# I do not suggest keeping Assassin Snails and Shrimp together



## Carlin (Sep 9, 2013)

*Warning: Anecdotal Evidence Ahead! Your're experience may be different!*

I kept ~25 blue velvet shrimp and 10 assassin snails together in a 3 gallon tank. Typing that just made me realize how stupid I was >.>". I figured it'd be okay since I was breeding pest snails in there and had a ton of moss, but I guess as soon as the pest snails were gone...

I broke down the tank this morning and only found 12 left. Whoops!

Let this be a learning experience for you guys :3


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## mjbn (Dec 14, 2011)

Doesn't necessarily mean that the assassin snails ate them. I've heard of accounts of this happening, but there is a possibility that 3 just ended up dying on their own


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## dougolasjr (Mar 3, 2010)

Why were you tearing down the tank?


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## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

I've never had a bad experience with keeping the 2 species together. Breeding is always plentiful with both and my numbers always increase. I lack any feeder snails in most tanks as they are eventually decimated by assassins and they are just left feeding on food I add.


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## Carlin (Sep 9, 2013)

mjbn said:


> Doesn't necessarily mean that the assassin snails ate them. I've heard of accounts of this happening, but there is a possibility that 3 just ended up dying on their own


13 . Water parameters were good.



dougolasjr said:


> Why were you tearing down the tank?


This 3g marineland bowfront acrylic tank is an eye sore. I'm asking people around Houston to see if anyone wants it. I'm trying to spread the shrimp keeping hobby ^__^



mnemenoi said:


> I've never had a bad experience with keeping the 2 species together. Breeding is always plentiful with both and my numbers always increase. I lack any feeder snails in most tanks as they are eventually decimated by assassins and they are just left feeding on food I add.


My 20L with about 100+ shrimp and 60 assassins seem to be doing okay... I do make it a point to drop in a cube of blood worms twice a week though.The shrimp and snails love this stuff!


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

to be honest, having so many delicate shrimp with an overwhelming number of snails (huge waste producers) in a small 3 gallon aquarium is already ill advised and not easy to do for many folks. the tank is too small to buffer against parameter swings which shrimp are pretty intolerant of.

The tear down was probably the best thing you did to safe these guys.


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## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

In our tank with Assassins and the shrimp colony we have a dense jungle of plants and all sorts of fish (cardinals, von rios, kuhli loaches, bristlenose, white clouds) so the fact the colony is continuing to thrive is a surprise. Definitely would not recommend that to new keepers, but the colony was fully established for years before the introduction of any fish.


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## greenteam (Feb 8, 2012)

The worst thin my assassin snails do in my shrimp tank is join in on the feeding frenzy from time to time. I also see them kill the MTS that try and join in on the feeding lol.


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## Hmoobthor (Aug 15, 2011)

I would NEVER again keep assassin snail with ANY SHRIMP!! Learn the hard way...

Doesn't matter if planted or not...u will learn.


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## Pegan (Dec 28, 2013)

I was going to start my own thread when I saw this one. I had to share a couple of strange behaviours I noted about assassin snails.... 

I have kept Assassins for years in shrimp only tanks. Both population exploded in all the tanks. In just one 15 gallon tank I had nearly 1000 shrimps and about 200 assassins. Didn't have any issues at all. I would feed them all once daily. The food would have more meat content than veggies.

This tank had a HUGE number of pest snails that were destroying all the plants. Once I added the assassins, within 2 weeks I found all the pest snails in clusters at the water line. Like they were scared and were trying to run from something. Every morning I would just scoop them up and throw them out. In just 7-8 days all the ramshorns had disappeared. 

I was totally WOWed! Since then in every tank I would have 2-3 assassins as I found them eating mosquito larvas and hydras too.

And yesterday, I was shocked to see a terrifying side of them in one tank. This tank consists of some recently acquired exotic native shrimps that are really hard to obtain. Everyday I was removing 3-4 dead shrimps. I put it down to their fragile nature. Until yesterday !!

I found that the four assassins feeding on 4 shrimps and the shrimps were still twitching!! On removing them I noted a few things. One shrimp was dead, one was lying on its side, gasping ( now dead ) and two Christmas tree shrimps just zipped away to freedom. And I checked today, they are still alive and kicking. 

So this is my 2 cents on assassins. Even if you feed them daily, they are still hunters through and through. If you do not have enough pest snails for them in the tank, it is better to remove them to a separate species only tank. Even then, they would revert to cannibalism. Normally, I have seen them hunt as a pack and eat a snail ( ramshorn or their own kind). 

But this was an absolute first where I saw each one hunting on its own...


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## cjstl (Mar 4, 2013)

I couldn't agree more. I have my two assassins in isolation right now. Poor things are sitting in a little cup of water waiting for the next pond snail infestation. I can't put them in any of my shrimp tanks because I have seen them attack and kill amanos, ghost shrimp, and neos. They kill indiscriminately. If it looks tasty, they'll kill it. They're opportunistic too. They hang out near the molting shrimp and then tag them as soon as they've shed their skin. I've had to remove paralyzed shrimp if I've seen it happen and put them in quarantine before they get eaten. It usually takes them a couple of days to start moving again after the sting.


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