# help !!! My assassin snails are hungry !!!



## In2wishin (Aug 10, 2011)

Mine eat uneated food and algae (in that order) since all my pest snails are gone.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

They will eat frozen bloodworms. Really though, next time do a bit of reading on here first as most suggest getting 1 or 2 assassins and slowly let them take the population down, instead of buying like 10 and then they kill off their food source too quick. I bought 3 for all my tanks, had 2 together for a while, now I have babies. lol.


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## Moe (Jan 22, 2004)

X2 bloodworms


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## Chikorita (Dec 16, 2007)

I could sell off some of them but ... well for now I will try to hang on to them as long as I can .. then if i couldnt do it anymore then I will sell some of them off

They r in the same tank with the crystals and cherrys ... so when I drop something in the tank .. the shrimps get to it faster than the shrimps ... so I cant really feed them ..


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## Chaoslord (Feb 12, 2011)

Mine will eat live blood worms. I put 1 portion in my tank every 2 weeks. This is the only food source I put in this tank. I have been doing this for over a year. And everything thing seems okay.


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## Chikorita (Dec 16, 2007)

where can you buy live blood worm ???
the snails would just dig out the worms and eat them ???


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

You can get frozen blood worms too at most LFS. They come in little cubes.


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## koldsoup (Feb 21, 2011)

I love feeding frozen bloodworms. $8 got me a whole board of Hikari frozen bloodworms and it has lasted me half a year so far and I've only used 1/5 of it so far. Definitely worth it. A lot of fish like it too.


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## GeToChKn (Apr 15, 2011)

koldsoup said:


> I love feeding frozen bloodworms. $8 got me a whole board of Hikari frozen bloodworms and it has lasted me half a year so far and I've only used 1/5 of it so far. Definitely worth it. A lot of fish like it too.


Yup, I give the shrimp 1 or 2 every now and again, use them for my dwarf frogs, turtles, betta, they all love them.


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## radioman (Oct 29, 2007)

When I worked at Petsmart we always had snail infestations. So if you want to continue feeding them snails you could go there and ask for some free pond snails.


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## Chaoslord (Feb 12, 2011)

Chikorita said:


> where can you buy live blood worm ???
> the snails would just dig out the worms and eat them ???


Just ask your Lfs if they have live blood worms. They will borough into your substrate and the assassins will eat them.


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## Chaoslord (Feb 12, 2011)

If you feed frozen everything else will eat it before the assassins can get to it. If you feed live they will burough into your substrate and live for awhile . I've seen mine live for up to two weeks. I'll vacuum my gravel every two weeks and then put another portion in.


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## johnny313 (Apr 15, 2011)

mine it algae wafers. but you really need to find a balance between assassins and pest snails. most people buy too many assassin snails when they really dont need them


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

I raise assassins and recently had to sell off a bunch because I am running out of pest snails to feed them. As long as there is still a need for them in my local club I will breed them but when I see that levelling off I will stop. They can live on meaty fish food and frozen bloodworms, both of which my fish get anyway, but they are rumoured to stop breeding if that is all they get. I cannot confirm that yet. I used to grow MTSs in a 75 and 20 gal tank and it was never a problem. But somehow a few baby assassins got into these tanks, probably through the vacuum hose and took out the baby MTSs and I could no longer find enough food snails to harvest for the adult assassins. So, yes there is a fine line. I have asked for MTSs from people in my club and that has never been a problem before. But I recently saw assassin snails in my LFS so this may no longer be much of an option. I bought my original assassins years ago from Belgium when they were just starting to become known here. They have quickly spread out throughout the US and soon may be a problem of their own. Never get more than you need. For a 10 gal tank with a good amount of pest snails get 2 maybe 3. For larger tanks adjust but never overdo it. Keep the prey and predator in check.


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## Studman0143 (Mar 20, 2011)

I'll echo going to PetSmart or Petco. They have tons of snails breeding in their tanks that are just annoying. Go in on a weekday more in the afternoon when they aren't busy and ask they to get as many as they can. They are free. Then what you could do is buy a small 2.5G tank and put the snails in there and overfeed them fish flakes. You'll start breeding pesky snails in no time and hence have plenty of food for your snails.


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## sampster5000 (Oct 30, 2010)

They are carnivores. Anything with some type of meat in it will be devoured by them. Especially when they are starving.


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