TwoTankAmin
Fish Maniac
I can attest to the reproductive potential of assassins. I have sold a few 100 over the years having started with about a dozen many years ago. But the assassins are nicer looking than the pest snails which reproduce faster.
I can also tell you about using loaches for snail control. I basically only keep two different species, clowns and sidthimunkis. Both can wipe out snail populations in thanks but they do it differentl;y due ti the size difference. My biggest clowm is a foot long and in its 20s. My sids were also pretty old until I crashed their tank. But I replaced them. Sids seem to be as long lived as clowns despire how ig clowns get and how small the sids stay. More on this shortly.
I devote a fair anount of my tanks to breedings and growing out a few speices of the pricier B&W Hypancistrus plecos. I tend to over feed grow tanks and the result is I get large pest snail outbreaks in these tanks. But, in the tanks with my clowns and with the sids I eventually had 0 snails. However, the method of their eradication was different.
The loaches basically suck the meat out of the shell when they eat snails as far as I can tell. I say this because I would find empty snails shells in the clown tank, However, the clowns only consume the bigger adult size snails whiles the sids can only eat the tinier snails. So, in the clown tank the way the snails were eliminated was due to the snails big enough to reproduce were what the ate. In essence the ability to reproduce was eaten. In the sid tank they could not eat the bigger snails but did a great job on the small offspring. And eventually this wiped out the snails as effectively as the clowns eating the bigger ones did.
My problem was that I had 20 tanks and I could not have clowns or sids in them all. So, i was having snail issues in other tanks, espcially the pleco grow tanks and even a couple of the breeding tanks. So, I decided to try assassins in some of the planted communities. I actually spread the snails into other tanks as I do live plants and will move them between tanks and that meant I wwas moving the snails and/or their eggs between tanks.
So, I had two snail problems. The first was I would not put assassins into breeding tanks or grow tanks for fry. I was not certain the snails would not eat eggs or fry if they could catch them. The second problem was in tanks where the assassins did the job I ended up with lots of assassins but no food in the form of snails for them. Yes, they will eat other foods intended for the fish if shrimp. So, I began to harvest the snails from the grow tanks and drop them into the planted communities where snails were also a problem.
Part of mu regular weekly maint. routine is to siphon out pest snails from grow tanks and then to distribute them into the tanks with assassins but no more snails. It does not atter how many pest snails I collect and distribute and they all get eaten by the assassins. I will not drop sn=nails into the tank with my clowns as I became worried that the larger clowns were likely to inhale the snails shells and all and I feared this might be a problem. I did feed the pest snails to the clowns early n but when they started to get big, I stopped.
I also needed to kill some of the assassins when they became overly prolific in a tank. I also usually bring 20-30 of them to my monthly fish club meeting to sell in the auction. I do not care what they sell for as the goal is to get rid of them. Plus a % of the sale price goes to the club which I am happy to support.
There are a number of methods for eradicating or, at least, managing pest snails. Assassins woork well but you must be willing to have them persist in tanks after the pests are gone. The assassin babies go into the substrate to grow as it is safe there. I use a rake-like back scratcher with a telescoping handle to get the assassins out of substrate. I did this early on to spread them around and then later to eliminate them from a tank if I wanted to do so. But the only way to be sure they are removed is to pull the tanks apart and thougly rake through the substrate. They are impossible to dig out of a planted tank.
I do not want clowns or sids in every one of my tanks. I do not keep puffers or other snail eating fish, but that would be the same problem of not having them in all of my tanks. So that leaves assassins or manual removal as the only other general option.
Uderstand my approach is good for me and my situation and my being able to accept assassins in tanks over pest snails. Each of us has to find the solution with which we can work/accept. Snails and their eggs can be hard to keep out of tanks, especailly if one does live plants. But also if you are ike me and may move a piece of wood from one tank into another. The same actions that can end up spreading pest snails to other tanks also works for assassins. Fortunately, I find assassins to be decnt looking ad am willing to put up with them. And then there is the fact they make me a bit of money.
Google assassin snails and you will find them for sale. They generally bring in $2-$4 each as adults. Petco sells them for $2.50 https://www.petco.com/product/assassin-snail
If you are lucky enough to have a tank where you want to keep a snail eating fish species, go for it, But, I would not get fish solely for that purpose. I would prefer to have assassins.
Finally, if you want to know about how assassins reproduce etc. have a read here Assassin Snail (Anentome helena): Complete Care & Breeding Guide
I can also tell you about using loaches for snail control. I basically only keep two different species, clowns and sidthimunkis. Both can wipe out snail populations in thanks but they do it differentl;y due ti the size difference. My biggest clowm is a foot long and in its 20s. My sids were also pretty old until I crashed their tank. But I replaced them. Sids seem to be as long lived as clowns despire how ig clowns get and how small the sids stay. More on this shortly.
I devote a fair anount of my tanks to breedings and growing out a few speices of the pricier B&W Hypancistrus plecos. I tend to over feed grow tanks and the result is I get large pest snail outbreaks in these tanks. But, in the tanks with my clowns and with the sids I eventually had 0 snails. However, the method of their eradication was different.
The loaches basically suck the meat out of the shell when they eat snails as far as I can tell. I say this because I would find empty snails shells in the clown tank, However, the clowns only consume the bigger adult size snails whiles the sids can only eat the tinier snails. So, in the clown tank the way the snails were eliminated was due to the snails big enough to reproduce were what the ate. In essence the ability to reproduce was eaten. In the sid tank they could not eat the bigger snails but did a great job on the small offspring. And eventually this wiped out the snails as effectively as the clowns eating the bigger ones did.
My problem was that I had 20 tanks and I could not have clowns or sids in them all. So, i was having snail issues in other tanks, espcially the pleco grow tanks and even a couple of the breeding tanks. So, I decided to try assassins in some of the planted communities. I actually spread the snails into other tanks as I do live plants and will move them between tanks and that meant I wwas moving the snails and/or their eggs between tanks.
So, I had two snail problems. The first was I would not put assassins into breeding tanks or grow tanks for fry. I was not certain the snails would not eat eggs or fry if they could catch them. The second problem was in tanks where the assassins did the job I ended up with lots of assassins but no food in the form of snails for them. Yes, they will eat other foods intended for the fish if shrimp. So, I began to harvest the snails from the grow tanks and drop them into the planted communities where snails were also a problem.
Part of mu regular weekly maint. routine is to siphon out pest snails from grow tanks and then to distribute them into the tanks with assassins but no more snails. It does not atter how many pest snails I collect and distribute and they all get eaten by the assassins. I will not drop sn=nails into the tank with my clowns as I became worried that the larger clowns were likely to inhale the snails shells and all and I feared this might be a problem. I did feed the pest snails to the clowns early n but when they started to get big, I stopped.
I also needed to kill some of the assassins when they became overly prolific in a tank. I also usually bring 20-30 of them to my monthly fish club meeting to sell in the auction. I do not care what they sell for as the goal is to get rid of them. Plus a % of the sale price goes to the club which I am happy to support.
There are a number of methods for eradicating or, at least, managing pest snails. Assassins woork well but you must be willing to have them persist in tanks after the pests are gone. The assassin babies go into the substrate to grow as it is safe there. I use a rake-like back scratcher with a telescoping handle to get the assassins out of substrate. I did this early on to spread them around and then later to eliminate them from a tank if I wanted to do so. But the only way to be sure they are removed is to pull the tanks apart and thougly rake through the substrate. They are impossible to dig out of a planted tank.
I do not want clowns or sids in every one of my tanks. I do not keep puffers or other snail eating fish, but that would be the same problem of not having them in all of my tanks. So that leaves assassins or manual removal as the only other general option.
Uderstand my approach is good for me and my situation and my being able to accept assassins in tanks over pest snails. Each of us has to find the solution with which we can work/accept. Snails and their eggs can be hard to keep out of tanks, especailly if one does live plants. But also if you are ike me and may move a piece of wood from one tank into another. The same actions that can end up spreading pest snails to other tanks also works for assassins. Fortunately, I find assassins to be decnt looking ad am willing to put up with them. And then there is the fact they make me a bit of money.
Google assassin snails and you will find them for sale. They generally bring in $2-$4 each as adults. Petco sells them for $2.50 https://www.petco.com/product/assassin-snail
If you are lucky enough to have a tank where you want to keep a snail eating fish species, go for it, But, I would not get fish solely for that purpose. I would prefer to have assassins.
Finally, if you want to know about how assassins reproduce etc. have a read here Assassin Snail (Anentome helena): Complete Care & Breeding Guide
If the problem is small the assassin is the better option.
