Kill snails while leaving cherry shrimp?

**dmagerl** · 10-15-2011, 09:32 PM

Not having ever seen one, could those be baby assasin snails?

One of your pictures shows what look to be eggs sticking to a plant.

Assasins lay single eggs in squarish gelatinous cases.

**toddnbecka** · 10-15-2011, 10:07 PM

Assassin snails don't reproduce in large numbers like that; those look like mts or a close relative.

**PUNISHER VETTE** · 10-15-2011, 11:35 PM

I'll just keep at them.

Not killing any for 9 months then wondering why there are so many doesn't help matters.

when it was pond snails they were big enough you could kill them easy and the numbers weren't near as bad.

But these are just so tiny and so many of them that it's daunting.

**Strider199** · 10-15-2011, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by PUNISHER VETTE

30g live planted tank.
only cherry shrimp are in it.

Fish i'm pretty much ruling out since I don't want fish.

...

I know it says you dont want to introduce fish but there are some species that do love to eat those little snails. Yes your shrimp population may take a hit but probably just the new born.
Clown or Yoyo loaches love to eat small snails.
Certain puffers also devour them with relish. The thing is you'll have to re-locate the fish when the job is done or bring them back to the lfs.

Another way is a trap (what Lady Hobbs was refering too).

Get a small glass jar like a salt shaker. Remove the top. Be sure the jar is clean. Then put a small piece of lettuce or perhaps some fish food in the jar, and fill it with aquarium water. Carefully sink it on the bottom of the aquarium. The next day it will have lots of small snails inside! remove them and repeat the process.

**toddnbecka** · 10-16-2011, 04:35 AM

I have something similar in a 40 breeder, hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny little buggers that creep around the driftwood. Mine are something called quilted melania, closely related to malaysian trumpet snails but generally don't run amok as quickly. That one tank seems to be the exception, I have them in most/all of my tanks to stir the sand but not in excessive numbers.

**PUNISHER VETTE** · 10-16-2011, 03:43 PM

I'll be darned. I went to squish some snails this morning and the first thing I saw was a baby(ish) assassin snail.

I was under the impression they were hard to get to mate. Now I just need them to make about 50 more and we'll have this pest snail problem under control in no time!

and for a size comparison here's a big one taken from about the same distance away a while ago.

**Trillianne** · 10-16-2011, 05:22 PM

That's actually a goodish size one imo. (I've spotted ones so small they were about 1/4th the size of a gravel grain)

I don't know that they are so hard to breed as they are less prolific and it seems in my opinion they are more likely to do so in a tank with a heavy food source.

When I first got mine they produced quite a few infants that I later sold off. They have made some more lately but not nearly in the "take ten out and sell them" quantity.

Its like they get put in a tank full of snails, take a look around and go "we're going to need some help for this job!"