Snail control

[SammyTargo]

Thanks, Sammy, that answers my question.

Are you afraid of assassins because they would kill your nerite? They are one of the most common aquarium snails and you can easily get more.

 

[LEricG]

Thanks, everyone, for your input. I need to give this more thought. In the meantime, I will remove as many as I can, manually.

 

[LEricG]

Are you afraid of assassins because they would kill your nerite? They are one of the most common aquarium snails and you can easily get more.)

It's a question of economics - I bought 2 nerites (one died). They cost me a fiver (£ 5) each.

 

[raylove]

For me it's not the economics - I like my Nerites and wouldn't introduce anything that wouldn't be compatible with them any more than I would introduce a predatory fish into a community tank.

 

[SammyTargo]

It's a question of economics - I bought 2 nerites (one died). They cost me a fiver (£ 5) each.

I understand.

I know not everyone has the patience or resources to do this, but if I could recomend sacrificing the nerite and getting the assassin(s). Afterward, you could rebuy a few nerites (3 should work), and create a brackish basin for them to breed in; it doesn’t have to be pretty, just a bin/bucket with water, and possibly some brackish-tolerating plants.

Then you can get way more nerites, they are really simple to breed, and then you should have enough for the tank. If you ever run low, grab a few from the tank, quickly setup the thing, and plop em in.

 

[LEricG]

For me it's not the economics - I like my Nerites and wouldn't introduce anything that wouldn't be compatible with them any more than I would introduce a predatory fish into a community tank.

Actually, Ray, I gave the wrong impression there. I do think about the cost in such circumstances, but first and foremost, I do care about the creatures in my tanks. If the shrimp are safe with the Assassins, I have thought about taking out the Nerite and putting it into one of my bigger tanks, where I have just fish, and then putting Assassins in the small tank to clean it up.

 

[SammyTargo]

Actually, Ray, I gave the wrong impression there. I do think about the cost in such circumstances, but first and foremost, I do care about the creatures in my tanks. If the shrimp are safe with the Assassins, I have thought about taking out the Nerite and putting it into one of my bigger tanks, where I have just fish, and then putting Assassins in the small tank to clean it up.

you can definitely do that, and that also solves your biggest problem with the assassins. I would buy a few more nerites and do the breeder still though, it is very cost-efficient.

 

[TwoTankAmin34]

I had not issues with breeding assassins in my tanks. I started with 10, added another 5. Since then I have sold 100s. They are basically carnivores and will eat many of the foods we feed in our tanks.

because I was working with a number of plecos and used grow tanks, I fed a lot in these. The result was rampant snails. I will not put assassins or amano shrimp into breeder or grow tanks. Since I also like to leave fru to grow in the breeding tanks unless there are too many, I usually fed well in these tanks also. Some of the pleco species will eat snails but others do not.

So for a number of years I have been harvesting snails from the tanks where they can run rampant. I then drop the snails into the tanks with assassins. I typically remove 50-100 pond snails a week and feed them inn other tanks. I can drop 25-30 pond snails into many tanks every week but I almost never can spot any pond snails in thise tanks in less than 24 hpours.

Crushing the shells is OK up to a point. While the dead meaty part is consumed, the shells are not. These break down over time and can cause calcium carbonate levels to rise. The calcium can raise GH levels while the carbonate can raise the KH. Assassin snails do not eat the shells of their prey. Fortunately, the assassins use the calcium carbonate to build their shells. Additionally, almost all the tanks where I have assassins I also have shrimp- either Neocaridinas and/or Amano shrimp.