My assassins took down my oldest bridgesii this morning

[Hollygirl]

I hope your bridgessi will be okay! I'm not surprised to tell you the truth that they attacked such a large snail, or by the recent thread about them going after a shrimp. The babies that I got from you have taken down adult ramshorns that were four times their size. I plan on keeping mine in the 10 gallon with only pond snails. If you plan on selling any of them keep me in mind for an order in the spring.

 

[grannylvsfish]

I don't know that I would keep them with fry. They are carnivores. I would ask sounguru what he thinks about it, he knows more about them than me.

if not I have an extra tank up for my fry, ( got molly fry in it now ) I can just put the fry in with the guppy fry. can you sell me two assissin mates?

 

[AquaGem]

that's really sad I hope the big guy is ok. It's kinda like they formed a gang and jumped him. Freaky.

 

[msjinkzd]

I cannot make guarantees about their gender as I don't really know how to sex them. It seems like they form pairs, but I have no real way of knowing which is which.

 

[Hollygirl]

I think they pair off or "gang up" on prey too. As mine are maturing this is the behaviour that I am seeing. The 6 gallon that they are in now has a ton or hornwort in it so I'm anxious to get them in the 10 to see how they react. Something else that I have noticed is that I have no other "pests" in the 6 gallon like planaria or copods etc. I'm pretty good at keeping up with partial water changes and feeding correctly but usually in an invert tank you get a lot of bonus critters; not so in the Assassin tank. I'm wondering if they eat things like planaria as well?

 

[grannylvsfish]

I don't know that I would keep them with fry. They are carnivores. I would ask sounguru what he thinks about it, he knows more about them than me.

he has his with fry, says its ok. there cool snails, will they kill every snail out there? nerites ? they sure are pretty.

 

[Sounguru]

Okay some know facts.....

#1 They will gang up and take down larger snails not always killing it straight out but doing enough damage it may not survive.

#2 There are no confirmed reports of them eating healthy fish, just rumours and those are real sketchy.

#3 It takes a male and a female to reproduce, and they lay one egg per egg sac and only 5 to 15 at a time. It take 3 to 4 weeks to hatch and 6 months or more to reach full size.

#4 They are both Predators and Scavenagers They will actively hunt for food but will usually take whatever is the easiest meal avaiable to them. This will cause them to pass up say an MTS to get to a Ramshorn because they are easier to crack open so to speak.

#5 Shrimp attacks are very rare and far between .. So no worry there.

Here is all the info and more soon to be updated again.... http://arizonainverts.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=204

 

[The Zigman]

Man those things are mean...
oughtta call them killer snails, or murderer snails or assassin snails or something...

Just kiddin Rach, hope the old apple pulls through for ya!

 

[saram521]

I agree with Rachel. If an assassin snail was able to get hold of an adult shrimp, as rich_one witnessed firsthand, I believe an assassin could take down an unsuspecting baby fish. We know how fast shrimp are at narrowly escaping dangerous situations, for the most part, and I don't think fry are nearly as quick as shrimp are at hauling tail.

 

[grannylvsfish]

well to tell you the truth, I have way to many fry anyways:lipssealedsmilie: