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Will assassin snails prevent you from breeding egg layers?

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2.4K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  BelieveInBlue  
#1 ·
Hey all,

I'm in the middle of switching my 125 over to a dwarf cichlid / angel tank, and this tank has had trumpet snail problems in the past. I have it under control now with a few clown loaches and some assassin snails. (I have only seen two trumpet snails in the past week).

I'd like to have the dwarf cichlids breed, but I'm worried about the carnivorous snails. Will the cichlids be able to defend against them, or will they fly under the radar? I have no doubt they'd eat any eggs that are not being guarded.

I'm definitely removing the loaches to give the fry a chance. Do you think I need to remove the assassin snails as well? If so, then I'm going to have to find another way to prevent a MTS explosion. (like a blast of copper sulfate)

Let me know what you all think. Thanks!
 
S
#2 ·
I had assassin snails in my tank with breeding kribs & I had tones of fry. The assassin snails might have picked off a couple of eggs but i'm unsure TBH. The assassin snails do do a great job tho as my small tank was over run with trumpets until I added 8 assassins & I only see the odd trumpet now. The assassin snails will breed very slowly so in time you'll be able to put some in another tank if you have one or sell them off
 
#3 ·
That's great to hear. I feel like the cichlids should be able to defend against snails, but I really didn't know if the assassins would register with them as a thread. I'm hoping to get some breeding activity out of some apistos, which are slightly smaller and more docile than kribs, but it's a similar breeding behavior, so I'm hoping they'll defend their caves.

I guess I'll just have to see what happens. If I start seeing eggs get eaten, then I'll take them out and figure out another way to get rid of the trumpets.

Thanks!
 
B
#4 ·
I've never heard of assassins eating eggs, and I doubt the parents would tolerate them much if the snails did. Maybe if the snails haven't eaten in weeks they'll go for the eggs, but I keep a colony of MTS, ramshorns, and pond snails so my assassins get to binge :p
 
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