# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Invertebrates >  Anentome helena: killer snail

## Shaihulud

Today i spotted this lovely snail being sold at Y618, no doubt it is also sold in various other LFS. For those that doesn't know it, this is one of those new snails from Sulawesi and touted as a devourer of snail and destroyer of mts. Well personally i am quite fond of snails, so i would propably get it in its own tank, but for those who hates snails, this might be a solution other than a loach. The testament on the internet seems to be quite good. Quite interesting, has a probocis that it sticks out like a poison conch, i hope it isn't poisonous :Opps: .

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## catohcat

woa,
I'm looking for this miracle creature. I'm much appreciated if you can let me know the price. Thanks.  :Smile:

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## Shaihulud

Sorry can't remember the price, but it wasn't too expensive, below $10.

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## guqin

These guys appears very vicious! Just look at this blog!
http://fishaliciousfish.blogspot.com...-snail-to.html

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## Shaihulud

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic....9316160057c7e6 Heres another testimony, and it multiplies slowly and grazes on algae, whats not to like about the snail? I am going to get some tonite.

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## torque6

a bit pricy. still feel nerite species are cuter for me  :Smile:

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## FishSoup

ooo cute snail!

and it also eats algae.

i'm going to get a few.

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## Shaihulud

I got 3! I suppose i like snails so it is justifies, hope they breed. It moves very fast for a snail.

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## illumnae

does this snail require the sme parameters as the sulawesi shrimp? if so, it might be unsuitable for most planted tanks since generally planted tanks have lower ph due to co2 injection and/or use of ADA soil

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## catohcat

I saw they put these snails in CRS tanks, and I can see a LOT of empty snail shells on these tanks  :Opps: . Just bought 2, very cute and as small as horn snails.

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## guqin

Can anyone confirm where is this snail from? I do not think it is native and I doubt that it is from Sulawesi.

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## Shaihulud

It is an assumption that it came from Sulawesi, along with the snails and shrimps that currently being sold. Most of the information on the internet appears to be in German. I haven't seen it eat any snails yet, they have disappeared into my tank. Added 3 freshwater clams, i wonder if it eats bivalve.

Curiousity: is there any reason that you doubt that it comes from Sulawesi?

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## silane

> Can anyone confirm where is this snail from? I do not think it is native and I doubt that it is from Sulawesi.


It is from Thailand.

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## Shaihulud

Forgive me for the wrong information then, the snail was certainly exotic enough :Grin:  Another thing is, i don't think it eats algae, mouth parts all wrong. When it is on the prowl, the MTS will burrow down into the sand enmass, even though they were feeding on some delicious fishfood just a few minute ago. I think they must sense it somehow. Sadly i haven't seen any actions yet, maybe pouch snails or ramshorn is better food.

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## Quixotic

Not every exotic snail is from Sulawesi.  :Wink: 

Biodiversity occurrence data provided by: Museum f&#252;r Naturkunde, Humboldt-Universit&#228;t zu Berlin (Accessed through GBIF Data Portal, www.gbif.net, 2008-04-14)
http://data.gbif.org/species/16055955

From another German website (which is now inaccessible), these are said to be the habitats of _A. helena_ (though not verified). Pardon the imperfect translation from German language.




> The Anentome helena seems to be expressed one "undemanding" wasserschnecke, it in the most different places in Thailand is found:
> 
> Indonesia - Java, south - Eastern Asia
> 
> Thailand, Prov. Phitsanulok, Kaek River, Sakunothayan wasserfall.
> Habitat: fast-flowing river, above the wasserfalls
> 
> Thailand, Prov. Loei, Mekong oxbow E OF Chiang Khan
> Habitat: muddy sandig, banks with stones and roots
> ...


Some husbandry information from the website.




> Fodder:
> It eats main from snails, which correspond to their size. In addition, it accepts fodder tablets with animal protein portion.
> Cover lots snails are preferred.
> 
> Socialization:
> Is possible for a socialization with dwarf shrimps, and other Gastropoden, than living source of fodder. Also against a moderate fish trimming nothing speaks.
> 
> Generally:
> In addition, with centralhard water it is content, to some extent gets along in softer water.


I am not sure if it eats algae, but if snails are their main diet, then they would certainly need high protein food as substitute. I don't think it would do well with algae based diet in the long term. I take it that the pH suitability is probably 7.0 to 7.5 but will be okay with pH below 7.0.

The information "looks" reliable, but the distribution in Indonesia seems wider than mentioned. It is also actually found in Lake Toba.
http://www.ilec.or.jp/eg/lbmi/report...bruary2006.pdf

Edit: On the reproduction system, these snails are said to be gonochoristic.

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## Shaihulud

Me bad! I guess its because there was such an influx of Sulawesi snails and shrimps that i associated this strange little snails i have never seen before with that particular region. Sat in front of the tank for 1 hour, no action that i can see, no empty snail shells in the tank. Maybe it only eats nerites....

Bought 3 more, am going to release it in my office tank which has lots of pouch snails and ramshorn. I will try apple snails as well.

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## guqin

Hey, who knows. Maybe you really got the Sulawesi snails of the genus _Tylomelania_. Do post some pictures of your snails.

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## catohcat

I just realized, these snails are made as a famous traditional food in Vietnam... kinda as fried oyster in S'pore. They are cooked with coconut juice, eat with special fish sauce.. simply delicious  :Laughing:  :Laughing:

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## Quixotic

I really don't think those are _A. helena_.

I think those are probably the same (or related) species of snails known as balitong or "chut chut" that is eaten here, and are brackish/saltwater species.

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## Samuel2618

Think I saw these little fellow at C328 just now.. Asked uncle and he told me that they are called killer snails.. Wanted to buy but heard uncle said that they will kill other snails like horns, zebra snail also.. Is that really true? Sorry a newbie to snail.. 

regards
Samuel

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## SCOPE

had anyone tried this snail on Malaysian Livebearer snails...

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## FishSoup

Read online that they do consume malayan trumpet snails too.

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## Shaihulud

I have 6 of them for 5 days already, divided in different tanks. I haven't seen any indication of it eating snails though. The species of snails are ramshorn, trapdoor snails, pouch snails and 2 kinds of malaysian trumpet snails. There is some indication of response from the mts to the "snailkiller", I have seen it crawl over various snails and not act in an aggresive manner. I have not seen any empty snail shells than normal in the tank :Crying: , sadly, my snails are not snailkillers, or they only eat certain snails.

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## FishSoup

Hmm, i got two of them too, somehow they don't seem to be eating the ramshorn snails that plague my tank either  :Knockout:

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## celticfish

The more I read about these guys they more they perk my interest.
Like the old chinese saying... "fight snails with SNAILS!!"  :Evil:

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## Ariel

mmm, seem like "not effective" snail killer.

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## Quixotic

How effective do you guys think this snail should be? This snail is still fairly new in the trade, so a lot of information are just mere observations (which can be flawed) and guess work.

Is it not possible that the snail may not need to eat every day, but just a snail every few days would suffice? So give the snail a break, yeah.  :Wink: 




> From another German website (which is now inaccessible), these are said to be the habitats of _A. helena_ (though not verified).


The website is now up, there is a wealth of information in many snails, including Tylomelania, Clithon and the various nerites, etc.
http://www.allesumdieschneck.de (Main website)
http://www.allesumdieschneck.de/html...me_helena.html (_A. helena_ page)

There are links to several threads on a German forum for you to read in the _A. helena_ page above (translate via Babelfish or Google language tools although some information may be lost in translation). If not, just admire the pictures taken. IMO, the German aquarists are quite good and enthusiastic with snails, after all it is a "schnecken" (snails in German) forum.

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## celticfish

Just to add to Quixotic's thought on them not having to eat everyday, very possible btw.
Could you guys have been feeding heavily in the tank?
That might explain why the snail killers are not killing.  :Grin: 
If I were them I'd just go for the non-moving protein target...  :Opps:

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## Ariel

thanks for the link , Quixotic.

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## Shaihulud

Thanks for the link, it was very helpful. My snails finally ate another snail, a large mts! i also find small pouch snail shells around. At that rate, they won't take out all the snails in a tank, but make fascinating inhabitants. Another observation is that they seems to have made a dent in my shrimp population even though they aren't suppose to predate on shrimps, it could just be a coincidence however.

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## dzylim

yes. this snail sure does the work. slowly but definately. i am seeing empty ramhorn shells after a few days of leaving it inside my sulawesi shrimp tank.

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## Jungle-mania

Finally, a cure. My cherries are atually dying out because my ramshorn are eating faster than the shrimps!

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## EvolutionZ

i just got one of this cute guys today..
hopefully he is able to eat all the snails in my tank!

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## Samuel2618

cant resist anymore but bought three of these cute little fellows and put them in a 1ft tank.. Hope they really help me control snail population in the tank.. They can be really good replacement of dwarf puffer if as we all know dwarf puffer might have the tendency to harass other tank mates..

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## guqin

I put three of these fellows into a small container with three small tadpole snails (_Physa_ sp.). In about half an hour, all three tadpole snails were literally gouged out of their shells. Man, these _Clea helena_ are really vicious.

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## EvolutionZ

hi, just to share, this is my killer snails,
currently its living with quite alot other snails and 1 nitrite snail.. mine is not very active, most of the time hiding.. but it does moves really fast!
any idea if it eats algae?

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## Shaihulud

I don't think it will eat algae, its mouthpart is on a long probocis (not the one you normally see it waving around) that it uncurls and sends it into a preys shell to eat it. Yeah mine also hides most of the time, and i seldom see it eat (only twice)

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## EvolutionZ

okay.. will be going c328 tomorrow, might be getting afew more =)

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## lEddyl

> I don't think it will eat algae, its mouthpart is on a long probocis (not the one you normally see it waving around) that it uncurls and sends it into a preys shell to eat it. Yeah mine also hides most of the time, and i seldom see it eat (only twice)


mine too. it only stay around my sand substrate. away from my driftwood, plants and glass wall

kind of find it useless.  :Flame:

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## Quixotic

Hmm... these snails, their primary diet is live snails, so they are carnivorous i.e. they need high protein food. So if you are going to treat them as algae eating snails, then they are probably going to disappoint you, right?  :Confused:

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## guqin

One more thing. If you put into your tanks a lot of food for your fishes and other inhabitants, these snails are likely to scavenge the leftover food scrapes rather than go and hunt for food. The snails saves more energy scavenging rather than catching and extracting a living snail to eat.

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## bryan

I have a morbid vision of this snail zapping a sleeping fish :Opps:  instead of an MTS.

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## Quixotic

bryan, you've been watching too many Alien movies... hahaha

Anyway, just found out the term for the diet of live snails. These carnivores are molluscivore "slurpers".

_See_ Wikipedia, Molluscivore, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molluscivore (as of Apr. 25, 2008, 07:47 GMT).



> A molluscivore is a carnivorous animal which eats mainly molluscs. Several species of pufferfish and loaches fit this category. As many molluscs are protected by a shell, the feeding techniques applied amongst molluscivore fish are highly specialized and usually divided into two groups; "crushers" and "slurpers". Pufferfish tend to be crushers and will use their beak-like teeth to break the shell in order to gain access to the meat inside. Loaches are specialized slurpers and will make use of their characteristically shaped snout in order to grab hold of the animal living inside the shell.

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## Jungle-mania

My snail seems to be sitting at the water surface all the time, never move. Anyone knows why?

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## Burky

I have quite lots of this snail. I have collected them on a fish collecting trip to Khao Yai, & Saraburi. So first of all they are not native to Sulawesi. And when i had a pest snail attack on my 120lt planted CS tank i placed 2 of these guys in it and within 2 weeks there was a real reduction on the number of pests and at the end of 3rd week i saw not pest wandering around. I kept feeding my shrimps as usual and they were totally not interested in the flakes. But it was fun to watch them moving fastly to get a new pest... I haven't seen them eating algae, my zebra nerite snails are handling this case. So i advise any of you guys who have a problem about pest snails. Oh by the way in Chatuchak market here one of them is sold for 40THB which is less then 2S$.

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## celticfish

I just got five from C328 last night.
Immediately two started to burrow into the substrate.
Now only one of them is out and about.
So if yours go missing don't get too worried.
Anyone else observed this behaviour?  :Huh?:

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## illumnae

Burky, can you tell me which shop in Chatuchak sells it? i'm going in about 2 weeks, can bring some back  :Grin:

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## Burky

The shop do not have a name unfortunately. But the address is easy. Chatuchak Plaza, Zone B, Soi 8, Room #111. The name of the guy is Tom and his H/P # is 0819333210.

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## Razorblade

Does anyone knows if these snail prey on limpets too ? (Acroloxus lacustris)

I got lots of these limpets in my crs tank...a little eye sore.. it would be good if these snail can help to eradicate it.

Thanks,

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## dzylim

manage to take a pic while it was feeding. as my ramhorns is breeding like crazy i have to get another 2 to speed up the proccess before the whole tank is overrunned. so far i am very happy withthe results. 

i am still hestitant to put it in my CRS tank *because* i got a 6 year old zebra snail in there. guess i will keep catching those ramhorns and throw them in my sulawesi tank.

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## bryan

After deciding that picking out MTS as part of my evening activities was kind of loser-ish. I finally got one from my neighborhood LFS. I hope it works. At the moment it just cruises around the tank waving it's thing around like Queen Liz. :Mad:  My wife took a look at the snail and said it was obscene. The MTS went on with their daily routine of looking disgusting.

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## Ariel

My snails(2 of them) just disappear in the tank, never see them.

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## bryan

Very slow feeder, hardly makes a dent in a snail infestation. But interesting to keep in the aquarium.

Yes it eats MTS. :Evil:

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## Kira76

Does anyone know if this snail feeds on shrimps? I just got one from C328 today together with 2 Sulawesi shrimps. The uncle pack the snails with the 2 sulawesi shrimps together. 

When I reach home, I found the snail wrapping itself over one of the shrimps!  :Shocked:  Now the shrimp seems to be dead or stunned. Just lying on it's side. Went back to C328. Uncle say just get a new shrimp.  :Well done:  for C328.

Now testing the snail. Quarantine it with 2 cherry shrimps. Wonder if the snail will hunt the shrimp.

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## Quixotic

Given that the requirements of Sulawesi shrimps (alkaline) and _A. helena_ (acidic), I don't think it's a good mix in any case.

As for shrimps, I have yet to see any pictures of the snail in the process of eating a shrimp. Therefore, even if there are reports that shrimps are part of their diet, take it with a pinch of salt.

As always, if in doubt, then don't mix them.  :Smile:

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## bryan

I guess the snail being carnivorous wouldn't pass on a dead shrimp or fish, it doesn't have to shuck its meal for once. Your shrimp was probably on its way to shrimp heaven.

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## dzylim

the shrimp was probably dead. even ramhorn do not pass a dead shrimp.

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## snowc

Hi just got two of them last friday. So far no movement on my ramshorns yet. And they do burrow into the substrate like MTS. My main concern is that do they bred easily? No point in adding a predator that create the same problem as its prey.

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## Quixotic

They are supposedly gonochoristic, i.e. you need a male and a female to reproduce. So even if you have a confirmed pair, there won't be a population explosion like what you have with hermaphroditic or parthenogenetic snails.

Snails like pouch/pond and ramshorn are hermaphroditic, i.e. having both male and female reproductive organs on a single individual.

Parthenogenetic is an asexual form of reproduction where the offsprings develop from unfertilized eggs (fertilization by males isn't necessary). Malayan trumpet snails reproduces primarily by parthenogenesis (although they can technically reproduce sexually), often inaccurately mentioned as being hermaphroditic.

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## illumnae

anyone know if these snails eat larger snails like nerites? i have a nerite in my tank that has pouch and ramshorn snails, and i want to get rid of the latter without losing the former

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## guqin

I had about 15 in a tank with three large apple snails. Two died but I am not sure whether the _Clea helena_ was chewing on the foot of the apple snails.

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## snowc

> anyone know if these snails eat larger snails like nerites? i have a nerite in my tank that has pouch and ramshorn snails, and i want to get rid of the latter without losing the former


Hi, i think they do take nerite. Have found an empty nerite shell in my tank after adding these guys. However my horned nerite is the same size as them so its not surprising.

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## weiquan

Hello people, 

i like to share my expriences with this snail after i read kira76 witnessed the snail wrapping itself around a sulawesi shrimp. Sad to say its true, this snail eats sulawesi shrimps and i believe they have the capability to prey on the shrimps and finally consuming them.

i myself exprienced it when i left my sulawesi shrimps in a breeder trap with three of these snails to do a head count of my harelequin in the tank. My Harlequin were healthy when placed inside the breeder trap and within 10 minutes when i was done with my headcount and reshuffle of the tank layout i saw two of the snails wraping around one shrimp devouring it and a single snail devouring a second piece by itself. i actually tried to remove the shrimp from the snail with my fingers but the shrimp was already motionless. 

i quickly removed the snails into a small tub and watching them consume the dead shrimps rapidly. Leaving behind only some of the shell, which i actually found quite a few of these bits and pieces of shell in my tank under my rock and driftwood. It is quite obvious the shells were leftovers by the snails after they made a meal off my harelequins because the shells were not much of a complete shell structure but rather the head or small body parts fragment shells plates.

I hope you guys can learn from my mistake and keep these snails away from your sulawesi shrimps. But still im not too sure of wherther they be able to kill other shrimps cause in my observations, my harelequins don't run away from these snails i actually saw one piece standing right on top of these snails. Another observations is my harelequin isn't as active as other shrimps and they tend to stand or move just a little the whole day. Which i think makes themsleves to be quite a easy prey.

here are some pictures of my harelequins which i have already sold. I do miss them a little sometimes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2463619...7605748154123/


Cheers,
weiquan

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## Quixotic

Pardon me for saying this, but there are too many variables and uncertainties to these observations. In my opinion, these Sulawesi shrimps are way way way too fragile to conclude anything. Sorry, I am not convinced.  :Smile: 

That said, as I have mentioned this before, if unsure, then simply don't keep shrimps and _A. helena_ together.

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## illumnae

i've put one of these in a tank with my sakuras which have been living happily in the tank for the past few weeks. doubt they'll die of natural causes so we shall see.

i also have a nerite in there, which c328 auntie told me they feast happily on but the nerite is easily 2-3x the size of this snail. so hopefully A. helena will pick on snails its own size and smaller

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## weiquan

Quixotic,

its nice to share your views to my observation and belief
and i do share the same sentiment on "if unsure, then simply don't keep shrimps and _A. helena_ together"

Cheers dude.

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## Samuel2618

Just to share my experiences as well.. I have no problems with these killer snail in my tanks with my sakuras.. Sometimes I do noticed that when a shrimp died.. The snail will feed on them.. No doubts they are mainly carnivores as I always see them moving very fast and feed on the frozen brine shrimp.. But never really see them in action of killing my shrimps.. Another thing.. They don't even kill my other snails in the tank.. All my horns, zebra snails are still alive.. No empty shells lying around.. But perhaps it is because I only keep 4 - 5 of them in the tank..

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## bryan

So far it's been a success in my 2ft tank. I hardly see MTS anymore. I'm sure the MTS are still around but they've stopped coming out to feed.The sand is littered with empty shells. I still see the Helena snail occasionally but it keeps burrowed mostly. My other lifestock - Malayan shrimp,C.pygmaeus, ember tetra, galaxy and kuhli loach are unharmed.I think one is enough for a small tank. I am going to used it on another tank with only corys. I think it will disagree with Botia or Nemachellius type loaches as they are known to harrass all types of snails.

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## Shaihulud

Mine have eaten all the adult ramshorn snails in the tank, luckily there are many eggs and aby snails. MTS are eaten, but not as quickly. Occasionally they will fight with the shrimps for food I drop in, so they aren't totally dedicated snail eaters.I have never noticed it attacking a shrimp.

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## Quixotic

Read an article by Dr. Neale Monks in Practical Fishkeeping magazine on them, thought I'd share them here...

_Anentome_ (or _Clea_) _helena_ is a member of the whelk[1] family, found in muddy and sandy streams in South East Asia.

It is a predator that feeds primarily on other snails. It also eats carrion (i.e. carcass of a dead animal) and other small invertebrates (_potentially_ including baby cherry shrimps). This may explain the dent in shrimp population like what some of you have experienced.

Fish eggs and fry are _likely_ at risk too. However, it has no interest in adult shrimp, algae or plants. Therefore, your adult dwarf shrimps (cherry shrimp, CRS and the likes) should be safe.

It is a burrowing snail, likes to dig into sand when resting. It only seems to kill one snail a day, so do not expect them to rid of your snail problems any sooner, unless you have an army of _A. helena_. 

[1] _See_ Wikipedia, _Whelk_, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whelk (as of Jul. 23, 2008, 17:01 GMT).

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## catohcat

Yes. Mine only one snail is burrowing all the time I couldnt find her. However I notice a baby snail these few day... I heard this type of snail need male and female to preproduce?

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## Quixotic

Supposedly yes. Is it positive that they are _A. helena_ baby snails?

The babies look something like this, http://www.allesumdieschneck.de/html...me_helena.html

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## zyblack

I have a single _A. helena_ in my cherry shrimp tank which is infested with baby pouch snails and baby ramshorn snails. So far it has only attacked the baby pouch snails and it is very efficient at reducing their population. But so far I have yet to see it attack the baby ramshorns...could it be that the size or shape of the shell that prevents it from going after the ramshorns?

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## CK Yeo

Well, I can only confirm that it eats malayan trumpet snails. Was starring at it for a long time. It is like watching a slow motion African safari scene. Like what the others noticed, it does not have a great impact on the snail population immediately and they eat the uneaten pellets for the fishes. There seems to be a certain size threshold of their victim.


*Wanted*


The Victim


AH: *gotcha*


MTS: Huh?


MTS: OMG! Run!


AH: You are not getting away! Muahaha!


AH: Yum.


It sticks its head into the MTS and extend a probe between the head (not the one they dangle around) to suck up everything. Whole process took quite a while. (giant MTS behind)


What's left of the murder scene.

ck
Please pardon the slight under exposure of the pics.

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## catohcat

> Supposedly yes. Is it positive that they are _A. helena_ baby snails?
> 
> The babies look something like this, http://www.allesumdieschneck.de/html...me_helena.html


Yes, confirm. The baby looks exactly as the adult Helena, with the little trunk. The size is about 3mm. He runs quite fast and also frequently burrowing himself like his mother/father. I have been keeping 1 adult Helena for the past 3 months only. Now i'm thinking of the way to dig them out since they may posea thread to my babay shrimps.

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## Quixotic

CK, great series of photographs! Poor MTS...  :Laughing: 




> Yes, confirm. The baby looks exactly as the adult Helena, with the little trunk. The size is about 3mm. He runs quite fast and also frequently burrowing himself like his mother/father. I have been keeping 1 adult Helena for the past 3 months only. Now i'm thinking of the way to dig them out since they may posea thread to my babay shrimps.


It is quite certain that they are gonochoristic and lay eggs. So I can only think that she could have been inseminated internally by a male during copulation, just prior to being brought back into your tank.

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## CK Yeo

haha. Thanks. Them moving in slow motion helped a lot.

erm. So how to tell the male from the female?

ck

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## Spid

Superb shots there bro.

By the way, have you caught them killing snails bigger than their size before?

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## trevally

Got no luck with this helena snails. Didn't see them eating those common snails in my tank which keep on multiplying. Frustrated and I put in two drawf puffers which within a week, whack all those snails in the tank.  :Grin:

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## avant

Did your dwarf puffers feast on your _A. helena_?

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## CK Yeo

I thought it will attack the large MTS, but after checking it out, it decide to pass it by. See pics below for a sequence of it. I am guessing that it is because its probe thingy is not long enough to reach down when the MTS shrinks back into its shell. Anyone noticed similar behavior?













ck

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## Shaihulud

My 3 killer snails have eaten all the large ramshorn snails in my 2 feet tank and i had 20 over of them, it also obliterate my population of pouch snails. My experience is that larger snails are targetted for preferrence. I noticed that they don't like snails with trapdoors as much, and they really like nerites, they would eat hikari wafer sometimes which i feed to the shrimpy. I wish they would breed, they are cool and everyone at the office love them.

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## Quixotic

> erm. So how to tell the male from the female?


No idea, don't seem to find any relevant scientific studies on these snails.

Just for interest, in apple snails, the penial complex of the male can be seen by looking inside the mantle cavity. Sometimes it is folded outwards and is visible.
http://www.applesnail.net/ -> Anatomy -> Reproduction

Surely if _A. helena_ are gonochoristic, the male has something similar, so perhaps it's worth looking out for?  :Evil:

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## CK Yeo

In LFS conditions, I don't think it will be too easy... so the best is still to get a small group? Anyway, there is no guarantee that they won't breed in your tank even if you just get one since they might be inseminated before capture? These things are wild aren't they?

ck

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## dzylim

it is confirm the helena DOES BREED in the tank. i use to have 3 in my tank and when my ramhorns number is reduced significantly, i returned 2 to the LFS. 1 mth later i caught 2 very small helena running around in the tank. am still looking out to see if there are anymore.

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## Quixotic

> it is confirm the helena DOES BREED in the tank.


Not sure why the emphasis, but I don't think anyone is disputing that it does not breed in aquaria.  :Smile:

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## genes

I have the same experience with helena against the MTS. Got a helena in hope that it will do something to the explosion of MTS in one of my tanks. But seems like the helena do not touch the MTS, big or small at all.

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## Crazy4Shrimps

Anentome Helena does breed in tanks. I bought 5 of them and placed them into 2 tanks and I now have more than 20 of them in the two tanks.  :Grin: 

It is really enjoyable to look at the tiny ones, they are simply too adorable.  :Smile:

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## Puffer

Mine are breeding well in a 2ft cherry shrimp tank. I do not notice them attacking the shrimplets. They do eat Malayan Trumpet Snails, although not as prolific as puffer fish.

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## gemo82

> Did your dwarf puffers feast on your _A. helena_?



Interesting question. Anyone with both in the same tank to answer this?

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## anakkucing

May i know how long will these snails breed? I got 2 of these snails in my tank and no sign of them breeding  :Sad:

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## gemo82

Does anyone keep these snails with dwarf puffer? Would like to know if DP will attack them...

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## bjoern.rob

Hi everyone,

I had a contamination of those pesky little snails that proliferate explosively and short after, while doing research how to kill the invaders but not the inhabitant Malaysian trumpet snails, a killer snail showed up. (On a different note - I am not sure I like those any more, my plants are really suffering and most new stuff brought in is considered salad).

Considering them pests was wrong, although they do breed happily. Mature ones are easy to spot and I take out between 5-10 per month. The problem with the other snails is gone. However, I assume that due to their way of preying (kill off the prey with poison) they may have eliminated the MTs as well. At least they are not moving any more.

They are pretty though and if I can establish a stable ecosystem sustaining them, that'd be fine. Fast and pretty, they are probably more interesting than the MTs, while not getting quite that large. Oh well, can't have everything.

Will try feeding a few renegades with some frozen shrimp. If they do better than on salad, they can stay.

Comments welcome. Tx forum so far! Phenomenal pics, by the way!

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## mukyo

A bit lost. You dont like the assasin snails anymore because they also eat your plants as salads?
I thought they are carni.

Anyone had any idea if they will attack indostomus?
These are quite settled on the ground and quite slow as well. Worried.

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## cherabin

Very nice indostomus. Primary of seed shrimps and such in your aquarium? Always tempted to some  :Smile:

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## mukyo

Yea bro. Infested due to overfeeding shrimp. 
I think i have all kind of bugs in my ahrimp tank, worms, pods, hydras, now pond snails hahaha. 
Not very confident on blur blur animals vs assasins snails scared buy wrongly. Bad exp with puffers

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## cherabin

I recall reading in another thread that you have dwarf corydoras that are doing a good job at keeping unwanted pests at bay. Does't work anymore?

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## mukyo

Without otto those on the glass still fairly survived specially worms. 

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## limweihaoken225

Curious. So does otto eat up all those worm as well? 
Thanks in advance!

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## mukyo

That or at least will knock them down to ground.
Cory rarely scout until top of tank glass. 
But otto is annoying in shrimp tank. Destroyer of peace haha
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Visit and comment my L Tank and S Tank... <-- Click click !!
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