Loaches Online Forum

Anyone have these?
I bought some today to see if they could help with MTS problem in one tank.

I personally do not have any, but many of my friends do.

How many did you get and what is the volume of your tank ?

Generally, two assassins per gallon is required to keep other snails under control.

The assassins will take some time before you start noticing a difference in your tank.

The assassins reproduce very slowly in low numbers, so they themselves usually do not have a population explosion.

After a while, if you have too many assassins, they are very easy to pick out of the tank and sell to others who have a snail problem

I just thought I would try two in a 20 (US) gallon tank. I don't really want the snails wiped out, just the numbers kept in check. I can probably get more if I need too.

The assassins usually will not eat the very small snails, they wait until they are larger and juicy, so there will always be other snails in the tank, just smaller

Zenins has pretty much summed it up It won't be until the Assassins start breeding that you will see any significant reduction in MTS as the juvenile assassins predate on the juvenile MTS. Clea helena are not hermaphrodites so you would probably need a good few more to ensure you've got both sexes in the tank should you wish them to breed.

I got two for 4 bucks USD the other day.

within an hour of being in the tank, they both took down the same MTS which was larger and oblivious to the helena's presence. They didnt eat much they left me a slug to deal with, but they have left a few empty shells so far, I am going to have to get more but 104 snails isnt in my budget for th size tank I have and the thousands yes thousands of MTS in there.

If I didnt have breeding angels in the tank id get a few puffers.

I put two assassins in my 20 gallon about nine months ago because i had hundreds of pond snails and more every day. There are probably 20 small pond snails left. I don't know about MTS, but the pair has very effectively kept down the pond snails. They eat all of the young, and any that get old and slow, so it is just a few medium sized ones that can outrun the assassins before they have a grip.

I got all sorts of WHITE MTS shells on the surface of the gravel now, I went and got some more yesterday morning, got a dozen now.