# Assassin snails not assassinating



## bassslayer32

I have a planted 10 gallon tank that started to develop a pond snail problem. I was picking them all out as I saw them and it seemed to be working pretty good. I then had the thought of leaving them in there to get the added benefit of them, but didn't want a huge population explosion (I was putting all the captured snails into a 3 gallon tank, and it now has what appears to be a hundred snails in it). So i bought 2 assassin snails to help regulate the population. The problem is that they don't seem to have any interest in the pond snails. I added them a few weeks ago and I haven't seen one empty/dead pond snail. Am I missing something here? I feed my fish once a day, and not overfeed. So now I have pond snail egg sacs and I'm about to have a huge amount of snails if I don't act now. Any suggestions? I really thought the assassin snails would work out better.


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## majerah1

Give them time. They are slow, and to be honset if you have a whole lot of ponds two assassins will not put that big of a dent in it. Throw in some more. They are great little things.


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## coralbandit

conversely most people think they will only eat snails.Not true.They have been reported to enjoy high protien fish foods also and have a keen sense of smell.Drop some of your food in so it hits bottom and see if they go to it.They may just be eating whatever smells better or is easier.


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## bassslayer32

I came home from work the other day to find one of my assassin snails devouring one of my pond snails. Good, that's what I wanted. During my water change I found another empty shell.


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## GreenyFunkyMonkey

Ah, I hate snails. I tried everything... picking them out, evening killing them off with algae killer... but they just would not die. So then I got some ghost shrimp... they love eating snails. Now I don't worry about them at all. I see one or two here and there but nothing to worry about.


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## SueD

The assassins do take time, but once they get the population down, it stays down. I use them in each of my tanks and they are breeding in one tank. But they breed slowly, and you hardly see them. They are burrowed most of the time.


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## Summer

takes time. If you want a quicker fix throw a lump of zucchini in the tank over night, by morning it will be covered with snails and you can remove it.


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## DL Lawrence

I put 4 of them in my 55 gallon to combat an explosion of pond snails. I thought exactly what you did- they weren't doing the job. I found that, as other have mentioned, it takes time- I was looking for results in a couple of weeks. Now, after about a month and a half, I rarely see one of those pond snails.


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## Gizmo

It took 4 assassins 3 months to eradicate a pond snail outbreak in my old 30 gallon. Now, I just leave the pond snails alone in my 10 gallon. My gf loves hunting for egg clutches and they keep my tank clean


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