# breeding assassin snails



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Add snails for them to eat. Make sure the calcium/iodine levels are up. Sit and wait.


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## Nate McFin (Mar 19, 2009)

Also helps to have a sponge filter as they do get sucked up in the intake. The babies are always crawling in bottom of my Hagen Elite Mini diffusor as well. Watch gravel cleaning as well as they get sucked up during water changes very very easily.
I have about 25 babies right now....wait and see.


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## Neya (Nov 21, 2009)

Had mine for months and layed no eggs. They had a small supply of mts. 
They began laying eggs everywhere only after the newly added ramshorns started breeding/hatching. 
Now there's always one assassin snail riding another. Either they finally reached sexual maturity OR they waited for an epic food supply.


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## bulrush (May 7, 2007)

I did find a pic of Assassin snail eggs online, and I bought 3 assassin snails 2 weeks ago. I've been looking for eggs but don't see any. The pic showed them looking like flat discs with a raised center. Sometimes they stick to plants or glass, sometimes the eggs are loose in the gravel. No eggs for me yet. 

I do have plenty of MTS and spixi snails in this tank so food is not a problem.


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## fishsandwitch (Apr 20, 2008)

bulrush said:


> I did find a pic of Assassin snail eggs online, and I bought 3 assassin snails 2 weeks ago. I've been looking for eggs but don't see any. The pic showed them looking like flat discs with a raised center. Sometimes they stick to plants or glass, sometimes the eggs are loose in the gravel. No eggs for me yet.
> 
> I do have plenty of MTS and spixi snails in this tank so food is not a problem.


The eggs are never loose and rarely on the glass, they will be laid on plants with strong stems like anubias. Also assassin snails are sexual so you have to have a male and female.


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

i have breed a few hundred of these guys. when i first got them i thought i was doing something wrong. i think they are just slow growers. after a couple months i started seeing a bunch of smaller ones. 

epic is correct on this... feeder snails calcium and time.


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## Franzi (Dec 7, 2009)

they love beefheart if you don't feel like dumping more feeder snails in your tank.


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## bulrush (May 7, 2007)

Here are some pics I found:


















And a link about them with more pics: http://szidlon.com/snails.htm


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## frdfandc (Aug 15, 2009)

I think I have baby assassin snails. I added 3 back in February to control my pond snail population. Pond snails are at a minimum, but now I'm having an increase of these pictured. If they are assassin snails, does anyone want some?


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Yup, those are baby assassin snails! Once they get settled in, they breed relatively quickly. I added about 50 to my 68g back when it was set up, and i found about 80 when i took the tank down (they were in there for about 2 months).

If they have stripes, then they're assassin snails.

By the way, these guys will group up and take down larger snails. I had about 15 spixi snails and all are gone but 1. They haven't taken down a nerite yet, though. Just be cautious when adding these guys to your tanks. They do an EXCELLENT job eliminating MTS populations.


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## frdfandc (Aug 15, 2009)

My pond snail population has dropped significantly since the addition of assassin snails.


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## Franzi (Dec 7, 2009)

It must be mating season or something. My 5 (two proven pairs since they're constantly banging) are reproducing like there's no tomorrow. Now I have baby assassins all over the place.


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## chad320 (Mar 7, 2010)

Franzi said:


> It must be mating season or something. My 5 (two proven pairs since they're constantly banging) are reproducing like there's no tomorrow. Now I have baby assassins all over the place.


Is that a technical or a scientific term? :hihi:


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

After looking enough threads I think there is something wrong with my tank. I have 5 big assassin snails and sometimes I see a couple attached to each other while one is making a jerking movement.

After I see the picture above I conclude that my assassin had been laying eggs in my tank. ( square transparent sack with yellow circle in the middle).

Apperently I haven't seen any babies hatch from those eggs. Most eggs are laid on the ryzhome of my java ferns and they just disappear...


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## Nate McFin (Mar 19, 2009)

Been awhile since the start of this thread. I just got rid of the last of my assassins. I had a whole tank dedicated to them. (20 gallon) Th pond snails in my other tank were used for feeders. I ended up with TONS of babies. Sold some, traded some, took some to the local pet stores etc. Nothing special I did on my end...they took care of their own "business" lol


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## INADAZE (Jun 13, 2012)

sayurasem said:


> After looking enough threads I think there is something wrong with my tank. I have 5 big assassin snails and sometimes I see a couple attached to each other while one is making a jerking movement.
> 
> After I see the picture above I conclude that my assassin had been laying eggs in my tank. ( square transparent sack with yellow circle in the middle).
> 
> Apperently I haven't seen any babies hatch from those eggs. Most eggs are laid on the ryzhome of my java ferns and they just disappear...


I've got a bunch of them as well and I've been waiting for a few weeks now with no change. I was talking to someone at a LFS and she said that some of the eggs won't even mature. Not sure if it's hearsay or not...


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## In2wishin (Aug 10, 2011)

My assassins (bought 3) got rid of the pest snails so I removed them after about 6 months and sold them. 3 months later, I found a couple of babies and I ended up with about 10 newbies. I think they hid in my substrate for a while after hatching so I never saw them.

You could easily have little ones and you just don't know it.


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## metallicanick78 (Apr 26, 2011)

My daughters nightlite is a 20 long zombie tank (assasins only). Ive sold and traded a bunch aswell and threres is always between 60-200 in there. My personal best count during feeding time (when all the zombies rise up from the ground to feed on dead carcasses) was 185. but im sure there were at least 10% minimum that I dident see. A quick and easy food is a sinking animal protien pellet. I use shrimp pellets, made of shrimp not for shimp... They get those a few days a week and one good feeding, oyster on the half shell or similar clean raw meat once every 2-3 weeks or so. They go for algae waffers also, for a varied diet... 
Usually see new eggs the day after a good/big feeding and the eggs disapear within a week. I susspect that those eggs become babies and arent visually counted untill 2months or so after that. I first see them about the size of a pepper corn and they look exactly like the adults. 
Im probably down in the 60 snail range atm because Ive slowed my feeding WAY down, but Im always looking to trade for a plant or CPD or something. But I find its a lot of work for em to ship, I prefer meeting people in CT to trade!
Once you have a bunch, its almost imposible to keep up with their feeding with live snails, I cleaned out all my other tank with a net and the zombie tank is still ravanous!


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## joon (Jul 17, 2004)

i will say its just your luck
i bought 3 assassin snails and put in no snail tank and i bred them

this is sign of breeding
2 assassin snails stick together for 8~12 hrs , long long long time u cant miss, day after day lol 









then i started finding eggs everywhere 



















i kept eggs in breeding box , it took about 30~40 days to hatch
and i think its good idea u hatch and raise in breeding box , so they cant be eaten or die under between big subs










i dont have snails in this tank, i feed flake and sinking pellet food
whenever i have 20 , i bring them to lfs .... months later , they appear again


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## eeng168 (Apr 22, 2005)

out of curiosity, how many baby snails will yield from breeding? I already see baby assassins walking around, eggs at random places, and the adult snails are stuck to each other for the longest time. 

I'm thinking of taking out the adults (4 or 5) since I already know there's baby snails in there...

thanks in advance for any responses.


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## DevinSteuerwald (Aug 10, 2012)

I don't know if this helps, but I started with 2 in my 55gal planted, I take out 25-30 every 3-5 months and get credit at my LFS. By far one of my favorite things in my tank!


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

Mine seem to breed more in tanks with driftwood.Haven't figured thst one out yet but it seems to make a difference.


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## Dayumdanny (Sep 9, 2012)

Is there anyway to tell male from female?


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## sayurasem (Jun 17, 2011)

Here is what they do









Then the baby snail


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## dougolasjr (Mar 3, 2010)

I just found some more juvi Assassin snails. I think they are killing off my RCS at night.


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## diwu13 (Sep 20, 2011)

Dayumdanny said:


> Is there anyway to tell male from female?


I remeber I asked a breeder the same question. You can only tell by removing a mated pair and seeing which assassin lays eggs


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## Vino (Jan 19, 2014)

dougolasjr said:


> I just found some more juvi Assassin snails. I think they are killing off my RCS at night.


Resurecting this thread to agree with this statement. I have counted at least 30 in my 5 gal tank. I threw in one assassin, with well over 50 RCS, almost a year ago (apparently SHE was already prego).

Now I have at LEAST 30 assassins and less than half my original amount of RCS. I suspect they are attacking and killing them at night, as I have only seen them swarmed on an already dead shrimp during the day. Otherwise the shrimp are far too fast for the snails.


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