assassin snail not doing its job?

[msjinkzd]

not necessarily true. They will reproduce at their own rate as long as their is a readily avfailable food source. The survival rate of their young is lower than most pest snails, as is their growth rate, etc but they do reproduce and continuously.

 

[Prometheus]

is a male and a female required or do they have the ability to switch sexes if need be?

 

[msjinkzd]

they are sex specific though I don't know a definitive way to sex them. Anecdotally, the males are often slightly smaller and from observation, seem to have slightly thicker colored bands.

 

[Prometheus]

thanks do they require calcium dosing in the tank or any other special treatment?

 

[msjinkzd]

what is your source water like? I dont' dose calcium for them as I have naturally moderately hard water. Most snails you feed a calcium rich diet to but that obviously doesn't work with these guys, lol.
You will notice shell erosion if they are in soft water so it would be best to keep them in moderately hard water to hard water to prevent this. If you need to buffer up your hardness, using holey rock, limestone, or crushed coral are some easy ways of doing so...or somethiing like substrates for african cichlids.