# Assassin Snail Refuses to eat Snails



## Griffith Sky-Treader (Jul 26, 2015)

I've got a pair of assassin snails with me for around half a year already. They live in a glass bowl with plants in the bowl. This may seem small to many, but they're happy there(or they would've escaped long ago). Not to mention they're actually _breeding_! I've got a tiny lil' assassin in the bowl now and all are A-Okay.
Problem? My Assassin snails are only fed occasionally on shrimp pellets for the past few months, so I decided to get some snails as they didn't seem too interested in the pellets.(I seldom see them eat the pellets, even if they're fed once every three or more days) Recently, I dumped in a trio of bladder snails of varying sizes _(that I got from a LFS_). All Assassins ignored the snails. I tried again after removing the bladder snails. They all ignored the snails(again) and the two adults started mating. :/

What on _Earth(Water_?) is wrong with them? I bought Assassins to eat the snail population and yet they *don't* eat snails. I only use bladder snails and large limpets as the assassins dislike snails with an operculum. 

[STRIKE]HALP[/STRIKE] Help? c:


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## Aquadawg (Aug 18, 2012)

Still on honeymoon. Eventually they will get tired of each other and begin eating and get fat. Sound familiar?


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## treyLcham (Sep 9, 2014)

Assassin snail refuses to eat snails? Hm sounds like a vegetarian to me


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Sarlindescent (May 14, 2015)

Mine were the same way... I started with 3. 1 would eat them the other 2 were constantly.... Now I have 7 babies and basically a new baby appears daily.


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## Griffith Sky-Treader (Jul 26, 2015)

@Aquadawg XD Indeed- well, I'll have to wait and see I suppose.

@trey That ain't really helpful... ^_^"

@Sarlin Well, thanks for the confirmation- at least I know I'm not alone in this weirdness. I hope mine will start eating though.

Does anyone else have any solid answers on what's happening and how to get them to eat snails frequently? Also, what's their feeding schedule for you people? Once every day or something? c:


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## whitepapagold (Aug 19, 2010)

Griffith Sky-Treader said:


> I only use bladder snails and large limpets as the assassins dislike snails with an operculum.


I can say that my assassin snails LOVE Malaysian Trumpet Snails, eat them like crazy, and the Malaysian Trumpet Snails have an operculum.

I bought 3 assassin snails for my 125 and they demolished the entire MTS population in less than a year. I pulled out over 100 adult assassin snails when I removed them.

Good luck with your Vegan Assassin snails!


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## Griffith Sky-Treader (Jul 26, 2015)

@whitepapa Thanks, well, I used to feed mine those fat apple snails with an operculum, and after the first few times, they refused it after that. Maybe its the species? I'll test out the bladder snails and see if they want them tomorrow. I don't have any MTS in my tank at all so I can't say whether the assassins will even like them, though I don't want to take the risk of buying MTS and ending up with more useless snails.

Glad to see your assassins are hard at work! c:


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## nbr1rodeoclown (Feb 6, 2015)

You might not see them eating the snails, but keep a look out for empty pond snail shells.


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## maylee (Feb 26, 2015)

Maybe I'm judging your post incorrectly but it seems like you're just putting the snails in and then expecting the assassins to go straight to the buffet?

In my experience, they don't feed that often or that quickly. A lot of the time, they bury themselves in the substrate and come out every once in a while. Even then, I didn't see them feeding on other snails on a daily basis or anything. It was more like one a week, if that... that I noticed any way.


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## noseprint (Jun 29, 2015)

I've seen mine three times since I added it to my 20g - it buries itself most of the time, and when I do see it, it's been at night. I do find little empty shells all the time, so I assume it really only kills at night. A true assassin.

I'd keep in the pond snails longer and let them eat as they please.


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## Griffith Sky-Treader (Jul 26, 2015)

@nbr I only add in snails. There are no snails in the place the assassins stay in.

@maylee Yep, that's what I do. Occasionally I add in snails and wait for the assassins to snack on it... Hmm, now that you mention it, that's true. The assassins seem rather whimsical.

@noseprint Alright that sound like a wonderful idea.... but my pond snails love running out of the tank and away.

_ I tried feeding them(again) just now and both adult assassins are eating! The baby is still sleeping though. But thank you everyone for all your help. I suppose I'll have to be patient when feeding them and not try to shove food into their faces._(;


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