It looks like my Assassins are not doing their job.

[maverick786us]

Before I start some people might not like what I am trying to accomplish here.

My beautiful aquascape has bladder snails infestation. I like all aquatic creatures except for some worms and parasites that are harmful to fishes. I know the important role snails play in an aquarium. I have a pair of mystery snails in each and every tank. But this bladder snail infestation I don't know where they came from, before it explodes in an uncontrollable way I had to do something. So I bought 4 assassin snails. Assassin snails are good at feeding pest snails (though pest is not the term I should use for them). It's been more than 24 hours and I haven't seen any assassin snail catching one of those bladders. Though my tank is heavily planted so it's impossible to observe their activity. But are assassin snails fuzzy about eating?

 

[hypnogogia]

I’m sure they’ll get to work, you might just not notice it yet.

Best way to control snails, though, is to reduce feeding. How much/often do you feed your fish?

 

[maverick786us]

I’m sure they’ll get to work, you might just not notice it yet.

Best way to control snails, though, is to reduce feeding. How much/often do you feed your fish?

I feed them, twice a days in small quantity. Any uneaten food is taken care by Cory Pandas and Mystery Snails.

 

[Teleos]

My beautiful aquascape has bladder snails infestation

It is completely normal for snails introduced into a new tank to multiply very quickly. Nothing needs to be done about this. This will take care of itself. It takes a few months. The bladder snails are also much too small for your assassin snails.

 

[Knuta]

The bladder snails are also much too small for your assassin snails.

This simply isn't true. Assassin snails eat all types of snails, which includes bladder snails. They will eventually eat them all, but it will take time.

 

[Chez_]

Mine did a really good job but it took a couple of months. After that I found they were so happy they'd had babies themselves! I have now got to the point where I have one tank for the assassins and every few days I put a piece of cucumber on a fork in each of my tanks overnight and in the morning any snails on it go in to the 'Snail Tank'.

There's an article I found somewhere that said they eat three to four smallish snails a week each, on average.

 

[maverick786us]

I see 2 of them actively exploring their home 3 of them bury themselves it’s just that I haven’t seen them catching a snail yet

 

[Chez_]

If they're wandering round waving their proboscis then they're searching for prey. You'll start to see empty shells of things they've caught after a few days, I very rarely see them actually catch things.

 

[maverick786us]

OK I can see some empty shells, but my Assassins went into hibernation. Is it a common behavior? Sometimes I worry if they are still alive.

 

[G mac]

Mine would go missing for weeks. I actually found them to be pretty useless and not fit for purpose.🙄

 

[maverick786us]

It seems to me that they were getting easy meals from other source, so they didn't feel like hunting. Today I added 2 more assassin snails. One of them immediately went into the business and ate a bunch of baby pest snails in front of me

 

[maverick786us]

Still they are very unpredictable. The other snail population keeps on increasing

 

[hypnogogia]

Still they are very unpredictable. The other snail population keeps on increasing

I think you need to reduce your feeding. Snail populations are directly correlated with abundance of food. I also mentioned this in relation to cleanliness in your tank.

 

[maverick786us]

What is the best way to find out if fishes are enough fed? I have different food.Sometimes micro palette sometimes bloodworms. While feeding blood worms all the fishes complete it in less than 5 minutes. The micro pellets that slowly sinks, the fishes try to catch it, the one that falls on the ground is eaten by scavengers, (Cory and snail)

 

[hypnogogia]

How often and how much do you feed them?

It's a matter of trial and error. Fish don't need to be fed everyday, and will typically need far less than you would think as they are cold blooded. When feeding watch how much they consume and try to feed a little at a time, watching that not too much (but some, for your Cory's) gets to the bottom. Bloodworm in particular will cause a lot of organic waste in your tank which will encourage the snails and algae. I'd only feed this very occasionally.

 

[maverick786us]

How often and how much do you feed them?

How often and how much do you feed them?

It's a matter of trial and error. Fish don't need to be fed everyday, and will typically need far less than you would think as they are cold blooded. When feeding watch how much they consume and try to feed a little at a time, watching that not too much (but some, for your Cory's) gets to the bottom. Bloodworm in particular will cause a lot of organic waste in your tank which will encourage the snails and algae. I'd only feed this very occasionally.

Ouch I feed them twice a day, thats what I learned as a beginner. But bloodworms don't sink, so all the fishes get a taste of it but I will the diet by less than half and bloodworms to less than 10%

 

[hypnogogia]

Bloodworm will sink, unless your fish get to them before they do.

Try feeding your just fish once every two days, give them what you currently give them in one meal.