Ramshorn Snails As Assassin Snail Food - Have I Made A Mistake?

[Mamashack]

I currently have 2 tanks:
1x30L with a male betta, an assassin snail and 3 amano shrimp
1x60L with platy population, 2 assassin snails and 4 amano shrimp.
I got the assassins to clear up an influx of hitchhiker common snails. They seem to have got rid of those and I was concerned that they had left themselves without a food source.
I saw an advert for ramshorn snails on eBay and thought aha! Stock up the larder! Having read a little more about them since I've ordered it seems that they are prolific breeders and can significantly add to the bioload. (yikes!)
I have got 25 raamshorn snails on the way and was planning to put 8 in the smaller tank and 17 in the larger one.
Will the assassins be able to keep up or will the ramshorns breed so fast that they completely take over?
Will the numbers I've mentioned overload the tanks with nitrogenous waste?
Currently have anubias in the smaller tank and java fern in the larger tank - I hear the RH snails love live plants - are mine safe?
Current nitrate levels are around 5ppm in both tanks. pH 7.8, ammonia and nitrItes 0
Small amount of algae due to adding CPK  ferts (as java fern seemed to be melting - I know they are hard to kill, but I seem to be doing it!)
Don't know calcium, phosphate or potassium levels, but have been thinking of getting the appropriate tests.
Have I made a huge mistake or can it work?
Any suggestions would be very much appreciated - if further information is required, please ask.
Many thanks in anticipation!
 
 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Think you should be fine.

I too, keep assassin snails, started with 2 when had a LOT of common snails, within a few months no common snails left!

So that left me with dilemma what to feed assassins with, obviously they are fairly happy to munch on algae wafers and algae on glass and plants. By this time I had about 20 odd assassins. They do breed, albeit slowly and in single eggs.

So I set up a small 3G tank just for the purpose of breeding pond snails for treats for my assassins, every once in a while where's there is a abundance of small pond snails, in they go into the main tank. Within a day or two all pond snails are gone!

So am fairly certain once you have your ramshorns, they'll be gone pretty soon!

 

[Chad]

Now that all my pond snails are dead the assassins do a good job as a clean up crew as they are able to get to leftover food in the substrate. By adding living food for them you take on the task of keeping that food alive as well as dealing with the increased bioload those prey snails add. Unless you like to watch them hunt I personally feel allowing the assassin to fend for itself on leftovers is a better course of action. 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Now that all my pond snails are dead the assassins do a good job as a clean up crew as they are able to get to leftover food in the substrate. By adding living food for them you take on the task of keeping that food alive as well as dealing with the increased bioload those prey snails add. Unless you like to watch them hunt I personally feel allowing the assassin to fend for itself on leftovers is a better course of action. 

 
i do agree with this to a certain extent.
 
I'll make it clear that i do not add pond snails very often, as mentioned already I occasionally add once in a while some pond snails as a treat for the assassins.
 
Now, normally all the pond snails are pretty much all devoured within a day or tow, so i do no feel this adds an awful lot to the bioload as its very short term and the filter media is well established.
And also, I do make a point of taking out as many empty snail shells as can find so the debs / detritus is not added too much to the substrate.
 
Perhaps that makes a very good point though, do not feed your assassins too often with pond snails otherwise the bio-load etc may increase and the assassins won't make as good as a good cleanup crew for leftover foods.
 
Not forgetting that also have Red Cherries Shrimps and in tandem with the assassins, there will be very little leftover food in the tank as well as the fact i only feed the tank about 4 times a week.
 
Think, for me anyway, that this method that i do is a decent way to ensure the assassins are in as good health and happy as can be under my care.

 

[Mamashack]

So do you think that eating only leftovers will keep the assassins happy in the long term, Tcamos?
That's pretty much what they're doing at present, but like Ch4rlie says they are competing with the shrimp and the shrimp are much quicker as you'd expect.
I'm currently adding food to the platy tank 3 times a week and 6 times a week to the betta tank as he's a growing juvenile.
I've got some algae wafers on order but thought they might not be sufficient since the AS's snail diet is naturally high in protein.
I'll add the RHS as planned when they arrive and keep a close eye on the water parameters and pray there isn't a population explosion and that they don't destroy my plants. If any of that happens I might have to think again!
Thanks for your input guys!
[N.B. Instead of CPK in my original post read NPK - I was thinking about Calcium when I wrote that for some reason! 

]

 

[Chad]

It has mine and they breed. Usually breeding is a sign of good health. Several of the young are now mature and will soon breed as well. 

 

[Mamashack]

Thanks for the advice Tcamos! I'll see how it goes and post it on here. 

 

[Chad]

Please do. I always like to hear how things go for people, even if it goes poorly I still learn something from it.

 

[Mamashack]

Well the little beasties have arrived and amazingly they all 25 (½-1 cm) have survived being in a 15ml tube with 8 ml of water for 24 hours going thro the rigours of Royal Mail and dropping 3ft this side of my letterbox! They must be tough little critters!
I've done a water change before adding them to the tanks as previously discussed - approx 8 in the 30L tank and 16/7 in the 60L tank. Some of them were munching on tank wall algae within minutes and 1 poor RH snail was immediately caught by an assassin - didn't think it would be that quick tbh! Must have been very hungry!
 
(incidentally, did a water change before adding the RH snails and rattling around in the bucket I use was a common snail shell. I almost chucked it out then thought it looked like the snail was still in there (but dead surely?) so I put in into the dechlorinated water I'd decanted the RH snails into to see how many were alive and amazingly it came out and started moving around. Must have been have been in the dry bucket about 2½ weeks in outside storage. Thank goodness for assassin snails!)

 

[Chad]

Sounds great. 
Assassins are very efficient. I had probably 250 pond snails and dropped in 5 assassins. It was only a matter of days before the tank was nothing but empty pond snail shells. 

 

[nightsun]

I wish my assassins were so efficient. I must have a selection of lazy buggers

 

[Chad]

I wonder if yours are just getting food elsewhere...

 

[nightsun]

Now there's a thought, Maybe I should starve the tank for a few days sure fish will be fine

 

[Mamashack]

Just a thought - should I remove the empty shells or leave them in there as a calcium source for the others?

 

[Chad]

Just a thought - should I remove the empty shells or leave them in there as a calcium source for the others?

I removed them because they were unsightly. They also act as tiny little detritus traps.