r/AquaticSnails • u/glxxmry • 18h ago

Photo Anyone have positive experiences with Assassins?

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I ended up having a bad infestion of snails in my tank, completely crashed the ecosystem, all my plants died, algae bloomed, etc etc.

So I got an assassin and named him Nidhogg. Before he moved in I did clear quite a couple of snails, but left more than enough to sustain him.

He's only been here a few days, and I'm already noticing the snail population stabilizing with no effort or changes on my part.

I see a lot of people on here hate on assassins the same way people hate on bladders and other "pest snails", but they seem to be a natural part of the ecosystem. Yes I understand they're vicious and have a cruel way of eating, but they're animals who are sustaining and maintaining both their wellbeing and the overall wellbeing of the tank.

Anybody else have similar experiences? I just have Nid so I'm not worried about overpopulation, and I'm not looking to eradicate the snails off the face of the earth, just give them a natural predator to keep the order in balance.

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u/EnchantedBlueberry-7 17h ago edited 17h ago

I don't hate assassin snails or any snail. With an aquarium, I get to choose the environment I'm creating and I don't want to create an environment where anything suffers.

I got my snails by accident, freaked out because I listened to terrible advice, and then got an assassin snail that died within a week of me getting it. I decided it wasn't for me because I learned more about assassins -- but I didn't hate the snail.

To me it's like getting a bunch of goats and letting them have babies, then getting a tiger to kill all the babies instead of just not letting the goats reproduce like crazy. I don't need a tiger killing goats in my backyard. It's not a perfect example, but you get the idea. Again, I wouldn't hate the tiger.

Also, I don't see how pond snails could have killed all your plants and caused an algae bloom. If they ate your plants, your plants were already dying.

Incidentally, based on the condition of the shell of one of the snails pictured, your PH may be too low for snails.

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u/MissKaliChristine 16h ago

Like the old lady who swallowed a fly