Assassin Snail Babies - Growth Rate?

**~firefly~** · 02-25-2013, 08:49 PM

I've had two assassin snails in my tank for nearly a year. I saw no signs of breeding until about a month or two ago when I noticed quite a few tiny, tiny babies. I wasn't sure if they were assassins to start with (I thought they might have been hitch-hiking pond snails on a new plant I bought and thought it'd be welcome new food for the current two assassins). Then they grew a bit...and they are definitely baby assassins...and there are hundreds of them! I had read that assassins breed slowly...well, they took a long time to breed, agreed, but now that they have there are rather a lot of them.

So my question is. How long until they are saleable adults?

**Brhino** · 02-26-2013, 04:33 PM

I think this is a very difficult question to answer because the babies usually stay buried in the substrate for a long time. I had the same experience as you... got three of them and for a long time nothing and then all of a sudden the tank is full of them. I rarely see babies - the ones I see are always full-sized.

**~firefly~** · 02-26-2013, 08:44 PM

Ah right, I didn't realise they stayed buried when babies...that explains things! Perhaps they survived because I switched to soil (which I obviously don't vac at all) as opposed to the coral sand I had before (which I did vac). Will be interesting to see how they come on. At least I won't have to worry about excess feeding with these critters!

**-Alex-** · 02-26-2013, 10:38 PM

I used to breed them in a seperate tank... the trick is not to disturb the substrate and only have a very thin layer so its easy to clean... they stay in the substrate for about 3-4 months then you will see mini assassins emerging.... they get to a nice enough size after around 6-8 months. I also found they dont breed as much if they dont have live snails to eat...

Its worth the wait =d!

**~firefly~** · 02-26-2013, 10:58 PM

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

I had a closer look at my substrate tonight and I spotted tiny (almost too small to see) white snails under the soil against the glass...and...what looks like assassin eggs. I'll have to set up an assassin snail business.