Anyone have experience with assassin snails?(help)

**Loller** · 02-22-2013, 11:36 PM

I have recently got a snail infestation in by 8g shrimp tank and I was wondering if I should get an assassin snail.

Have a few questions though.

Do assassin snails only eat snails if they are available?
If not, are they a threat to shrimp?
Do they eat algea and get rid of snails fast?

**Brhino** · 02-23-2013, 12:08 AM

assassin snails WILL clear out an infestation of other snails, but it will take time. Each assassin only eats so many other snails per day. I had a big infestation in my tank and it didn't go away until the three assassins I bought started breeding.

They will also eat normal fish food they can get. They are not a threat to live shrimp or fish, but they do love dead fish. They will not eat algae.

I would recommend getting a few assassin snails and helping them out by removing as many pest snails as you can manually.

**KevinVA** · 02-23-2013, 01:06 AM

+1 to Bhrino

Honestly, you'd probably only need 1-2 assassins in an 8g tank. I had 5 in a 75gal and they wiped out my pond snail population of about 100 or so (hard to count them all) fairly quickly. Unfortunately, I now have no idea how many Assassins I have, because they continue to hide in the sand substrate. I know they've bred, as I've seen new (smaller) ones, but they're never all out at the same time.

I've read (and seen a video) that assassins will eat small shrimp, but only in a weakened state or if caught molting. Shrimp are much too fast for them, otherwise. That being said, I wouldn't worry too much about it, because it's an extremely rare case.

**KevinVA** · 02-23-2013, 01:12 AM

This is how safe it is to keep shrimp w/ assassins:

Just skip throughout and you'll see what I'm talking about. No fear from the shrimp at all. It's very safe...

**KevinVA** · 02-23-2013, 01:22 AM

Here's the video I've seen... Though, I'm beginning to think he starved the snails to the point it would eat something outside of its' regular diet.

**korith** · 02-23-2013, 01:26 AM

I've kept assassin snails for I think at least 2 years now. Like Brhino said they will eat snails but it will take them a long time to clear out a tank that has too many of them. What I would do is try to pick out as many pest snails as you can first. Try putting in a large piece of lettuce or something into the tank overnight, in the morning that piece of lettuce should be covered with snails, grab it and drop it into a net, take out of tank, repeat that a few times for a few days. Should be able to remove a lot of pest snails that way. The shrimp will jump off when you grab the piece of lettuce and put into the net. This will bring down the pest snail population so when you add in the assassin snails they will be able to keep the pest snail population in check or eliminate it. If you start off with a tank filled with pest snails, they will most likely breed faster than the assassin snails can eat them.

Also may want to look at why there are so many pest snails. May be overfeeding the tank and the excess food is causing the snail population boom.

**KevinVA** · 02-23-2013, 02:17 AM

I don't know man... I started out with a 75gal pond snail infestation, when I was cycling my tank. I seriously had 100+ of those little buggers. 5 Assassins took care of the problem, completely, within 2 months. May seem like a long time to some, but the population in my tank dwindled down fairly quickly within the first few weeks, then there were some bigger stragglers for a while, but they were eventually taken care of.

Long story short... assassins will take care of your pest problem. You can get rid of the snails via other means, but in my experience, it's not necessary. The empty shells in the tank will add some minerals to the water, too, which can be good for shrimp.

**richberstler** · 02-23-2013, 05:18 AM

I have assassins too, but I think the bigger picture is you feeding habits. Overfeeding will lead to a pop bloom in other snails. I hope that helps a little if you don't want them (but I love snails). As others have said I never had a problem with Assassins and my CRS.

**rodm81** · 02-23-2013, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by KevinVA

I don't know man... I started out with a 75gal pond snail infestation, when I was cycling my tank. I seriously had 100+ of those little buggers. 5 Assassins took care of the problem, completely, within 2 months. May seem like a long time to some, but the population in my tank dwindled down fairly quickly within the first few weeks, then there were some bigger stragglers for a while, but they were eventually taken care of.

Long story short... assassins will take care of your pest problem. You can get rid of the snails via other means, but in my experience, it's not necessary. The empty shells in the tank will add some minerals to the water, too, which can be good for shrimp.

So is it safe to say that snails can survive both ammonia and nitrites?

**KevinVA** · 02-23-2013, 02:10 PM

No, not all snails. Pond snails are particularly savvy at survival. Not only do they reproduce like rabbits to ensure the continuation of their species, but they're one of the most hardy aquatic snails available. There are other snails that are more susceptible to harsh water conditions.

I didn't add the Assassin snails until after I added my first stock of schooling fish.