Hi All,
Anyone had any experience with these "assassin" snails? I've had one for about 3 months and it exhibits rather strange behaviour. Namely:
a) a week after it was introduced it had almost completely cleared up the pond/MTS infestation in my tank
b) subsequently sat on the top of a pump withdrawn into its shell for a week. No movement, no activity. Finally I assumed it was dead and went in to remove it to find it had disappeared. The next day I saw it speeding across the tank floor, chasing down a MTS and devouring it.
c) a while later it went missing and I didn't see it for weeks. In the meantime my snail population built up. Eventually it returned and the snail population diminished a bit.
d) most recently it has done another disappearing act and now I have thousands of baby snails around. Reappeared yesterday but, after watching it for some hours, doesn't appear to be interested in the babies. Just wanders around ignoring them.
Rather bizarrely the new baby snails look different from others I've had previously. I've got quite a few of what look like ramshorns. Also got spiral shaped ones that look suspiciously like mini versions of the helena. Thing is nothing but mineralised RO has gone into my tank for over 3 months. So 3 questions:
1) Any ideas on the part-time assassin? Is there some way I can up its effectiveness or should I just get a few more?
2) I understood helenas were very hard to breed. Is it possible it's bred with something else or am I being paranoid and are the babies likely to be MTS?
3) Where the hell did the ramshorns come from? No plants, no fish etc. have come into the tank for months. The tank's been running for 5 months and I've never had ramshorns before.
Anyone had any experience with these "assassin" snails? I've had one for about 3 months and it exhibits rather strange behaviour. Namely:
a) a week after it was introduced it had almost completely cleared up the pond/MTS infestation in my tank
b) subsequently sat on the top of a pump withdrawn into its shell for a week. No movement, no activity. Finally I assumed it was dead and went in to remove it to find it had disappeared. The next day I saw it speeding across the tank floor, chasing down a MTS and devouring it.
c) a while later it went missing and I didn't see it for weeks. In the meantime my snail population built up. Eventually it returned and the snail population diminished a bit.
d) most recently it has done another disappearing act and now I have thousands of baby snails around. Reappeared yesterday but, after watching it for some hours, doesn't appear to be interested in the babies. Just wanders around ignoring them.
Rather bizarrely the new baby snails look different from others I've had previously. I've got quite a few of what look like ramshorns. Also got spiral shaped ones that look suspiciously like mini versions of the helena. Thing is nothing but mineralised RO has gone into my tank for over 3 months. So 3 questions:
1) Any ideas on the part-time assassin? Is there some way I can up its effectiveness or should I just get a few more?
2) I understood helenas were very hard to breed. Is it possible it's bred with something else or am I being paranoid and are the babies likely to be MTS?
3) Where the hell did the ramshorns come from? No plants, no fish etc. have come into the tank for months. The tank's been running for 5 months and I've never had ramshorns before.
