# I haven't seen my Assassin Snail in over 7 days, is it safe to assume it's dead?



## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

How big is the tank? They burrow, and if he's found a good source, he could just be in hiding.


----------



## jrill (Nov 20, 2013)

Yep, they do that sometimes.


----------



## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2014)

Betta132 said:


> How big is the tank? They burrow, and if he's found a good source, he could just be in hiding.


10 gallon, pretty decent amount of plants. Usually when he burrows his shell is still visible, and it stands out against the white sand.

Bump:


jrill said:


> Yep, they do that sometimes.


Good, I hope he's still in there and doing well. I've had him go in hiding pretty well for around 4 days before, but not completely missing this long.


----------



## Dead2fall (Jun 4, 2014)

I have gone literally months without seeing mine, then it just appears. I bought one that turned out to be a fertilized female. She has an entire family in there now, I haven't seen any of the babies in months either.


----------



## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2014)

Dead2fall said:


> I have gone literally months without seeing mine, then it just appears. I bought one that turned out to be a fertilized female. She has an entire family in there now, I haven't seen any of the babies in months either.


Oh wow. I take it that assassin snails are ok with their own kind, but will kill any other snail?

If he were gone I was going to look into nerite snails to help with some algae, but I assume that would be a waste if the assassin snail is still lurking somewhere in there.


----------



## Dead2fall (Jun 4, 2014)

Get bigger nerites. They usually don't go after bigger things than themselves.


----------



## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Yep, big nerites are safe unless the assassin is starving. Assuming you feed the tank at all, that won't be an issue.


----------



## maylee (Feb 26, 2015)

I had two assassins in a tank with a single zebra nerite and they never bothered him so you should be all good.


----------



## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2014)

Betta132 said:


> Yep, big nerites are safe unless the assassin is starving. Assuming you feed the tank at all, that won't be an issue.


I feed the tank, but there are plenty of snails for him to get. I've just noticed an increase in snails over the past week. For being a single Assassin Snail, he did a pretty good job at keeping the little snail in check at least.


----------



## sushant (Mar 3, 2007)

It's quite common. newly hatched hide below the substrate for several week and will come out only when the are almost pea sized.


----------



## [email protected] (Nov 16, 2014)

sushant said:


> It's quite common. newly hatched hide below the substrate for several week and will come out only when the are almost pea sized.


This guy was a good size, pea sized would be a good description, maybe a hair bigger.

Still no sign of him, but I did find a few empty snail shells...so he probably has to be in there somewhere. He used to come out and cruise the glass.


----------

