Acrobatic Assassin Snails!?

[FFGuest6357]

I was checking on my tank tonight, it timed out that it was seconds before my timer shut the light off...

just before lights out, something caught my eye, it was one of my assasssin snails surfing on the surface of the water....

He was upside down, somehow attached himself to the surface tension of the water from below. Mid tank, just gliding along... looking for food...

I had a real “this is why aquariums are cool” moment. I had no idea snails could do this.

I will also state that it’s not like I have a stagnant surface, I’m running a fluval 207 which is arguable overkill when it comes to water flow, and an air stone on the opposite corner.

fish were fed flakes and frozen brine shrimp about an hour before these pictures were taken...

I thought it was pretty cool

see pictures below:

 

[Colin_T]

my shrimp used to walk along the underside of the surface and put their claws thru to grab food and my fingers.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Mine often feed on the underside of the glass lid, but not on the water surface...was he whipping around, lol

 

[mcordelia]

Amazing! My mystery snail feeds from the surface upside down, but he has the good sense to hang on with a sliver of his foot

 

[FFGuest6357]

Mine often feed on the underside of the glass lid, but not on the water surface...was he whipping around, lol

Surprisingly so!

I have found my assassins to be quite quick at the best of times (in snail terms) but gliding on the bottom of the water surface, this little guy could glide about 3 inches in a few seconds

 

[itiwhetu]

I've had apple snails do this trick, and climb out of the tank and slime away.

 

[Mick85]

my mystery snails are always hanging off the floating duckweed in my tank. Then they just randomly drop and drag down a chunk of the duckweed with them! It funny to watch.

 

[Octopink]

That is awesome! I'm surprised how attached I've become to my mystery snails. I initially bought two six months ago to just be tank cleaners. They do such a great job - I never once had to clean the glass of my 5 gal beta tank. They are the best - not as agile as your snail though