Assassin snails eat live shrimp!

bigshrimpin · 04-21-2009, 08:40 AM

Interesting tid bit I found in a forum. It seems like this guy has experienced similar behavior. Some assassins like the water edge...
"Interesting about not having a lung Mel, they are in cycled tank and even when I was acclimating them in a bowl they all crawled to the surface for air just like brigs do. I even checked the water params which are rock solid just in case, I dropped the waterline as well. They all seem to enjoy poking their heads out for a bit and then plopping back into the water."

Aquariangel · 08-24-2009, 07:13 PM

I know I'm jumping in here pretty late in the convo, but had to say our assassins are in two separate Dwarf Shrimp breeding tanks and we've not had any problems with them going after the shrimp. However the pond snail epidemic we were beginnig to have has cleared up splendidly!

Someone mentioned their assassins are in with their nerites!?! REALLY? We've got a collection of nerites, but avoided putting any of the assassins in those tanks. One because the PS problem isn't bad, two because we didn't want to loose any of the nerites....I'd like to hear more on that situation if possible.

wendyjo · 08-25-2009, 01:13 PM

^ Same. I'd like to get assassins for my mts and ramshorns, but not at the expense of my nerites. Nerites work way too hard in the tank to let them get eaten.

Aquariangel · 08-25-2009, 01:42 PM

agree, and the nerites are doing such a great job of keeping the tanks clean I won't risk combining them. the assassins laid eggs last week, we're waiting for them to hatch out now, hoping for a decent amount.

**Ebichua** · 08-25-2009, 06:52 PM

Nerites are last on the assassin list and they are often ignored by assassins. Usually because of two factors.
A. Nerites are much bigger (except for clithon sp.) than assassins. So size deters assassins.
B. Nerites are stronger and have a trapdoor, making them more difficult prey.

However, if the assassin runs out of easy prey, they will go for nerites if desperate. Is it 100% safe? No, but it's not as likely for nerites to fall as victims than say, pond snails and rams.

WhiteDevil · 02-12-2010, 08:49 PM

Late to chime in but chicago folks, AA in schaumburg/hoffman estates has the assassins at 1/2 price.

I got 6 of them in a 52 as of 30 minutes ago, the new 4 have already eaten 3 MTS. I cant say if they eat shrimp or not because my angels take those out before the snails or anything else gets a chance.

My helena's take down large and same size MTS, they just crawl over the thousands of little MTS in the tank. they do not eat algae? mine do, or atleast they clean it off while moving thru the tank. I do like how they pack hunt too.

The Exiled · 04-09-2010, 03:23 AM

hey sorry for bringing up an old thread, but i just wanted to verify that they will eat shrimp. I had saw this thread and read part of it when I first bought my Asssassins, however keeping Amano's in the tank I figured I would be safe, they are fairly large, and I had only 5 of them. Along with the numerous amounts of pond snails, I figured that I would not have shrimp kills at all.

They proved me wrong, first day I put them in, I noticed them still eating a dead previously healthy Amano in the morning, and I noticed the snails another time all trying to seemingly corner another Amano, turns out they do eat big shrimp too.....

TJChicago · 05-09-2010, 02:09 PM

I'm just at a loss.

I had a colony of 9 cherry shrimp that were all happy and healthy. The tank had been stable for over a month except for a growing pond snail problem.

Added 3 smaller (3/4 inch) assassin snails a week ago and my shrimps have DISAPPEARED...i have a heavily planted tank, so I don't always see all of them, but I can usually find most of them.

a few days ago I could only find 5 after checking carefully. Today I can only find 2. strange thing is I don't see corpses or husks anywhere.

Any thoughts?

I have a 26 gallon planted tank with danios, swords and some small bumblebee gobies...nothing aggressive.

jms · 05-09-2010, 08:37 PM

I've had danios eat my shrimps. They just pick them to death if the catch one out in the open. I literaly found this out yesterday. I had 5 small CRS an now I have only one. I only found one body, half eaten. Also the only fish in the tank are danios. Then danios were just donated to my LFS, and they gave me a few shrimps to re populate.

mezzy · 10-30-2010, 03:17 PM

I was doing a google search for assassin snails killing shrimp and came across this thread. After reading through it i thought i would add my own experience.
I bought a group of 10 assassin snails to control the number of mts in my 180l planted tank. I have had these snails about 3 months and there are hundreds of snails in there to eat.
About a week ago i went to my lfs and bought a bag of ghost shrimp. I put about 20 in the tank as a cheap alternative to rcs, they only cost £1 for 10 and would add some interest in the tank, and boy was it quick. I was watching tv when i saw out of the corner of my eye a shrimp struggling to pull away and when i looked there was a assassin snail grabbing hold of his tail. After about 2 minutes the shrimp managed to break free losing half his tail in the process. It didnt get far it was like the shrimp was paralyzed and the bottom of his tail had turned a white colour. All of a sudden the snails started coming out of the sand en masse and attacking any shrimp that was near it. The shrimp didnt help themselves, it was like they were being drawn in to the snails, walking over them as if they were trying to clean the snails and then getting insnaired on the assassins death tube. Over the course of about four hours the snails must have killed about 10 shrimp,it was like watching a horror movie in slow motion. That evening i decided to remove all the assassins i could find. It was still easy because most of them were gourging on dead shrimp. I managed to get 8 snails out. The next morning i looked in to find an assassin clung on to another shrimp.
I know most people have had no problems with assassins and shrimp but i witnessed them chasing down and killing shrimp time after time.
I have all the assassins in a small tank and might get a few more shrimp and put them in and record it so as to show people it can happen.
Sorry for long post

Nue · 10-30-2010, 06:26 PM

They must have been really hungry.

**mordalphus** · 10-30-2010, 07:06 PM

I've watched mine eat a cherry shrimp, is this news?

Nue · 10-31-2010, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mordalphus

is this news?

When this thread started it was.

08-25-2009, 01:42 PM	#34
Aquariangel Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lebanon, PA Posts: 4	agree, and the nerites are doing such a great job of keeping the tanks clean I won't risk combining them. the assassins laid eggs last week, we're waiting for them to hatch out now, hoping for a decent amount. __________________ *Don't follow me....I run into walls.*

08-25-2009, 06:52 PM	#35
Ebichua Wannabe Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (80/100%) Join Date: May 2008 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,636	Nerites are last on the assassin list and they are often ignored by assassins. Usually because of two factors. A. Nerites are much bigger (except for clithon sp.) than assassins. So size deters assassins. B. Nerites are stronger and have a trapdoor, making them more difficult prey. However, if the assassin runs out of easy prey, they will go for nerites if desperate. Is it 100% safe? No, but it's not as likely for nerites to fall as victims than say, pond snails and rams. __________________ <3 http://shrimpstuff.blogspot.com/

04-09-2010, 03:23 AM	#37
The Exiled Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 11	hey sorry for bringing up an old thread, but i just wanted to verify that they will eat shrimp. I had saw this thread and read part of it when I first bought my Asssassins, however keeping Amano's in the tank I figured I would be safe, they are fairly large, and I had only 5 of them. Along with the numerous amounts of pond snails, I figured that I would not have shrimp kills at all. They proved me wrong, first day I put them in, I noticed them still eating a dead previously healthy Amano in the morning, and I noticed the snails another time all trying to seemingly corner another Amano, turns out they do eat big shrimp too..... __________________ ______________________________________ 10 gallon tank-planted-guppies 29 gallon tank-planted-1 apistos, 6 neon tetra

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04-21-2009, 08:40 AM	#31
bigshrimpin Planted Member (View User Tanks) PTrader: (12/100%) Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Buffalo Grove, IL Posts: 216	Interesting tid bit I found in a forum. It seems like this guy has experienced similar behavior. Some assassins like the water edge... "Interesting about not having a lung Mel, they are in cycled tank and even when I was acclimating them in a bowl they all crawled to the surface for air just like brigs do. I even checked the water params which are rock solid just in case, I dropped the waterline as well. They all seem to enjoy poking their heads out for a bit and then plopping back into the water."

08-24-2009, 07:13 PM	#32
Aquariangel Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lebanon, PA Posts: 4	I know I'm jumping in here pretty late in the convo, but had to say our assassins are in two separate Dwarf Shrimp breeding tanks and we've not had any problems with them going after the shrimp. However the pond snail epidemic we were beginnig to have has cleared up splendidly! Someone mentioned their assassins are in with their nerites!?! REALLY? We've got a collection of nerites, but avoided putting any of the assassins in those tanks. One because the PS problem isn't bad, two because we didn't want to loose any of the nerites....I'd like to hear more on that situation if possible.

08-25-2009, 01:13 PM	#33
wendyjo Planted Tank Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (7/100%) Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: DC area Posts: 2,814	^ Same. I'd like to get assassins for my mts and ramshorns, but not at the expense of my nerites. Nerites work way too hard in the tank to let them get eaten.

02-12-2010, 08:49 PM	#36
WhiteDevil Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: 60118 Posts: 60	Late to chime in but chicago folks, AA in schaumburg/hoffman estates has the assassins at 1/2 price. I got 6 of them in a 52 as of 30 minutes ago, the new 4 have already eaten 3 MTS. I cant say if they eat shrimp or not because my angels take those out before the snails or anything else gets a chance. My helena's take down large and same size MTS, they just crawl over the thousands of little MTS in the tank. they do not eat algae? mine do, or atleast they clean it off while moving thru the tank. I do like how they pack hunt too.

05-09-2010, 02:09 PM	#38
TJChicago Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: May 2010 Location: Chicago Posts: 1	I'm just at a loss. I had a colony of 9 cherry shrimp that were all happy and healthy. The tank had been stable for over a month except for a growing pond snail problem. Added 3 smaller (3/4 inch) assassin snails a week ago and my shrimps have DISAPPEARED...i have a heavily planted tank, so I don't always see all of them, but I can usually find most of them. a few days ago I could only find 5 after checking carefully. Today I can only find 2. strange thing is I don't see corpses or husks anywhere. Any thoughts? I have a 26 gallon planted tank with danios, swords and some small bumblebee gobies...nothing aggressive.

05-09-2010, 08:37 PM	#39
jms Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (5/100%) Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Tempe,AZ Posts: 74	I've had danios eat my shrimps. They just pick them to death if the catch one out in the open. I literaly found this out yesterday. I had 5 small CRS an now I have only one. I only found one body, half eaten. Also the only fish in the tank are danios. Then danios were just donated to my LFS, and they gave me a few shrimps to re populate.

10-30-2010, 03:17 PM	#40
mezzy Newbie (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: England Posts: 1	I was doing a google search for assassin snails killing shrimp and came across this thread. After reading through it i thought i would add my own experience. I bought a group of 10 assassin snails to control the number of mts in my 180l planted tank. I have had these snails about 3 months and there are hundreds of snails in there to eat. About a week ago i went to my lfs and bought a bag of ghost shrimp. I put about 20 in the tank as a cheap alternative to rcs, they only cost £1 for 10 and would add some interest in the tank, and boy was it quick. I was watching tv when i saw out of the corner of my eye a shrimp struggling to pull away and when i looked there was a assassin snail grabbing hold of his tail. After about 2 minutes the shrimp managed to break free losing half his tail in the process. It didnt get far it was like the shrimp was paralyzed and the bottom of his tail had turned a white colour. All of a sudden the snails started coming out of the sand en masse and attacking any shrimp that was near it. The shrimp didnt help themselves, it was like they were being drawn in to the snails, walking over them as if they were trying to clean the snails and then getting insnaired on the assassins death tube. Over the course of about four hours the snails must have killed about 10 shrimp,it was like watching a horror movie in slow motion. That evening i decided to remove all the assassins i could find. It was still easy because most of them were gourging on dead shrimp. I managed to get 8 snails out. The next morning i looked in to find an assassin clung on to another shrimp. I know most people have had no problems with assassins and shrimp but i witnessed them chasing down and killing shrimp time after time. I have all the assassins in a small tank and might get a few more shrimp and put them in and record it so as to show people it can happen. Sorry for long post

10-30-2010, 06:26 PM	#41
Nue Wannabe Guru (View User Tanks) PTrader: (6/100%) Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Salt Lake City Posts: 1,164	They must have been really hungry.

10-30-2010, 07:06 PM	#42
mordalphus These pants? are fancy. (View User Tanks) PTrader: (261/100%) Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 7,567	I've watched mine eat a cherry shrimp, is this news?