Unwanted Snails

[the_lock_man]

As I may have mentioned on previous snail threads, my assassins bred very nicely, to the point where I swapped a bag of them for a bag of black sand with my LFS. They told me at the time that they could not get any success with breeding them.
 
They don't breed as quickly as pest snails, and it takes a good 18 months for an assassin to reach adult size.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I ordered mine from ebay a couple of years ago. I think there were 9 in the bag, and I divided them between my 3 tanks. I couldn't honestly tell you how many I have because they spend so much time under the sand. Sometimes I'll see several out and about, and then there are times I won't see any! I love when the babies appear, about the size of the head of a pin. I rarely see a pest snail, but I do see a lot of their empty shells when I clean the tanks, so apparently the assassins are doing their job well. 

 

[Mamashack]

Well I've bought an assassin snail and let the bag float for ½hr before releasing it, then left the light out for another hour. When I turned the light on I was expecting to be searching to see where the snail had buried itself. I was surprised to find it half way up the front of the aquarium and not 5 mins later almost at the back of the tank. For a snail, it can't half move quickly and doesn't appear to be the least bit intimidated by the fish getting up close and personal. Got just the 1 as I'm not sure how many pest snails there are - have seen one this morning so there could be more. If there aren't many more pest snails for it to eat, will it manage to survive on any leftover food at the bottom of the tank? Or will I have to supplement it somehow?

 

[This Old Spouse]

They will eat leftover food and bits of algae.

 

[Mamashack]

They will eat leftover food and bits of algae.

 
Should be ok then. Thanks

 

[b3cca]

I had snails as well and watched a youtube vid about how to make a snail lure.
I just put some lettuce in a small open container and left in in the tank overnight.  By morning I had 4 snails on the lettuce/container and then released them into a local pond without having to kill them

I doubt it will get rid of them all but it is an easy way to control the population and works.

 

[David J]

Definately getting a couple of assassin snails now. The pond snails, plus a couple of ramshorn snails that have appeared, have chewed up some of my plants. They've gone right through some of the stalks and the leaves are all half eaten so they've just signed their own death warrant. I always said i was happy with them being in the tank but as soon as they become a problem they're gone.

 

[Mamashack]

Definately getting a couple of assassin snails now. The pond snails, plus a couple of ramshorn snails that have appeared, have chewed up some of my plants. They've gone right through some of the stalks and the leaves are all half eaten so they've just signed their own death warrant. I always said i was happy with them being in the tank but as soon as they become a problem they're gone.

I got one and it settled in the tank straight away altho it didn't seem to find of my interlopers until I dropped an unwanted snail right next to it!
They are quite pretty tho and I've named mine Wally after the Where's Wally character as every morning I have to find out where it is before I doing anything else! lol