When you’re in the hobby of keeping an aquarium of gorgeous freshwater Fish, there are often new lengths one goes to in order to keep that aquarium looking fabulous.
One such way is to introduce invertebrates into the tank, which help regulate and maintain reasonable algae levels in the tank to reduce the need for major tank cleans.
While many snails are rather benign, they can be known to overrun a tank as they can reproduce quickly. It’s all about having the right proportion of specimens in your setup to ensure that there is the right bio-balance, so to speak.
Looking like Bumblebees in the tank, they do provide an interesting look in a water setting.
Their familiar look can make it a little disconcerting in a tank setting!
In addition to aiming to keep the population balances right for your tank community in terms of all species in the tank, we can come across pest species or backpacker species who intrude on your setup without you knowing about it until they are very apparent.
Enter the appropriately named Assassin Snail (Clea helena), a pretty little thing who becomes a dedicated ’00’ agent in your tank with little provocation.
To be clear, these snails are just doing what comes naturally to them, which happens to include having an innate carnivorous tendency and feeding off of other snail species.
They are an effective and simple way to problem-solve pest snails the way nature intended. Also highly cost-effective and chemical-free!
Originally from Southeast Asia, they have earned their right for popularity in the hobby for many good reasons, as we shall delve into. Their practicality in the tank is matched by their interesting good looks as a species to care for outright, even without a pest problem.
Found in the lakes and rivers of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, this might be an assassin you can call a friend without too much worry for your own safety!
Assassin Snail Behavior
As expected of most snails, Assassins are not speedy by nature.
What is interesting for these snails is that they are from a small group of snails that consume other snails as their preferred diet. As such, they tend to stay out of the way during the daylight hours and are more nocturnal.
They prefer to be buried in the substrate, with very much an attitude of cloak and dagger-like a real assassin! All the better for them to attack something moving above them, preferably little snails for them to snack on.
So not an active creature to add to your tank for excitement then. Nevertheless, it does make for an attractive addition with its stripey looks, often leading owners to call it a Bumblebee Snail.
The Assassin will use its operculum to fully protect it from predation when it feels threatened. This trap-door style closure seals off its shell to retreat into his stripey home whenever they like.
When not hidden in the substrate, you will see these guys sliding along the glass using their powerful and muscular ‘foot’ muscle.
Beyond that, they won’t trouble any other species in the tank unless you have other small and slow-moving creatures that wouldn’t be able to escape their clutches. So all Fish are fine, but dim-witted juvenile invertebrates could be at risk like shrimp fry.
Another good point about these snails? Being carnivorous, they won’t bother your plant life like many other snails. At the same time, that means they are not your go-to snail for algae clearance either.
Assassin Snail Lifespan
If you cater to the needs of your Assassin Snails, which is admittedly a low-maintenance prospect, you can expect your snails to live for 2 – 3 years without too much problem.
In particularly perfect water conditions, they can live for up to 5 years. Those provided with poor water quality or dietary needs may get nowhere near the 2-year mark.
Assassin Snail Appearance
Assassin snails have a neat appearance that is interesting and eye-catching in any tank setup.
Easily spotted, they have a striped shell that alternates vibrant yellow with brownish-black, which earned them their moniker, the Bumblebee Snail.
The shell is less rounded and more of a pointed cone shape. The stripes are not strictly stripes per se; the darker band color wraps around the golden shade in a spiral but still provides the same effect.
Their delicate bodies are cream-colored with dark specks all over, and they have two tentacles on their head with an eye on each stalk.
Assassins are one of the lucky snail types to possess an operculum, which allows them to fully retract into their shell and seal it off to danger. A clever move, not unlike a real assassin wearing a bulletproof vest to protect them from a dangerous spray of bullets in real combat!
They tend to reach about an inch in length in captivity but have been known to reach up to 3 inches in the wild with perfect conditions making them a striking creature.
Assassin Snail Habitat And Tank Requirements
Since these snails hail from Southeast Asia, the waters they enjoy are warm and slow-moving as well as slightly alkaline.
We always aim to create an environment that mimics their native habitat and home waters, so read on to check out what you should provide for a healthy group of real live Assassins!
Assassin Snail Tank Conditions
As these snails like to burrow into the substrate, you’ll want to have soft sand that allows them to do so without scratching their delicate bodies.
Whatever plants you have or wish to add to the tank will not impact your Assassins; they do not care one iota about the vegetation in their surroundings and will be happy with whatever you provide. They aren’t there to eat any of them!
Any additional decor you provide is fine but think of smoother surfaces to avoid scratching these snail’s bodies or catching their ultra-sensitive tentacles. These snails may explore the decor, rocks, driftwood, and other objects you provide when they aren’t hunting or lying in wait for their next meal.
Water changes need to be done weekly at least 25 – 30% to keep optimum water quality.
Water conditions should be noted and maintained as follows:
- pH of 7.0 – 8.0
- Water hardness between 8 – 15 dGH
- Temperature between 70 – 80 ºF (21 – 27ºC)
- Lighting conditions should be bright
Assassin Snail Tank Size
The minimum tank size for a single Assassin Snail would be 10 gallons, and for every additional one, you should add 5 more gallons.
Choosing Tank Mates For Assassin Snails
When it comes to finding species appropriate for your Assassin Snails, you won’t need to worry about your snails attacking any fish. But you will need to consider having any fish species that will think your Assassins are a suitable meal, and there are many who will.
It’s also imperative you don’t consider any bottom dwellers who will have a high chance of picking off your Assassins, much like they will pick off other pesky snail species.
Some excellent tank mate pairings for your Assassin Snails that would work well include:
- Guppies
- Celestial Danios
- Cherry Barbs
- Neon Tetras
- Corydoras Catfish
- Angelfish
- Pearl Gourami
- Otocinclus Catfish
- Rainbowfish
- Nerite and Mystery Snails (adults only)
- Betta Fish
- Dwarf Gourami
The aforementioned snails and even shrimp can be included to clean the tank as they are peaceful and useful for the waste your tank community will create.
Be aware that shrimp fry is fair game for these snails, but mature shrimp will be too fast-moving for your snails to eat even though they would enjoy eating them!
Keeping Assassins together is perfectly fine as they do not take any notice of each other in a tank setup.
Avoid anything like Cichlids, Goldfish, Crayfish, and any other bottom-feeding fish.
How To Feed Assassin Snails
Since these snails are purely carnivorous, they need a steady supply of meat to thrive.
If you have a pest population of snails (by accident with a decor/plant backpacker or otherwise through poor tank keeping), you will need to keep an eye on what’s left for your Assassins to eat.
These snails really do prefer to eat just snails, shrimp fry, snail eggs, and the odd algae wafer at a push.
You should expect them to eat at least one or two snails per day for a fulfilling feed.
If you keep other snails, as mentioned earlier, as tank mates, you must consider them as adults only and never juveniles, or you will lose those snails in short order!
If you don’t keep the food supply adequate for your Assassins, they will often attack even larger snails than themselves.
You can opt to supplement your Assassins with other foods than smaller snails or pest snails to prevent such attacks. Things like bloodworms, brine shrimp, or protein-heavy sinking pellets will often do the trick in such cases.
Assassin Snails Common Diseases And Illness
When it comes to the health of your Assassins, you should consider their shell health. Adding Calcium supplements into the water system will help with a shell structure.
Parasites can easily appear on shells which are often difficult to treat.
White spots can appear on the shell, which is usually indicative of a parasitic infection. If you spot this on any of your Assassins, you should ideally quarantine them to prevent any infection from spreading.
Assassins are sensitive to copper and should never be treated with foods or medications that contain this element.
Poor water quality is a huge factor in whether these snails will thrive and stay healthy. Ideally, you want to keep nitrate levels low to nonexistent to keep your Assassins happy.
Assassin Snail Breeding
For any hobbyist looking for an easy breeding project with snails, Assassins are quite happy to breed in captivity, and it’s fairly easy to have your own little population if you put in the work.
You should ideally have a group of at least 6 Assasins to increase your chances, as this species is not hermaphroditic like most snails and gastropods are.
When you see a pair getting together, you will see them stuck together for at least half a day.
The female will lay eggs onto harder surfaces, so this is where suitable decor comes into play. It takes surprisingly long for snails to hatch and takes anywhere from 25 – 30 days to do so.
Once the juveniles hatch, they will burrow into the substrate for protection, and you probably won’t see them for another 6 months until they are safe and secure (and uneaten by anyone else).
Are Assassin Snails Good For Your Tank Community?
We bet they are as long as your tank mates are compatible and won’t consider them food!
Not only will they assist in controlling pest snail populations when they happen (and they inevitably do), but they are a valuable and attractive addition to the tank community.
Peaceful (with Fish and most other non-gastropods!), they are simple to drop into the tank as and when you need them.
Just remember that these are not like most snails that assist in cleaning your tank. They are not algae consumers and are more like their name, assassinating and killing off pest snails in the tank.
It’s not every day you can tell someone you know an assassin or that you ‘own’ one either.
Live and let die, die another day; however, you want to describe them, your Assassins will have a view to a kill and definitely deserve their license to kill.
Your tank can become a quantum of solace once again after being saved from pest snails.
Avoid the specter of an unhealthy and overpopulated snail tank and get your own little cohort of 007’s!
