Assassin Snails and what I have learned

[Sounguru]

They will go after the easiest prey first with Rams being #1 Melanias being #2 MTS being #3 and pond/bladder #4 because of speed. If you remove one type of snail say the ramshorns they will start to hunt the others. If I add Rams to my tanks they will start to ingore the other types until the rams (easiest prey) are gone.

They will crawl over other snails or let snails crawl over them if they are not hungry.

As far as the ambush goes they don't really spring out it is more like they wait until something is near by and they will chase it down if hungry. Not like a shark covering itself in sand and then exploding out.

So it doesn't sound like your experiences are that far from the norm.

 

[Lupin]

Will, I'm interested to know about these assassins' markings. They're not mine. The pics were from loaches.com. Owner bought them in Vaasa, Finland.

 

[vampie]

Makes sense. I also just realized I had suggested there would be an order earlier in the thread, something I had forgotten.

Still, mine don't seem to be nearly the mass-murdering, able-to-wipe-out-snail-populations everyone makes them out to be. Or perhaps it's just people exaggerating about them?

 

[Lupin]

Makes sense. I also just realized I had suggested there would be an order earlier in the thread, something I had forgotten.

Still, mine don't seem to be nearly the mass-murdering, able-to-wipe-out-snail-populations everyone makes them out to be. Or perhaps it's just people exaggerating about them?

Our experiences vary, Vampie. My assassins seem to leave pouch snails alone until the MTS run out. Pouch snails are far too quick for them to catch and to them, why try to catch the fast ones if there are other options available? They just chase those desperately once they cannot find any more MTS. As for the baby canas, the babies are plainly dumb not knowing what to do and simply get latched on by assassins quickly once they crawl in front of the assassins' faces.

 

[vampie]

You know, I am actually really beginning to wonder why the quilted melanias are ahead of the MTS on the assassin's hitlist. Other than minor shell differences, the two are virtually the same, it's amazing that they would hunt one down so often and completely ignore the other.

 

[Sounguru]

Will, I'm interested to know about these assassins' markings. They're not mine. The pics were from loaches.com. Owner bought them in Vaasa, Finland.

Those to me look like the Indonesian just wild caught. I have a male almost like the all brown one but the babes have the bold stripes. So my guess it the brown lumpy shell is probably growth due to disease or damage that has healed over. Kind of like a Ramshorn when you move it from a calcium poor tank to a good tank and the new growth can be lumpy over the areas where damage was. The Thailand color straing the stipes are either very faint and smaller or are a tan color.

Here is a comparsion picture of the 3 color morphs first 2 from Thailand and last one from Indonesia from my understanding.

Makes sense. I also just realized I had suggested there would be an order earlier in the thread, something I had forgotten.

Still, mine don't seem to be nearly the mass-murdering, able-to-wipe-out-snail-populations everyone makes them out to be. Or perhaps it's just people exaggerating about them?

What other foods do you put in the tank?

 

[Lupin]

Now that you said it, I had to reexamined the pics and sure enough, those are lumpy growths that you mentioned.

*Now from what I have been able to deduce there are 11 very similar snails spread all over Asia with the closest relative in Thailand. The Thailand Snail from what I have been able to deduce is actually Clea Helena where the Clea Anentome Helena is the Indonesia species we call the Assassin Snail. So I wonder if the Clea has the same habits why we have not seen it in the trade before, although I will admit the markings on the Anentome are a lot more defined and colorful. Basically all 11 are freshwater Welks snails and feed off of mainly meaty remains or as in the case of our sweet little snail, will hunt down other live snails. From what I have been able to gather all 11 will hunt down other snails but that has not been confirmed.

A few more thoughts...Per this quote above from your article, can all 11 of these whelks actually crossbreed with each other?

There is another thing that confuses me. The origin. How many species of these whelks do Thailand and Indonesia each have? I believe there was a bit about them from Africa before. Can some species be found in Africa? Which other Asian countries can they be found?

I tried digging through the geographical locations of assassins but there isn't much written about them at all except the caresheets.

 

[Sounguru]

Now that you said it, I had to reexamined the pics and sure enough, those are lumpy growths that you mentioned.


A few more thoughts...Per this quote above from your article, can all 11 of these whelks actually crossbreed with each other?

There is another thing that confuses me. The origin. How many species of these whelks do Thailand and Indonesia each have? I believe there was a bit about them from Africa before. Can some species be found in Africa? Which other Asian countries can they be found?

I tried digging through the geographical locations of assassins but there isn't much written about them at all except the caresheets.

I have found very little info the 11 freshwater whelks, minus our Indonesian friend. So I really can not answer that. I just came across the # of other snails in the family in a couple of nerd journals on snail varities that I can't find today to save my life..

Oh and it is supposed to be Whelks not Welks...:lipssealedsmilie:

Here is an interesting piece saying the the Great Pond Snail is a freshwater Whelk
Pond Basics

Assassins are found mainly thoughout SE Asia but the more colorful one we know is limited to Indonesia from my understanding. Makes me wonder why ever the plainer ones weren't introduced earlier if they all have the same habits.

 

[Lupin]

I always see the Indonesia being the source of many exotic and undiscovered species. Tylomelania sp., Sulawesi shrimps such as Celebes beauty, and then the assassin snails. I fell in love with the assassins the first time I got them. The colors are something to gape on.:jaw:

I'm hoping we may be able to gather more data on these fantastic snails that other sites cannot.

 

[Sounguru]

Well In some ways we are already ahead between what you know and others on this site I think as a combined whole we are well ahead of any other site.

We know that other sites are stealing info and claiming it is their own...:evil_lol: