# How many assassin snails needed?



## dmxsoulja3 (Dec 22, 2010)

So how much work do these guys do? I have alot of Pond Snails and MTS in my Ten gallon, and a good bit of MTS in my 40 gallon, and this morning I noticed a pond snail and knew that I didn't want to deal with this in two tanks..so was wondering how many I should order to split between the tanks, I hate that they will kill all my MTS, but the pond snails have to go.


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## boringname (Nov 11, 2010)

Haven't had my assassin snail long enough to be sure but I don't think they will completely eliminate MTS. I'm hopeful the one I got will get rid of the pond snails but that hasn't happened yet.

Just one in my 10g was enough to keep the pest snails low enough that I don't care that they haven't gone extinct.


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## j0onahra3 (Mar 3, 2011)

I have about 2 assassin snails in my tank and they're lazy. LOL!
I dont know why, but I feel like I have the SAME amount of pond snails every time I check.
I do see about one empty shell each day.
So I'm guessing they eat one pond snail each day.. or so.
I was really disappointed cuz I heard they were great... you should probably get about 5 or more for each tank.
My assassin snails do not even touch my MTS.. so i dont know.
If you get some diligent assassin snails, i'm pretty sure you'd only need one.


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## Hadley (Dec 12, 2010)

My assassin snails won't touch any snail larger than them. I have two in a 3 gallon and they are cleaning the small snails right up while leaving my Nerite alone.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

With assassin snails, my preference is to set them up in their own small tank and then pick out your adults from the display tanks. Its very very easy to "share" assassin snail eggs with other hobbyists should you share plant clippings and alot of planted enthusiasts like ornamental snails and shrimp in their tanks. As you remove the adults, eggs are not laid in your display which essentially stems the reproduction.

As far as how many, typically an adult assassin will eat a snail or two of its comparable body size in a day. Often if you have a group, they will "gang up" on larger snails to take it down.

I usually recommend starting with 3-5. Remember that you will have to supplement their diet or rehome them once they have taken care of your pest problem. They wille at bloodworms and meaty pellets, so keep that in mind depending on what you feed your tank. They are going to eat what is easiest (another good reason to keep them on their own).


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## H2OLOVER (Apr 29, 2010)

i have maybe 20-30 in my 10 gallon and they barely touch the adult mts once in a while ill see them wrestling around on the substrate but rarely. they will go after pond snails first IME because pond snails are easier to catch, kill, and eat

my assassins will also eat bloood worms and the pellets that i feed my cherry shrimp and zebra plecos that share the tank. just like msjinkzd said
i even saw the assassin snail "sleeping" on a piece of driftwood next to a mts


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## Plantedshrimptank (Jan 18, 2011)

Will they eat limplets or is there something that will?


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## Loligo (Jan 25, 2011)

I have two in my 5.5g (along with a TON of pond snails, all sizes), and they were eating algae wafers last night! I think I bought the only vegetarian assassin snails.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

My MTS are totally out of control! I think I'll try just 2 Assassins in my 54g just to see how it goes. But, where to get them? It would be great if they were available in the Denver area!


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## H2OLOVER (Apr 29, 2010)

Plantedshrimptank said:


> Will they eat limplets or is there something that will?


i think limpets are too close to the glass and too strong



Loligo said:


> I have two in my 5.5g (along with a TON of pond snails, all sizes), and they were eating algae wafers last night! I think I bought the only vegetarian assassin snails.


LOL thats crazy


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## larryl (Jan 27, 2011)

I have a newb question: What's an MTS?


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## toofazt (Jun 18, 2005)

larryl said:


> I have a newb question: What's an MTS?


http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/p...-glossary-terms-faqs-useful-links-search.html


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## H2OLOVER (Apr 29, 2010)

Malaysian trumpet snail
helpful in small numbers...pests in large ones


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## larryl (Jan 27, 2011)

toofazt said:


> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/p...-glossary-terms-faqs-useful-links-search.html


Cool, thanks for the link!


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## veryzer (Oct 13, 2009)

I had 5 in a 54 gallon to deal with what I'd consider a pretty significant infestation (a large piece of driftwood covered in them every morning). It took a couple months, but the pests disappeared.


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## Indeed (Jan 28, 2011)

So what i am hearing is that assassin snails will always go for pond snails over MTS? because if they do i need some asap! stupid pond snails...:icon_twis


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## dmxsoulja3 (Dec 22, 2010)

well I watch as long as I can multiple times a day hoping to see one eating something, so far they have been cleaning my filter sponge, lol they better tighten up here soon and eat some pond snails


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

> I have two in my 5.5g (along with a TON of pond snails, all sizes), and they were eating algae wafers last night! I think I bought the only vegetarian assassin snails


Algae wafers are made primarily out of fish meal.


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## dmxsoulja3 (Dec 22, 2010)

So far no dent in population, do the assassins easily breed themselves? wondering if I should purchase more or if they will naturally produce some new ones in my tank. The pond snails are all over the place. I hardly feed the tank which in itself makes me nervous, so I don't think it is a over feeding issue, so I hope a few more of the assassins will start getting things in check.


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## NJAquaBarren (Sep 16, 2009)

Assassins do their work slowly. They're snails after all. 

I added 10 to a 84g tank that had hundreds of mts that I could see at once at night. A couple of weeks later mts were rarely seen again during daytime. 3 months later hardly any left at all.

6 months later all mts seemed to be gone. Not necessarily a good thing btw.


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## SteveCorle (Dec 9, 2021)

larryl said:


> I have a newb question: What's an MTS?


Its Malaysian Trumpet Snails.


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## Mud (Mar 7, 2018)

Loligo said:


> I have two in my 5.5g (along with a TON of pond snails, all sizes), and they were eating algae wafers last night! I think I bought the only vegetarian assassin snails.


I have 1 assassin that I see eating snails all the time and the other is only ever eating pleco wafers.


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## LidijaPN (12 mo ago)

Mud said:


> I have 1 assassin that I see eating snails all the time and the other is only ever eating pleco wafers.


That is hilarious 

I have two in my 29 gallon. My issue is bladder snails that came in on the plants I bought. I have one absolutely massive mama bladder snail who is amazing to watch and honestly I hope they leave her alone, they have so far. It's a bit tricky because she's also mothering most of the annoying babies. But she is huge, majestic and really interesting. A few times I saw her literally swimming in the stream, she was doing mid-water ballet moves, it was the weirdest thing. Eventually she swam down to grab onto a plant and pull herself to the bottom. 

The assassins seem to be eating the medium size baby bladders at the rate of approximately one per day each. They each have a favorite place to sleep which I find adorable. I read somewhere that they leave snails larger than them alone and was hoping to get some big nerites or something but the guy in the store said nope, they'd eat them anyway. So for now I'm not doing it. There's still tons of bladder snails around but they've only just started on the job a week ago.


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