I would never have an aquarium without snails, they are great for gobbling up any excess fish food and breaking down dead plant matter. And they make an aquarium look more natural. Love those rabbit snail shells! 🐌
I agree, I just find them fascinating. There is such a wide diversity of them and they are quite relaxing. Rabbit snails have beautiful shells, no idea how to display them more nicely though.
@@jonstfrancis their bioload is negligible plus they can act as a food source. they dont leave the soil dirty either. are much better at consuming microorganism.
Omg... I love assassin snails... I have them in every tank... they look good and I never had an issue with an overpopulation and they don't eat my plants
1st video I have watched of yours. Very informative, subscribed. I hope you don't take this in a bad way but I think the audio quality in the video may put off a few people from watching, might be worth having a tweak with the audio settings of your device.
Thank you :) it is just the one video I think as I used my phone over my normal camera. Although usually the phone is okay so no idea why the volume was bad.
i can’t remember the initial number I got but at one point the decor would be covered in them. I do suspect they feed on the Loricariids food but never seen them do so.
I had a single assasin my 8gal. Had a lot of bladder snails for many months before getting the assasin snail. Somehow it ate them all in a couple of months. Still with me now in a bigger snail free tank and is doing just fine.
So i have a tank with a large amount off bladder/ pond snails.... i got 1 assassin snail.. and shortly after i noticed alot of assassin snail eggs... which tells me she was pregnant before i got her
Maybe you can help me. I am trying to find any scientific paper on Tylomelania spp.I can't find a single paper, only where they are found. I need a paper about the autonomy and how they breed so I can use it as reference.
I'm not sure what would be best but taxonomic papers might be worth looking up. There are quite a few describing species and those papers usually define any defining anatomy.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology I found a taxonomic paper. But they do not describe it. I don't know why it is so hard to find information about them. My main problem is that many claim that they have a "gender" and some describe them as hermaphrodites. So I decided to do a bit of research and nothing came up. I have used 15 hours plus on it. But thanks for answering :)
So far I asked 3 malacologists and many ecologists and none of them had detailed information on Tylomelania reproduction. They are not hermaphorodites but it’s unknown if the females are capable of parthenogenesis, and if this varies between different species within the genus
@@metasymphony Would be interesting to know if they were capable of parthenogenesis, never just had one. I think all of Viviparidae might be dioecious or at least those in the trade.
@@metasymphony yeah, it is super strange, right? I don't know if the information is written down in a book and is seen as "good enough" and is stored somewhere 😅 Someone would think that it has been done at some point. Thanks for asking and I will try to research further.
More to life than spelling, I noticed but I have no need to edit it. If you’re going to critique grammar but missed the first word. It’s also PhD not PHd.
I keep Blueberry snails (Viviparus sp.) I had to move them to their own tank with no snail predators (they were not doing well in my shrimp tank, snail leaches and ramshorns bothered them too much) I’ve found the pitting was mostly caused by ramshorns chewing on them, and upon separating them the blueberries are doing fantastically and breeding well. (I’m just paranoid over any annelid I see) 😂 (“you better start gliding or we are going to have a problem!” (Leaches inch around)).
No, I’ve had them in very low conductivity water before. It might be the food but not sure. It would depend on the snails to whether they need more calcium in the water so nerites and such I would suspect rely on that more. Tylomelania not sure as they do have some very strange water chemistry where they come from.
This is funny because I just started manually removing assassin snails from one of my tanks. I got them because I wanted to get rid of Malaysian trumpet snails, but they ate all my bladder and ramshorn snails first. I decided I'd just have to wait it out and they'd eventually eat the MTS, which they did, but then I had the worst algae outbreak ever. I probably caught 30 assassins the other day. Now I pick them out every time I see one.
Somehow managed to wipe out my colony of Assassins, I think it must have been the Khuli Loaches that did that. Not sure if they eat the snails' young, or just outcompete them as scavengers, but they're gone in my main tank.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology There are a few locally owned fish stores that will have a "loaner" program with pea puffers. You buy them. and when you return them a month later, you get store credit of half the price you paid. Once the snails are gone, they will go after other fish. also, they work far better in larger tanks. 40gal+ as a solo. They work well until they turn. gotta keep an eye on em and pull em. cute little guys. they have such a great personality.
@@phishENchimps I'd rather not risk my fishes welfare with the pea puffer. We also don't have anything like that here. Assassin snails also have incredibly solid snails so more in line for something with stronger pharyngeal jaws or maybe a SA puffer which are even more risky.
I solved a pest snail problem by getting puffers. I never had an infestation but preferred to not have snails eating the eggs of egg scatterers. Now I have a snail shortage and have to search for them to feed puffers.
That is the risk with a lot of snails that they might eat eggs, I find Tylomelania seem relatively specialist on food but maybe more herbivorous as they seem much more keen on vegetables then a lot of anything else. Although they do have a taste for silicone. I wouldn't mind a puffer one day but I really don't trust them with other fishes, seen a mbu bite a bristlenose in half and the nipping from other species.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology Yes, puffers are certainly best in a species only situation. I have seen many videos of them in community setups but figure that is temporary at best. I did not realize silicone was a good vegetable substitute. LOL
I have a small shrimp tank that had an outbreak of pest snails. I had a single assassin that I got because of an outbreak in my cichlid tank. I decided to put the assassin in the shrimp tank to take care of the pest snails sense he did such a great job in my other tank. Well, he ended up eating a bunch of my damn shrimp. Felt bad though because I took him out because I didn't want him eating the shrimp. Put him back with the cichlids and they decided he was good food, and he ended up getting eaten as well.
I just leave them to it to be honest, I have mostly algivores and detritivores so feed a lot of Repashy soilent green with extra algaes, also a mixture of frozen foods and Tetra pro colour crisps for the discus. There are vegetables that go in and I know the snails feed on that. They also feed on some of the fresh wood I add in yearly.
Trick is Assassin snails are either male or female, and females need to be mated by a male to have offspring. So if you put a bunch in there own tank etc first and watch them mating, females are bigger than males, and males ride on the back of females. So when you see them mating you pick out the riders (males) to use, then you have control of the amount of Assassin snails per tank.
Very good video, i am definitely on the side of them not being pests but if you don't know how to control them then they will be. Strangely earlier today I found an assassin snail in one of my tanks. It must have snook in on a plant
Thank you :) I think pest snails are fascinating, there are some beautiful ones. Assassin snails are everywhere but wouldn't be surprised plant sellers are using them as many buyers are put off by snails. I definitely don't want more as removing them is a nightmare. Been tempted to remove all the rabbits then copper the tanks.
Normally, I don't have a problem with "pest" snails, but I've seen them eating the "door" of my mystery snails (I guess, to get calcium 🤔), that would became thinner and thinner, until it would disappear, and the mystery snail would die shortly after. Each mystery snail would have something like 3-4 pest snails eating their "door". So, I've introduced Assassin snails to deal with that and it work great, no more disappearing "doors" and dead mystery snails as a result. Also, assasins are not a threat to mystery snails, once they get larger than 1cm (about the size that I get them at). Bonus, they help deal with mystery snails that die of old age. As some might know, If a large mistery snail dies and you don't get it out, it becomes a large source of polution in the tank. The Assassin snails being meat eaters, deal with the corpse and all that remain is the shell. Also, I don't need to destroy the mystery snails clutches of eggs, to keep the mystery snails population under control (I have 15 in 130 litres, and I don't want more), as assasins take care of that. So, now I cultivate pest snails in one of my tanks to feed the Assassin snails in the other.
Great video!! Thanks!!! There’s an old American children’s song I learned in the 1st grade called, “I Know An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly”. She starts by swallowing a fly and then a spider to catch the fly and then a bird to catch the spider etc… This seems apropos. Lol
If anything I'd love to have my tank overrun by assassin snails...you can sell them for like $3-4 each. Unlike pest snails which are often given out by other hobbyist for free lol
I prefer having a few Assassin snails in tanks where I have Malaysian Trumpet Snails or if I`m having loads of Physa .. Physa and MTSs are the worst in my opinion.. but that`s because I don`t want them to eat any of my Cichlid- or Killi-fish eggs !! My experience is Planorbarius corneus is a better snail when breeding fish, Planorbarius don`t tend to eat healthy fish eggs, I believe they only go for eating algaes or things that smells..( dead eggs/leaves/restproducts) ??!!?? // Thanks for spreading some interesting knowledge!! :D
I bet, I suspect Physa has stopped my Rineloricaria spawning as that tank has quite a few and they keep entering the bamboo where they are spawning. Planorbella I think as well can also be an issue but it might be where they were competing for the same caves.
But I like my Assassin snails. I was unintentionally gifted Malaysian Trumpet, Ramshorn, Pond, and Bladder snails. My loaches failed to rid me of them. Assassin snails are my new friends.
Malaysian trumpets, M. tuberculata I’m told some Rift Valley cichlids can eat the babies but similar to Asolene spixi not much seems to eat them. They seem to really take over aquariums too. I think if you don’t want other snails then assassins are fine, I just really like having many different snails.
I agree, I've never seen them reach for fishes like Ampulluridae do but wouldn't be surprised. Once I'm sure I don't have any I can get many more interesting snails.
i use snail to clean algae, so this assasin help me alot to controling them. n their population bloom xD, now i have to add lots of snail to feed the assasin hahahah
Snails can be useful for that, it's fascinating to see their little tracks along the glass as they feed. Sadly most of my ornamental ones don't but I'd like some Filopaludina martensi or Viviparus snails who do, not because they do but I think they are really pretty.
I have a 29-gallon tank with female bettas, neons, white clouds, albino corys and African dwarf frogs. My tank is high is vegetation keeping the nitrates down despite this. When buying floating plants for it, bladder snails became a scourge. Too make sure some food got to my frogs I tend to overfeed and that quickly made the snail population unmanageable. SOLUTION #1: I bought yoyo loaches who quickly wiped out 99% of the snails, but they grew quickly and they have a reputation of becoming more aggressive when they get bigger, so I moved them into a 55-gallon with rainbow praecox, larger koi bettas, rasboras and some of the biggest corys I've ever seen. Immediately, the snails came back with a vengeance. SOLUTION #2: Bought 3 assassin snails. They aren't as effective as they don't take out the snails that live in the roots of the floaters, but they keep the numbers manageable. A happy accident is I got more floater stowaways from my last purchase, so I have a few shrimp in my cleanup crew now.
Big Pest Snail sponsored this video
Haha the snail overlord funds all snail content.
My right ear enjoyed the video.
My left ear felt left out, though.
I would never have an aquarium without snails, they are great for gobbling up any excess fish food and breaking down dead plant matter. And they make an aquarium look more natural. Love those rabbit snail shells! 🐌
I agree, I just find them fascinating. There is such a wide diversity of them and they are quite relaxing. Rabbit snails have beautiful shells, no idea how to display them more nicely though.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology I guess you could glue them to something and mount them on your wall like a poster? But they look pretty cool in the jar.
no way, shrimps are much better cleaners. snails can actually add to the bioload and they can make the aquarium soil "dirty".
@@ChrisWijtmans of course snails add to the bioload but so do shrimp.
@@jonstfrancis their bioload is negligible plus they can act as a food source. they dont leave the soil dirty either. are much better at consuming microorganism.
They’re doing a great job in my tank
Omg... I love assassin snails... I have them in every tank... they look good and I never had an issue with an overpopulation and they don't eat my plants
Thank you for all of your time put into your videos. Please keep up the good work
Thank you for watching!
Assassin Snails would be a sick name for a doom metal band
Haha it would be!
Bloody Vegans is a great band name
Now opening for Trampled By Turtles!
@@rogerhuggettjr.7675 I feel a festival coming on 🤣
@@mark6302 headlining the Dugs like biscuits festival for the forth year running !!!
Cool video
1st video I have watched of yours. Very informative, subscribed. I hope you don't take this in a bad way but I think the audio quality in the video may put off a few people from watching, might be worth having a tweak with the audio settings of your device.
Scratch that audio issue thing, just watched another video of yours and the audio is fine so it maybe it was just this video :)
Thank you :) it is just the one video I think as I used my phone over my normal camera. Although usually the phone is okay so no idea why the volume was bad.
I agree, thanks for this video
Thank you for watching the video!
really hard to get any infestation as they lay single eggs. I tried!
i can’t remember the initial number I got but at one point the decor would be covered in them. I do suspect they feed on the Loricariids food but never seen them do so.
I had a single assasin my 8gal. Had a lot of bladder snails for many months before getting the assasin snail. Somehow it ate them all in a couple of months. Still with me now in a bigger snail free tank and is doing just fine.
Thanks! I love snails.🐌
I don't have assassin's or Malaysia snails.
Enjoy your content.
Thank you! Snails are amazing.
My right ear loves this video
So i have a tank with a large amount off bladder/ pond snails.... i got 1 assassin snail.. and shortly after i noticed alot of assassin snail eggs... which tells me she was pregnant before i got her
Maybe you can help me.
I am trying to find any scientific paper on Tylomelania spp.I can't find a single paper, only where they are found.
I need a paper about the autonomy and how they breed so I can use it as reference.
I'm not sure what would be best but taxonomic papers might be worth looking up. There are quite a few describing species and those papers usually define any defining anatomy.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology I found a taxonomic paper. But they do not describe it. I don't know why it is so hard to find information about them.
My main problem is that many claim that they have a "gender" and some describe them as hermaphrodites.
So I decided to do a bit of research and nothing came up. I have used 15 hours plus on it.
But thanks for answering :)
So far I asked 3 malacologists and many ecologists and none of them had detailed information on Tylomelania reproduction. They are not hermaphorodites but it’s unknown if the females are capable of parthenogenesis, and if this varies between different species within the genus
@@metasymphony Would be interesting to know if they were capable of parthenogenesis, never just had one. I think all of Viviparidae might be dioecious or at least those in the trade.
@@metasymphony yeah, it is super strange, right? I don't know if the information is written down in a book and is seen as "good enough" and is stored somewhere 😅
Someone would think that it has been done at some point.
Thanks for asking and I will try to research further.
PHd?? How did you spell Than wrong??
More to life than spelling, I noticed but I have no need to edit it. If you’re going to critique grammar but missed the first word.
It’s also PhD not PHd.
I've never had a problem with them.
I think you should try Cane Toads, zNile Perch and Mongooses to eat the assassin snails.
I keep Blueberry snails (Viviparus sp.) I had to move them to their own tank with no snail predators (they were not doing well in my shrimp tank, snail leaches and ramshorns bothered them too much)
I’ve found the pitting was mostly caused by ramshorns chewing on them, and upon separating them the blueberries are doing fantastically and breeding well. (I’m just paranoid over any annelid I see) 😂 (“you better start gliding or we are going to have a problem!” (Leaches inch around)).
Do you add anything to your water to maintain snail shell heath? My snails always end up with eroded shells.
No, I’ve had them in very low conductivity water before. It might be the food but not sure. It would depend on the snails to whether they need more calcium in the water so nerites and such I would suspect rely on that more. Tylomelania not sure as they do have some very strange water chemistry where they come from.
This is funny because I just started manually removing assassin snails from one of my tanks. I got them because I wanted to get rid of Malaysian trumpet snails, but they ate all my bladder and ramshorn snails first. I decided I'd just have to wait it out and they'd eventually eat the MTS, which they did, but then I had the worst algae outbreak ever. I probably caught 30 assassins the other day. Now I pick them out every time I see one.
Somehow managed to wipe out my colony of Assassins, I think it must have been the Khuli Loaches that did that. Not sure if they eat the snails' young, or just outcompete them as scavengers, but they're gone in my main tank.
Possibly, I never had the assassins when I had the Pangio loaches. Maybe they just eat the eggs as well.
pea puffers do the work
My choice!!
The problem is for many fishes puffers are nippy and one bite can cause a lot of damage so it's not like a nippy cichlid or tetra.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology There are a few locally owned fish stores that will have a "loaner" program with pea puffers. You buy them. and when you return them a month later, you get store credit of half the price you paid. Once the snails are gone, they will go after other fish. also, they work far better in larger tanks. 40gal+ as a solo. They work well until they turn. gotta keep an eye on em and pull em. cute little guys. they have such a great personality.
@@phishENchimps I'd rather not risk my fishes welfare with the pea puffer. We also don't have anything like that here. Assassin snails also have incredibly solid snails so more in line for something with stronger pharyngeal jaws or maybe a SA puffer which are even more risky.
I solved a pest snail problem by getting puffers. I never had an infestation but preferred to not have snails eating the eggs of egg scatterers. Now I have a snail shortage and have to search for them to feed puffers.
That is the risk with a lot of snails that they might eat eggs, I find Tylomelania seem relatively specialist on food but maybe more herbivorous as they seem much more keen on vegetables then a lot of anything else. Although they do have a taste for silicone.
I wouldn't mind a puffer one day but I really don't trust them with other fishes, seen a mbu bite a bristlenose in half and the nipping from other species.
@@FreshwaterIchthyology Yes, puffers are certainly best in a species only situation. I have seen many videos of them in community setups but figure that is temporary at best. I did not realize silicone was a good vegetable substitute. LOL
puffers can be aggresive towards other fish so not always an option.
@@ChrisWijtmans Yup. Puffers are dicks but they make up for it in personality. LOL Mostly....
Frozen, live Brine shrimp or Blood worms work with dwarfes (peas)
❤❤❤❤❤❤
I have a small shrimp tank that had an outbreak of pest snails. I had a single assassin that I got because of an outbreak in my cichlid tank. I decided to put the assassin in the shrimp tank to take care of the pest snails sense he did such a great job in my other tank. Well, he ended up eating a bunch of my damn shrimp. Felt bad though because I took him out because I didn't want him eating the shrimp. Put him back with the cichlids and they decided he was good food, and he ended up getting eaten as well.
Great video! Do you have a food list you use for your rabbit snails, there shells looked very nice
I just leave them to it to be honest, I have mostly algivores and detritivores so feed a lot of Repashy soilent green with extra algaes, also a mixture of frozen foods and Tetra pro colour crisps for the discus. There are vegetables that go in and I know the snails feed on that. They also feed on some of the fresh wood I add in yearly.
Trick is Assassin snails are either male or female, and females need to be mated by a male to have offspring. So if you put a bunch in there own tank etc first and watch them mating, females are bigger than males, and males ride on the back of females. So when you see them mating you pick out the riders (males) to use, then you have control of the amount of Assassin snails per tank.
Very good video, i am definitely on the side of them not being pests but if you don't know how to control them then they will be. Strangely earlier today I found an assassin snail in one of my tanks. It must have snook in on a plant
Thank you :) I think pest snails are fascinating, there are some beautiful ones.
Assassin snails are everywhere but wouldn't be surprised plant sellers are using them as many buyers are put off by snails. I definitely don't want more as removing them is a nightmare. Been tempted to remove all the rabbits then copper the tanks.
Normally, I don't have a problem with "pest" snails, but I've seen them eating the "door" of my mystery snails (I guess, to get calcium 🤔), that would became thinner and thinner, until it would disappear, and the mystery snail would die shortly after. Each mystery snail would have something like 3-4 pest snails eating their "door".
So, I've introduced Assassin snails to deal with that and it work great, no more disappearing "doors" and dead mystery snails as a result. Also, assasins are not a threat to mystery snails, once they get larger than 1cm (about the size that I get them at). Bonus, they help deal with mystery snails that die of old age. As some might know, If a large mistery snail dies and you don't get it out, it becomes a large source of polution in the tank. The Assassin snails being meat eaters, deal with the corpse and all that remain is the shell. Also, I don't need to destroy the mystery snails clutches of eggs, to keep the mystery snails population under control (I have 15 in 130 litres, and I don't want more), as assasins take care of that.
So, now I cultivate pest snails in one of my tanks to feed the Assassin snails in the other.
Great video!! Thanks!!! There’s an old American children’s song I learned in the 1st grade called, “I Know An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly”. She starts by swallowing a fly and then a spider to catch the fly and then a bird to catch the spider etc… This seems apropos. Lol
If anything I'd love to have my tank overrun by assassin snails...you can sell them for like $3-4 each. Unlike pest snails which are often given out by other hobbyist for free lol
Sadly they aren't worth that much here, I think at one point they were but they are so easy to find and people need so few that they are so cheap.
I prefer having a few Assassin snails in tanks where I have Malaysian Trumpet Snails or if I`m having loads of Physa .. Physa and MTSs are the worst in my opinion.. but that`s because I don`t want them to eat any of my Cichlid- or Killi-fish eggs !! My experience is Planorbarius corneus is a better snail when breeding fish, Planorbarius don`t tend to eat healthy fish eggs, I believe they only go for eating algaes or things that smells..( dead eggs/leaves/restproducts) ??!!?? // Thanks for spreading some interesting knowledge!! :D
I bet, I suspect Physa has stopped my Rineloricaria spawning as that tank has quite a few and they keep entering the bamboo where they are spawning. Planorbella I think as well can also be an issue but it might be where they were competing for the same caves.
I have one assassin snail in my 8g and 20g....they eat my pest snails.... they're awesome!!
I should have probably just got one for the Asolene spixi but I had so many at the time, I'd hand them to stores in their hundreds.
But I like my Assassin snails. I was unintentionally gifted Malaysian Trumpet, Ramshorn, Pond, and Bladder snails. My loaches failed to rid me of them. Assassin snails are my new friends.
Malaysian trumpets, M. tuberculata I’m told some Rift Valley cichlids can eat the babies but similar to Asolene spixi not much seems to eat them. They seem to really take over aquariums too. I think if you don’t want other snails then assassins are fine, I just really like having many different snails.
Ohhh, helena snails will attack anything alive when they get hungry enough 😅
I don't think they only attack snails...
I agree, I've never seen them reach for fishes like Ampulluridae do but wouldn't be surprised. Once I'm sure I don't have any I can get many more interesting snails.
I am using CPO to regulate snails.
hey can eat small fish and fish eggs.
@@ChrisWijtmans was it a question or a confirmation? :)
i use snail to clean algae, so this assasin help me alot to controling them. n their population bloom xD, now i have to add lots of snail to feed the assasin hahahah
Snails can be useful for that, it's fascinating to see their little tracks along the glass as they feed. Sadly most of my ornamental ones don't but I'd like some Filopaludina martensi or Viviparus snails who do, not because they do but I think they are really pretty.
I have a 29-gallon tank with female bettas, neons, white clouds, albino corys and African dwarf frogs. My tank is high is vegetation keeping the nitrates down despite this. When buying floating plants for it, bladder snails became a scourge. Too make sure some food got to my frogs I tend to overfeed and that quickly made the snail population unmanageable.
SOLUTION #1: I bought yoyo loaches who quickly wiped out 99% of the snails, but they grew quickly and they have a reputation of becoming more aggressive when they get bigger, so I moved them into a 55-gallon with rainbow praecox, larger koi bettas, rasboras and some of the biggest corys I've ever seen. Immediately, the snails came back with a vengeance.
SOLUTION #2: Bought 3 assassin snails. They aren't as effective as they don't take out the snails that live in the roots of the floaters, but they keep the numbers manageable. A happy accident is I got more floater stowaways from my last purchase, so I have a few shrimp in my cleanup crew now.
You're British, aren't you? :D
Yes, I'm English :)
@@FreshwaterIchthyology Just practicing my 'accent recognition skills" :p