Assasin Snail Anentome (Formerly Clea) Helena

[kiriyama]

Hi, I am interested in adding a couple of these to my tank, I have a few unsitely pond snails but what I was wondering is do they eat MTS as well, what other kind of stuff do they eat, algae?
Any info greatfully received,,

 

[~T~]

So far mine have eaten tadpole/pouch snails and small MTS though they seem to ignore the adults and dont bother my nerites.

 

[mozaqua]

Hi, I am interested in adding a couple of these to my tank, I have a few unsitely pond snails but what I was wondering is do they eat MTS as well, what other kind of stuff do they eat, algae?
Any info greatfully received,,

Hello, I am new to the forum here, but I thought I would give my input. I breed the A. helena snails, and have seen them eat every type of snail which is not their own species. They DO eat Nerite snails, and other pet snails you might not want them to eat. It is difficult for them to eat very large apple snails, but they might even be able to do that if given time (and no other food).
They can eat pellet food, even those containing algae. They prefer meaty foods and live snails. Also they are not capable of eating algae from hard surfaces since their mouths are more like a trunk. If they get hungry, they will bury their head in the substrate (possibly looking for some food). They have slow metabolisms which allows them to go long periods without food (up to 5-6 weeks from what I have seen).

Regards,
Mo

 

[Bebobb]

From my research I think that they eat pretty much any snail that they can seem toget their mouths on. They have to have a male and a female snail to reproduce, so being overrun with them shouldn't be much of a problem. And I'm sure that if you did breed, it would be a good thing, because I would say that you might be able to make a few bucks on them.

 

[kiriyama]

Thank you for your replies and input, think I will add maybe 2 or 3 in the very near future, still finding pond snails and in the morning I'm finding very small whitish snails which I can only presume are baby snails, also think these would be good for keeping MTS under control, every few weeks I have a clearout.....
Cheers again

 

[arapaimag]

From my research I think that they eat pretty much any snail that they can seem toget their mouths on. They have to have a male and a female snail to reproduce, so being overrun with them shouldn't be much of a problem. And I'm sure that if you did breed, it would be a good thing, because I would say that you might be able to make a few bucks on them.

Great I've been looking for documented research on this snail and the species of snails they kill.

Could you please direct me to a website with your research papers.

 

[saltynay]

Arapimag this thread is a year old you dragged up from the depths of the forum. What specifically are you searching for. Assassin snails will hunt down any species of snail they can, however they struggle to eat MTS or DTS due to MTS/DTS having a hard plate on their foot which allows them to seal their shells. Particularly large snails are also difficult for Assassins to tackle but they will work in packs to take down larger specimens if the opportunity presents itself so no snail is truly safe from them. If you have a problem with "pest" snails then it is a sign that you have an imbalance in your tank the snails will not reproduce unless they have sufficient food to sustain their population. What species of snail are you having a problem with?

You can id here if your not sure.