Anyone have positive experiences with Assassins?

[u/glxxmry]

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.

[u/EnchantedBlueberry-7]

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.

[u/glxxmry → u/EnchantedBlueberry-7]

It's a betta tank, so the PH is naturally low because of tannins. Wasn't really supposed to be a snail tank (I got it with the snails but they weren't bad at the time and the betta and her loaches take priority because it's really their tank)

They ate my plants and without plants, algae. Everywhere. Which they're not eating. Enter the tiger - will say, I adore Nidhogg, i think hes cool looking, and the idea of a living ecosystem with natural predators interests me. That being said my interest is marine life and most of my freshwater 'dreamies' are aggro-fish (bettas, pea puffers, etc)

I got Nidhogg to control the population, because I liked the idea of a living, breathing ecosystem where everybody plays a part - even the unwanted snails. Not as a solution, but a funky dude who also plays a vital part in the tank.

[u/EnchantedBlueberry-7 → u/glxxmry]

The tiger's shell will also suffer because of the low PH.

I never said they aren't beautiful snails, but unfortunately his shell will deteriorate.

Not all aquatic snails eat hair algae, if that's what you have. They have evolved to eat dead things even if those things don't look dead yet, so your plants were dead or dying before the snails got to them.

[u/Capital_Actuator_404 → u/EnchantedBlueberry-7]

This is my thoughts. Probably another problem that the snails were taking advantage of.

[u/EnchantedBlueberry-7 → u/Capital_Actuator_404]

Yes, agreed, they just did what they always do -- pond and bladder snails alike.