Assassin Snail

[toddnbecka]

I just received 3 of these critters, time will tell whether I have both sexes.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/toddnbecka/P1020143.jpg

[sktadood13]

kool....do you know why they call them assassin snail? do they kill?

[toddnbecka]

They eat other snails, aside from their own species. Ramshorns, mts, pond snails, they're all on the menu.

[KingFisher]

Nice! I need some of those. Most snails are hermaphrodites, do you know if these ones are or not? if they are, then you will have no problem getting more.thumbs2:

[toddnbecka]

These snails are like apple snails, either male or female, and only lay one egg every 10 days as long as they have other snails to eat. If there are no other snails available they'll eat fish food, dead plants, whatever most snails eat, but they won't reproduce. The reason most folks are interested in these is to control the population/s of other snails in their tanks. It's tough to find anything that will eat mts, particularly in a smaller tank unsuitable for loaches.

[KingFisher]

Good find! Let us know how they do.

[cocoa_pleco]

They eat other snails, aside from their own species. Ramshorns, mts, pond snails, they're all on the menu.

cool, since hes a assassin snail, what kinda sniper does he carry to hunt down his meals?:ezpi_wink1:

[Alfcea]

Very cool! I want one (or a couple) of those too!!!

[Sounguru]

If ya get these to breed I would be interested I have MTS galore... Some I want to keep but the population could use a little thinning out.

[Jacko]

Awesome, did you get these from Anton? I was planning on getting some from him but his ads have dissapeared so I'm gonna have to email him.

Have you tried them with bigger snails? I'm getting mixed info between eating other large ones (like the towers and apples) and not eating them.

[Tolley]

They are cool snails i remember when jess got some a few months back.

[Sounguru]

Jess any young ones yet I have MTS up the yin Yang.....

[toddnbecka]

Awesome, did you get these from Anton? I was planning on getting some from him but his ads have dissapeared so I'm gonna have to email him.

Have you tried them with bigger snails? I'm getting mixed info between eating other large ones (like the towers and apples) and not eating them.

These came from CA, the seller is now in Peru until September. I'm hoping to find another source in this country to save on shipping costs, but figured I'd see how the first few did before going full-tilt into breeding them.

From what I've gathered they aren't strong enough to open the "door" on the shells of larger snails. Ramshorns and some "pond" snails will be defenseless. I just tossed 3 of them into a 10 gallon with a load of Endler's and assorted common snails (ramshorns, MTS, pond snails) in hopes they'll reproduce. The Endler's will be moving to a larger tank next week, then I'll be cleaning the substrate and removing the empty shells to keep a closer eye on the assassin activity. The tank has housed snails for quite some time, so there are abundant empty shells and probably a few snail ghosts as well.