Assassin Snails are freshwater snails that specialize in eating other snails. They are cannibals and could eat other Snails, animals by inserting their Radula in them and sucking up their blood and flesh, thereby weakening the animal and killing it.
This type of Snail is used by many hobbyists as a Biological method of controlling the population of pest Snails, such as pond snails, etc.
Related: Can dead Snail kill fish?
There is a raging argument about how these Snails immobilize their prey, whether they have poison or not that they use on their victims. In this article, you will learn more about it, so read to the end.
Are Assassin Snails poisonous? It is believed that they have a proboscis tube that harbors a small type of harpoon that shoots out into the prey animal and injects venom that paralyzes the victim and ultimately liquefies the flesh so that they can suck up the mushy food.
Well, the fact about this argument is, that it has not been scientifically proven that Assassin Snails do release poison on their prey or even have one, but theoretically, they are believed to have such substances.
If you check with your common sense, these snails are very slow in movement than other snails and shrimps, but they could still capture and eat them.
Related: Are Catsharks poisonous?
That alone should tell you that they have the means to immobilize their fast prey and eat them, if not how else could they do that?.
According to some theories, when they get close to their prey, they insert their Radula in their prey and inject the substances that paralyze them and they will start eating them by sucking them up.
Another theory says that they don’t have any poison in them, they stress their prey and insert their Radula in them and start sucking them up.
Well, if you ask me, personally, I will say, they have some sort of poison in them that made it possible for them to immobilize fast snails and shrimps, if not, I don’t think it would be easy for them to catch much faster animals.
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And again, animals like slugs could release such substances too, so I won’t be surprised if Assassin Snails do too.
Again, until scientifically proven, all these are just theories and opinions of people.
Will Assassin Snails Hurt My Fish?
No, Assassin Snails although are carnivores, but they only can hurt other snails and shrimps, but they can’t hurt fish in any way.
Fish are way faster, bigger, and are a no-go area for this type of Snails because they simply just don’t have what it takes to take on any type of fish, but they could only go for their eggs if they have the opportunity.
Related: Can Assassin Snail live with Bettafish
Rather than them hurting fish, the reverse will be the case, because some aggressive types of fish might have them as snacks.
So, Assassin Snails can’t hurt a fish, not even the fish frays, unless their eggs.
Are Assassin Snails Aggressive?
No, Snails are not considered to be aggressive, not even Assassin Snails.
Although they are. cannibalistic because they could eat other snails and shrimps, but they are not considered to be aggressive, hence they don’t bother other animals in any way, except Snails and shrimps.
They stay their whole day buried in substrates, waiting for any unfortunate snails or shrimp to pounce on them.
So, they ain’t aggressive, and no snail is considered to be.
What Snails Do Assassin Snails Kill?
Assassin Snails could kill all amphibian or aquarium snails they could come across, both big and small.
When it comes to the type of snails they could be able to kill, they don’t have any choice, they will kill all types of water snails and eat them, that’s why they are called Assassin Snails in the first place.
Related: Can Assassin Snails kill each other?
So to answer the question, they will eat all snails they could come across because they have no specific choice or size they could go for.
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