Snails that can't be defeated by assassin snails?

[FreshyFresh]

Is there such a thing?

Reason I ask, most of my tanks had Malaysian trumpet snails for years. I didn't mind them as they gave me good indication as to if I was feeding too much or not.

2-3yrs ago while I was visiting a relatively new LFS, I noticed they had assassin snails for sale. I figured I'd try a few. I put 3-4 in each of my tanks. As time went on, ALL of the Malaysian trumpets disappeared. I haven't seen a live one in 2yrs. None of the assassins made it in my oscar tank as he gobbles them. For what ever reason, In my heavily planted 55, after the few assassins consumed all the MTS, which was a crap ton of them, the assassins disappeared as well. I do have bristle nose plecos in this tank that pick off any scraps, so I figure that may have starved them out.

My 29 gal that I moved into a 55 has a bunch of assassins still. I was just curious if it's possible to keep other snails with them.

 

[Wyomingite]

I've read that anything a lot larger, like nerites, rabbit snails or bigger, are not bugged by them, but I've never given it a try. I stumbled across a video on YouTube that showed several smaller assassins teaming up to kill a really large MTS so I did want to risk it. As for disappearing, I've noted every time I've had assassins they'll seem to stop reproducing and eventually die out if they don't have a steady supply of snails, even though some sources say they can survive on food that drops to the bottom of a tank like ramshorns and pond snails.

WYite

 

[FreshyFresh]

The assassins from my 29 grew quite large even though they haven't had other snails to consume in a long time. Maybe it's the occasional omega one tropical flake scraps they might get? They don't care for omega one veggie rounds.

My take away from this is if you want to get rid of MTS, etc. assassin snails will do the trick until their all gone.

 

[Wyomingite]

Oh yeah, they'll destoy MTS, ramshorns and pond snail populations completely. I guess I should have been clearer. It's not like all the assassins disappeared overnight. They just didn't come out as much until I never saw them. And I'm 100% sure the ones I had didn't reproduce once the prey snails were gone.

WYite

 

[Sprinkle]

Oh yeah, they'll destoy MTS, ramshorns and pond snail populations completely. I guess I should have been clearer. It's not like all the assassins disappeared overnight. They just didn't come out as much until I never saw them. And I'm 100% sure the ones I had didn't reproduce once the prey snails were gone.

WYite

Haha assasin snails r definitely real assasins!
They may no have disappeared as they like to hide in substrate to.

 

[Wyomingite]

Haha assasin snails r definitely real assasins!
They may no have disappeared as they like to hide in substrate to.

No, they were gone. We're talking a year or more later, and after more pond snails or ramshorns had been established after adding new plants.

WYite

 

[Sprinkle]

No, they were gone. We're talking a year or more later, and after more pond snails or ramshorns had been established after adding new plants.

WYite

Oo that is new 2 me LOL so they like need 2 have snails to eat and if no snail colony they die out? Well then no wonder my local lfs has them so rarely

 

[Wyomingite]

Oo that is new 2 me LOL so they like need 2 have snails to eat and if no snail colony they die out? Well then no wonder my local lfs has them so rarely

No. I stopped seeing young completely and gradually the adults died off. It didn't seem they were reproducing once the snails were gone, or at least they weren't reproducing as fast.

WYite

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Here is all I can say about assassins and no feeder snails left:

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-KGp7SGd/0/90370d51/S/i-KGp7SGd-S.jpg

Thes guys are piled atop of Hikari Algae Wafers. I breed plecos and feed the tanks heavily. I cannot put assassins in such tanks so they get full of pest snails. I remove them and drop them into the tanks with assassins. When that is not enough they get the Algae wafers.

 

[Wyomingite]

Here is all I can say about assassins and no feeder snails left:

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-KGp7SGd/0/90370d51/S/i-KGp7SGd-S.jpg

Thes guys are piled atop of Hikari Algae Wafers. I breed plecos and feed the tanks heavily. I cannot put assassins in such tanks so they get full of pest snails. I remove them and drop them into the tanks with assassins. When that is not enough they get the Algae wafers.

Wow! That is way different from my experiences. The ones I had never swarmed like that on Hikari wafers, other wafers, flake foods, frozen shrimp, frozen blood worms, or anything else, except when I still had problem snails and they'd use the chance to ambush those. That's crazy. Now I wonder if just didn't have enough left overs after the fish ate to keep the snails going after looking at the difference. I never had a very big population of assassin snails anyways.

You said you don't put them in your breeding tanks. Do they attack fry? I've read that they eat shrimplets, so it wouldn't surprise me if they'd eat wrigglers. Breeding cichlids, either the young fish were too big in the case of mouthbrooders or the parents would pick at any snails that came close until the snail was dead or turned back, so I've never had that problem.

WYite