Pleasant Surprise

[Munroco]

When I got my first fish for my 4ft tank about 3 months ago, the dealer gave me an assasin snail, as I told him I'd picked up some snails in plants I'd bought online. I rarely see it, now and then he sort of saunters across the sand, so I got a big surprise when I saw 3 little assasin snails in the front corner of the tank. I'm thinking there are probably a lot more as I watched one of them bury himself completely.  It seems I got a female assasin. Surprised though at the length of time between aquiring the snail and seeing these young ones as I spend a lot of time looking and fiddling with my tank. Looks like the ramshorns will soon be no more.

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
Love assassin snails. Maybe am biased but I think they are one of the coolest looking snails around with their stripes and conical shells.
 
They do a great job of keeping or eradicating pest/common snail populations.
 
They're also great for substrate as they burrow a lot and helps to turn subtrate over to help eliminate air pockets and debris in substrate.
 
As youve found out, they do breed, but a lot slower compared to pest/common snails.
 
Am surprised you did not spot their eggs in tank anywhere? Usually found on corner of tank glass or on plants or wood.
Umistakable to identify assassin eggs, square sac with small yellow dot.
 
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One of my Assassin Snails.
 
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[LyraGuppi]

I need these guys sooooo bad for gravel pockets 

 

[Munroco]

Update on this, 1 week later and I seem to have no ramshorn snails, just a empty shells lying around. Still some pond snails going around, maybe they are to big for juvenile assassins. Feel a bit guilty now as I only wanted to control them, not wipe them out.

 

[Ch4rlie]

 
Sorry to say, any snails that are NOT assassins will surely be taken eventually.
 
Had literally hundreds of pond snails in a 90 litre tank, added a few assassin snails, in around 6 or 7 months, lo and behold, no pond snails and assassin snails had bred
 
I really dont mind having snails of any species as they do add to the natural look imho.