# Assassin snails?



## Graceful (Apr 30, 2013)

I have four baby ramshorns in my tank. I hear they breed like crazy, and I'm worried I will soon be overrun with them. I don't have the heart to kill them myself, but I'm OK with getting an assassin snail to do the job for me, so to speak.

I also have a nerite (zebra) snail. My question is, will the assassin snail kill it, too? Or will the assassin only go after the smaller ramshorns?


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

Yes, the assassin snail will kill the nerite. They've even been known to go after giant mystery snails. And what will you feed it once the ramshorns are gone?

I breed colored ramshorns. They don't HAVE to breed like rabbits. What stimulates them is lots of food.
Without lots of food, there isn't too much breeding. Also, they need lots of hiding places. Otherwise nearly everything will eat the hatchlings. And when you see an egg cluster, you can always just scrape it off. Some algae eating snails will happily eat the egg clusters, too.
You can seperate them, if you have several tanks. One ram can't breed, though if 2 mate, they both come away pregnant.

Now, if it were pond snails, I'd worry. Those things are a plague. But ramshorns are nowhere near as big a deal.


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## cheylillymama (Apr 30, 2013)

I like ramshorns personally. I have a good amount in my big tanks.

I have assassin snails in my ten gallon because they're cool. Lol.
i got them to get rid of pond snails but then realized the pond snails really keep the glass clean. Lol. Now i drop in one or two every now and then. They breed, the assassin gets snacks and they don't overrunthe tanks.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

I also really love the Ramshorn snails. I have brown ones and brown spotted ones. I've been eyeing Blue, Pink and Red on Aquabid but it will be awhile before I can get any. I'm starting a NPT 2 gallon that will house 2 RCS (eventually)(just so i can sit at my computer and watch them roam around and maybe breed) and hopefully a few Blue Ramshorns.

When we accidentally introduced our first snails via live plants, I was horrified. I have since grown to love them and have snails in almost every tank in the house now.


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

I have Pink, Blue and Leopard spotted. 

It's funny, everyone goes on about how they'll over run you. To get as many baby snails as I want, I use "snail hatcheries", 32 oz jars that I put about 6-8 adult snails I want to breed in there. I have a jar of Pink and another of Blue on my desk right now. They stay in the jar for 2 weeks then I move them on to the next one, and wait for the eggs to hatch in the first one. Otherwise, I don't get as many babies as I want. Fish eat nearly all of them. Three of my bettas will actively hunt the little guys.


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## Graceful (Apr 30, 2013)

Thank you for the replies, everyone! I guess the little guys aren't as bad as I think they are. I really do enjoy seeing them travel around in my tank.


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## Tabby216 (Feb 20, 2013)

I have one assassin snail and have yet to see it eat a snail...I know there's pond and ramshorn snails in there but after crushing all the little ones I could find I haven't seen them appear  

I hope they are still there to feed the guy or I will have to fight with the other fish to feed it live blood worms. These guys are very fast and has a nice shell


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## Nicci Lu (Jan 7, 2013)

My ten has an adult ramshorn with numerous baby ramshorns and MTS. There is one assassin snail as well, and he has never touched William, my adult ramshorn. He just goes after the little ones. My thought has always been that the large snails are just too big, though I have heard that a group of assassins will gang up on large snails together and take them down.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Riverotter said:


> I have Pink, Blue and Leopard spotted.
> 
> It's funny, everyone goes on about how they'll over run you. To get as many baby snails as I want, I use "snail hatcheries", 32 oz jars that I put about 6-8 adult snails I want to breed in there. I have a jar of Pink and another of Blue on my desk right now. They stay in the jar for 2 weeks then I move them on to the next one, and wait for the eggs to hatch in the first one. Otherwise, I don't get as many babies as I want. Fish eat nearly all of them. Three of my bettas will actively hunt the little guys.



*waggles my eye brows at you* Pink and blue you say.  Do you sell them?


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## Riverotter (May 15, 2013)

I am hoping to be able to by fall.  I'll be sure to post them for sale here first, at a good price.

I can post a thread with some pictures later. The pink ones are pink right from the start, but the blues start out looking leopard spotted (and blues will also throw regular leopards) until they get about pea-size, then they start getting nicely blue. So if you buy some from ebay or somewhere, be sure that the pictures are of the parents, and not a stock photo - it's very easy to start with "blue" and end up with all leopards.


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