tiny ramshorn snails

[Mark Z.]

Hi all,

I have been overrun with tiny ramshorn snails! They are everywhere. I have spent lots of time picking them off the leaves and crushing them for my fish to eat, but now there are just too many.

I picked up four assassin snails at the pet store. But now I am wondering if they will kill my nerite snails? And I am wondering if the assassin snails will even go after the very tiny ramshorn snails.

Any suggestions? Should I remove the assassin snails before they kill the nerites?

The pet stores near me do not carry small loaches and I do not have room for clown loaches.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[Byron]

In many parts of the US they disapprove of assassin snails because they have gotten into some ecosystems and killed off the native snails. So make sure none of these ever leave your tanks alive (flushing them accidentally in a bucket of tank water for instance could spell disaster for the local ecosystem).

I don't know if the assassin will kill nerites, I'll leave that for others to comment on, but it wouldn't surprise me if they do.

I have hundreds, thousands in some tanks, of snails, though not Ramshorn. This is beneficial, as they eat organics which breaks them down faster for the bacteria. The number of small snails is indicative of the level or organics in the aquarium, and they will not reproduce to levels that cannot be sustained by the available food. Be careful not to let these get into the natural ecosystem as well.