# Assassin Snail?



## pandakami (Dec 1, 2014)

My 5.5g is having a mini explosion of MTS... and I really don't want them in my tank nor do I enjoy them snacking on my live plants . However, I read that Assassin snails can attack shrimp or shrimplets? Anyone with experience know anything about them? I'd love to get just one to control the population in the tank, but I worry that they may attack my shrimp(and shrimplets) or fry.


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

I have no experience with that, however if you only have one of them I dont see how much damage it could do if your shrimp are breeding well. if you do notice a drop in shrimplets then its just one "round" of shrimplets depleted...


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Assassin snails are a great way to control snails, and your shrimp will be fine.

Edit: Here are photos of an Assassin at work, and making a getaway:


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## corrie (Aug 10, 2014)

Assassins are good at getting rid of other pest snails i have 4 in with my cherry/fire red shrimps i have not seen them eat or go after my shrimps if you would like a Assassin i can give you one for free just let me know if you do want one


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## Jousters (Jan 16, 2014)

I have no problems with Assain snails with my shrimp.However they will not wipe out all the snails in the tank.If you do not have many shrimp I remove them to another tank and add a yo yo loach or any other snail eating loach until the snails are gone.I move my loaches once they have done there job to my fish only tank.


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## pandakami (Dec 1, 2014)

Jousters said:


> I have no problems with Assain snails with my shrimp.However they will not wipe out all the snails in the tank.If you do not have many shrimp I remove them to another tank and add a yo yo loach or any other snail eating loach until the snails are gone.I move my loaches once they have done there job to my fish only tank.


Problem is i have a 5.5g.... Not enough room for the loaches. PLus, no where to move them to at the moment, I don't have a spare tank.


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## pandakami (Dec 1, 2014)

corrie said:


> Assassins are good at getting rid of other pest snails i have 4 in with my cherry/fire red shrimps i have not seen them eat or go after my shrimps if you would like a Assassin i can give you one for free just let me know if you do want one


That's reassuring  and thanks


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## Jousters (Jan 16, 2014)

I have a spare 5.5 gallon you can have.You can transfer the shrimp,filter water into the spare tank until you remove all the snails.I don't think you will be able to take them all out by hand.PM if you are interested.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That rumour of assassin snails attacking shrimps continues to propagate on the internet. Totally false. Can you imagine a snail catching a shrimp?  Kinda like a slug catching a grasshopper.


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## crazy72 (Apr 22, 2010)

Yeah I've seen pics of an Assassin eating a shrimp, but it was likely just scavenging on a dead shrimp.


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## Lutefisk (Jun 29, 2014)

I've seen my assassins get live shrimp that were moulting, but it's such a rarity that I wouldn't be concerned. Unless you've got only a couple female shrimp in your colony, even if your assassins _did_ get lucky and stumble upon a moulting female, they couldn't put a serious dent in the shrimp colony's reproductive output.


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## TomC (Apr 21, 2010)

Moving shrimp around from tank to tank isnt a good idea. The less you disturb them, the better. Assassins will keep your snail population low enough that they shouldnt be a problem. You can also trap or hand pick them out. If you really want to be 100% snail free, tearing the tank down and sterilizing the gravel is probably what you need to do. A few snails are good for the tank anyway. They keep the gravel stirred up and eat excess food. If they are MTSnails, the plants will be okay.


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## Jeffski (Oct 2, 2012)

I also had a planted 5.5 gallon that had an MTS explosion (100+ of these guys) and got 3 assassin snails from IPU. It's been about 6 months now, and my assassin population has jumped to around 20 of them while I might see the odd MTS wandering around. However, it took a good 2 to 3 months before I really started to see the MTS population going down. Also, my assassins tended to burrow in a way that would uproot some of my less rooted plants which the MTS didn't uproot. PM me and let me know if you want a few assassins.


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## Goundar2010 (Jan 12, 2015)

Assassin snails are the best! I had Java moss in my tank over run with snails within a month with 6 Assassin snails all those pesky unwanted snails were gone. I still had all my shrimp. I keep Assassin snails in my 10 and 2.5 gallon as well. Have at least 4 in your 5.5 gallon and it will be perfect!


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