# assasin snail cannibals



## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

got 3 assasin snails 3 days ago,ever since 2 days ago 2 of the snails are constantly stuck to each other, both of the snails shells have big white patch on,looks like maybe the shell is gone or its chipped,i cant tell if they are mating or if one is eating the other, one of them seems to be on the others back,ive seen pics of them mating and they look like they mate belly to belly not one on the back of the other,i seperated them yesterday and some whiteish cloudy material came of one of them,im not sure of this is sperm or was some decaying half eaten snail material,they both seem to be alive as after i seperated them last night them moved about 6 inches and were back on top of each other within an hour.

any idea whats goin on


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

My three assassin snails leave eachother alone.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

The cloudy white goo might be that one is dead.. Assassin snails are not cannibals though, I don't know why one would eat the other. Were they being fed at the store? What do you feed them?
When one of my nerites died it released all kinds of white stinky goo. When snails die you can smell them o-o


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Assassin snail suck there prey guts out and eat them.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Yes but it is counter-evolutional (is that even a word?) for them to eat their own species. The only assassins at risk of getting eaten are babies and they stay under the sand for a few months until they reach a certain size. 
Are they eating at all?? Offer some frozen bloodworms. Mine LOVE blooworms and I can see if anyone is alive/healthy based on feeding because they all emerge and gobble up the worms.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Mnay species will eat eachother. Even humans.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

But that is not the point. I am waiting on the OP to come back before we go any further.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am pointing out it is not counter evolutionary to eat eachother.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

I could see them maybe eating each other if they're starving and there's no other option. If they have access to prey, they are probably mating.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Mine are eating flakes.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Assassin snails, from my understanding, do not mate unless given the appropriate conditions. Some people never see their assassins mate at all. They're not like pond and ramshorns, laying eggs willy-nilly. lol

Still, my bet is that they are starving. Even when I tried to starve mine into eating ponds (I didn't feed them for about 3 weeks I'd say but they had pond snails galore around them to eat, they chose not to), they still did not resort to cannibalism. 
Yes, it is counter evolutionary to eat your own species in most cases. Humans and mammals and birds and such have alterior motives for doing so and are only the exception to the rule; by that I mean, not every individual resorts to the act because it would ruin the species.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Mine eat flakes and some snails.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

they came out of a community tank in a petco,i dont think msny of the fish in the tank was for sale,it was full of algea on everything even the snails,i assume they were being fed,i have them in a tank with about 15 mts snails,i have 2 adfs so im putting in frozen bloodworms daily so there is definately foood for the assasins,now i justlooked in the tank and the one snail is still on the other snails back but in another part of the tank,so i think they may all still be alive,although i havent really seen any movement out of them since i got them but i know they do move a little during the night time,ill keep my eye on them, i think i saw one eating a mts last night,then the cannibal assasin came over and got involved and got on the back of the assasin that was eating the mts,no idea how it played out in the end coz i was sleepy and had to go to bed but wen i woke up the snails were on the other side of the tank

pretty weird behaviour goin on here i think,do they usually just like to be close to other assasins or is this some kind of mating or is he slowly eating the othe snail over a period of a few days, time will tell i guess,ill keep updating


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

It sounds like the assassins might have been starving if they were in a tank with algae.. Shame. Assassin snails are pure carnivores. Make sure you add enough worms for the frogs _and_ the snails, the snails can move pretty quick and generally they hunt together (even if it is to the worms). I keep my assassins in their own tank now and when I add worms you can see them racing from all corners of the tank and the feeding frenzy they go into is quite comical, like a starving pack of dogs. Slurping and gobbling up the bloodworms together lol I can see if yours were eating how it might look like one is eating the other.

I read somewhere that usually in a well fed tank, assassins will leave pest snails alone and they tend to favour fish flakes/pellets/and bug-worm food. So Hopefully yours actually ate the MTS. The first time I saw my assassin get a pond snail it was like watching National Geographic, they hunt them down and roll around poking their siphon thing into the soft flesh of the pest snail and then they liquidise it or make it gooey (much like spiders do) and then they eat that. The shell provides calcium to the assassin fr their own shell. It's rather quite dramatic!


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

the assasins even eat the mts sheel also? did not realise that.

is it easier for the mts to eat ramshorn or regular pond snails than it is to eat mts?
if other snails are easier to catch or eat i cam go the lfs and try get a few free feeder snails..

i hope i can see the assasins eat the big mtsin my tank,i have 2 mts in the tank that are bigger than the assasins,id love to see the assasins catch them lol


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

xD
No sorry, they don't eat the shell.. I mis-worded that. They obtain their calcium from the guts of the liquidised pest snail. 
MTS have substantially harder shells than pond and ramshorn so if they can get underneath to stab the flesh they will eat it. It's good you got 3 assassins because for larger snails they like to gang-attack (like a pride of lions). 
If the store will give you free snails, go for it! That's how I started my population. The store was more than happy to give me some pest snails. Remember the snails will breed like crazy so you either want to start a population in another tank or take your chances with the assassins ans drop all the pests in at once and hope they can lay some eggs before getting eaten! lol


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

i have the 3 assasins in my 5 gallon, i also have a 14 gallon soil tank with about 10 mts in and no assasins,so im hoping to start a nice colony in my 14 gallon so i can take a few out every week and feed them to my 5 gallon  ill probly end up gettin more assasins though and trying to breed them,they are just cool snails

will assasins eat a mystery snail if i ever got one?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Not sure how to breed them. The fellow I bought mine from (ad on kijiji) bought 3 and ended up with a huge colony in his 55g. Good luck! Because assassins can get you a bit of money since they're so expensive in the stores. 

I would not chance a mystery/apple/nerite in with assassins. They've been known to try to attack. I think that's what killed my other nerite Gammon. Stupid thing crawled over the divider into the assassin side (when the assassins were in my tank floating in a cup) I don't know what made the assassins crawl out of their cup but two of them were down roaming around and like a week later Gammon died, his insides just poured out of his shell and I had to clean the whole darn tank. SO I think the assassins poked him and he wass too big for them, got away but succumbed later.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Mine eat flakes and some snails.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

all 3 still seem to be alive,still the one snail is hanging out all day long on the back of the other snail.weird behavior,i will keep monitoring and see what will happen,i took the couple ghost shrimp out and put them in an other tank just in case i do get any snails eggs and the shrimp try to eat them,been checkin for eggs,cant spot any


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

If there is any flesh left then it might not have been eaton.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

I think the shrimp would be fine in with the assassins because while the assassins can go really fast, the shrimp dart faster. But snail eggs will come, just make sure there is LOTS of food.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

An assassins stratigy is to bury in sand. Or patrol there turf. I have heard many cases of them eating shrimp.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

still all 3 snails alive,so i guess its not cannibalism,last night 2 of them were making a meal out of a bigger mts,they are still on the poor guy this morning,hoping to see some eggs soon,ill keep posted!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

My Pond Snail Population is building up.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Glad to hear they're all doing well.. Well, except for the mts lol


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am hoping my ponds snails get numerous enough to help there diet.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

i found a pond snail in my 5 gallon last night,so i threw him into my 14 gallon where there is no assasin snails as hes the only pond snail ive found,today is full of bonuses,not only did i get a pond snail , i also found 8 assasin snail eggs attached to various pieces of gravel 

i took the pieces of gravel out and placed them in my 14 gallon as im afraid they will get smashed up when i vacum the gravel.im sure there is a couple more eggs i missed,so hopefully now i have eggs in both tanks  when the babies hatch in the 14 gal ill put them back into the 5 so i can keep growing my feeder snails in my 14.. wish me luck,i hope these babies hatch!! 


still the one big snail that looks female constantly has that male on her back,so strange,its like they are mating for over a week and a half now non stop,.madness


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Yay Physella Acuita Colony.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Wait, you already found assassin eggs?? What do they look like?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am talking about Pond Snails.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

Laki said:


> Wait, you already found assassin eggs?? What do they look like?


they are little squares,kind of see through squares with white spots in the middle,they are pretty small but u can see them with the naked eye.they were just sittin on top of pieces of grave and 2 of them were on a rock, i googled assasin snail eggs images so im pretty sure 100 percent thats what they are unless mts eggs are identical which i dont think they are,hopefully babies in a months time  and in 3 or 4 months i can start selling extras or swaping them for other items


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Nice! Wow. Congrats  They will hatch and live under the sand for a few months so you better be careful. Maybe pick up some MTS to help aerate the sand and give them something to eat. 
Pond snail eggs are transparent gelatinous blobs that are laid on any stable surface, usually glass and decorations.


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## Juicebox (Oct 24, 2012)

so lucky to have eggs so soon,that little male just wont quit,he doesnt leave the female alone,i feel like seperating them but i have no place to put him

heres pic of some of my eggs,bad quality but only camera i have atm


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

They're like little bunnies fo you!! I'm glad. I can't GIVE mine away, not a big enough city for interest to be high on aqauria.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Either Assassins or MTS cannot remeber which one. Lay there eggs and they hatch abput an hour later. I have heard of a group of BABY assassins taking down apple snails. Assassin snail babies are often eaton by fish.


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