Pesky Snails

[Ardvark]

When I fed me guppies this morning I noticed a snail climbing up the tank. I took it out and popped it between me thumb and finger. How dare it live in me tank. I dare say they ( there has to be more ) were either eggs on the live plants or little snails hiding on them. Now I want to keep me tank populated with just guppies but it may be the case of introducing something else in with them. ASSASSIN SNAIL This snail seems to do what it's name says catches and eats other snails, then just feeds on leftover food and some sorts of algae. 
 
My question to members is
 
Has any member got any experience of these snails? 
 
Would this snail be suitable for my guppy tank?
 
How big would it grow?
 
Will the tank size dictate the size the snail will grow? 
 
As always ANY help WILL be gratefully received
 
                                                                                  Al

 

[fluttermoth]

Assassin snails are really good for getting rid of pest snails. Once the pest snails have gone, they're happy eating any left overs or catfish pellets.

They grow to about an inch in most tanks, although they can get bigger than that.

There are no issues with keeping them with fish, or even shrimps.

They can breed, but much more slowly than pest snails do, so you won't be exchanging one snail problem for another and, if you do end up with too many, they're very easy to rehome

 

[the_lock_man]

When I fed me guppies this morning I noticed a snail climbing up the tank. I took it out and popped it between me thumb and finger. How dare it live in me tank. I dare say they ( there has to be more ) were either eggs on the live plants or little snails hiding on them. Now I want to keep me tank populated with just guppies but it may be the case of introducing something else in with them. ASSASSIN SNAIL This snail seems to do what it's name says catches and eats other snails, then just feeds on leftover food and some sorts of algae. 
 
My question to members is
 
Has any member got any experience of these snails? Yes, plenty of us. Myself included.
 
Would this snail be suitable for my guppy tank? Yes.
 
How big would it grow? About an inch, maybe a bit bigger.
 
Will the tank size dictate the size the snail will grow? No. Tank size does not dictate the size that anything will grow.
 
As always ANY help WILL be gratefully received OK, then, they don't eat algae. They do quite like catfish wafers.
 
                                                                                  Al

 

[mike455555]

yes assassin snails are great, i try to keep them in all of my tanks 

 

[stanleo]

They are fascinating to watch. I think they are very attractive. I think the general rule is 1 snail for every 5 gallons but that depends on how many pests you have in your tank. I put 3 in a 10 gl and in a year I had 11 assassins snails and no pest snails.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I keep assassin snails myself, I cannot imagine any of my tanks without them anymore.
 
As their name suggests, they're assassins of pest snails, in fact of any other snail apart from their own kind, perhaps in extreme situations of starvation they may predate on other assassin, though this is very rare as far as I know. 
 
I feed my assassin with an very occasional treat of pest snails from LFS, but usually they're perfectly happy with algae wafers and leftover fish foods. As already mentioned, they don't do a great deal of algae eating, certainly compared to other snail species.
 
They will probably breed, but only if theres a pair, not asexually as some species do. However they breed fairly slowly and lay a single egg at a time, which in itself is fairly interesting, a square egg basically. 
 
Here's a pic of one of my assassin snail egg to give you an idea-
 

 
These are fascinating snails to keep and well worth having imho

 

 
 
 

 

[fluttermoth]

They will probably breed, but only if theres a pair, not asexually as some species do.

I think they must be able to store sperm though, as I started off with a single one, and ended up with quite a few

 

[Ch4rlie]

 

They will probably breed, but only if theres a pair, not asexually as some species do.

I think they must be able to store sperm though, as I started off with a single one, and ended up with quite a few

 

 
Really?
 
Wow, did not know this to be honest, learn something new everyday

 

[Ardvark]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Treated the tank to three Assassin's today. Hell do they shift. The supplier said they'd partex if they breed or we've had enough of them. The main aim is to get rid of the pest snails and then take it from there. Would you believe the better half has given them names? Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Chuck Norris. I know but it keeps her happy.

 

[fluttermoth]

Lol, great names. Our first one was called Noo Noo

 

[the_lock_man]

 

 

They will probably breed, but only if theres a pair, not asexually as some species do.

I think they must be able to store sperm though, as I started off with a single one, and ended up with quite a few

 

 
Really?
 
Wow, did not know this to be honest, learn something new everyday

 


 
Wow, that's two things I've learnt today.

 

[fluttermoth]

Every day is a learning opportunity