snails they won't stay tiny and they are poop machines

I wouldn't actually call assassins killer snails. They don't kill just to be killing. They kill to eat. All living creatures have to eat. It just so happens that the primary food for assassin snails is other snails.

 

If they are ramshorn snails they won't stay tiny and they are poop machines

I wouldn't actually call assassins killer snails. They don't kill just to be killing. They kill to eat. All living creatures have to eat. It just so happens that the primary food for assassin snails is other snails.

Ok if you guys really think so I'll pick up an assassin snail on my next lfs trip. I just don't want it to affect my other snail populations too much, especially my Nerites since (one is alive!) I had been planning on picking up one more so there would be two in there but buying a new one with an assassin snail might be putting the money I spend towards the Nerite down the drain. I'll just get the assassin snail for now, and if it leaves the one Nerite snail alone, I'll purchase another one.
Really thanks you all. Glad I found a solution to my problem

 

I think you will need more then one Assassin snail to make any impact on your ramshorn snail.
Also, if and I think it’s a big if, your assassin does take care of your Ramshorn problem you should be thinking about what your going to with them.

 

I have one assassin in my 32 gallon that has ramshorns and pond snails, he does a good job keeping the population in check without decimating it and seems to prefer the smaller/mid sized snails. I have a few snails that grew to bigger size and he appears to leave those alone. Not saying it will for sure leave the nerite alone but mine really hasn't bothered the bigger guys. Which leaves me wondering what to do with them instead.

 

I think you will need more then one Assassin snail to make any impact on your ramshorn snail.
Also, if and I think it’s a big if, your assassin does take care of your Ramshorn problem you should be thinking about what your going to with them.

How about I start with one assassin snail and if it takes care of the problem, I leave it at that, if not, I get one more.
By going to do with them do you mean ramshorn shells once the assassin has eaten them? Or do the assassin snails eat the baby snails whole?

 

How about I start with one assassin snail and if it takes care of the problem, I leave it at that, if not, I get one more.
By going to do with them do you mean ramshorn shells once the assassin has eaten them? Or do the assassin snails eat the baby snails whole?

I just left the shells in the tank, the water will eventually breakdown the shell. The tank I had ramshorns in after a year you can't see any of their shells. This year I unleashed some assassin snails on another tank with MTS invasion and there's now a grave yard. Those shells will eventually disappear.

 

What are you going to do with the Assassin after they have removed the Ramshorn? As far as numbers do what you want. My own experience was they did nothing to my Ramshorn. Maybe if you get the big ones out by hand they will clean out the smaller ones.

 

I’m going to leave all the snails in including the Assassin snail. I’m pretty sure they will clean out the baby snails at least, and possibly the bigger ones too. From what I’ve heard on this thread, they tend to go for the small ones.

 

My assassin snails didn't care what size the ramshorns or MTS where, they killed them.

 

The assassins cleaned out all the ramshorns from my tank. I found a few in one of my filters. I moved them to their own home. I feed them well so they are busy making more. I pull a few out every now and then and put them back in my big tank for the assassins.

You can feed the assassins with shrimp pellets or any other meat based fish food after all other snails are gone. They chow down on freeze dried blood worms as quickly as they do other snails.

My assassins have multiplied but not nearly as quickly as the ramshorns do.

 

mattgirl. You have succeeded in breeding Assassin snail? I never though that was possible?

 

mattgirl. You have succeeded in breeding Assassin snail? I never though that was possible?

Yes they will breed, not as fast as ramshorn or MTS will. I have sold somewhere around 40 or so over the last year. Another thing that the assassin snail will do is eat small dead fish. I started about 3 years ago with only 3 I bought at a pet store, well they have paid for themselves just reproducing. Right now I have know idea how many are in all three tanks at the present time, I may have to count the numbers here soon to sell some.

 

mattgirl. You have succeeded in breeding Assassin snail? I never though that was possible?

I am thinking it is fairly easy to breed assassins as long as one has both male and female to begin with. I started with just over a dozen so had some of both. A couple of the folks that got some of my assassins said they almost immediately started laying eggs so I am sure they now have lots more than they started with.

Occasionally I remove some and sell them to keep my population down. Like max h my original assassins have basically paid for themselves. At one point my original dozen grew to at least 100 of various sizes. It took a couple of years to get that many though.

 

Very cool thanks