Home aquarium owners face many potential challenges. One common issue is invasive snails. Different species like trumpet snails, ramshorn snails, and bladder snails may infest a tank. It can seem impossible for hobbyists to fully eradicate them without using chemicals. Luckily, there’s one natural way to help remove these tiny pests from your aquarium. Assassin snails can be your best friend if you use them properly. In this guide, we’ll analyze everything you need to know about using assassin snails and keeping them in your tank.
Assassin Snails Feed on Other Snails
Assassin snails earned their name because they eat other snail species. We imagine snails as slow-moving creatures, but despite their modest speed, assassin snails are very effective predators.
They use their proboscis (a long tube that extends from the mouth) to stealthily snatch their prey and pull it in. They can even use it like a harpoon to spear smaller snails. Assassin snails can even take down bigger snails through an ingenious method. They bury themselves underground before attacking the larger snail from underneath in groups. It’s fair to say that they are ruthless assassins!
These days, many hobbyists keep assassin snails to control invasive snail populations. A few assassin snails can help to drastically reduce the number of unwanted species to help maintain a clean and healthy tank.
Avoid Keeping These Snails With Predatory Fish
Although assassin snails are fierce hunters, these predators can easily become prey when kept with certain tankmates. For example, cichlids may try to bite them with mixed success. Loaches and pufferfish have stronger beaks and may be able to eat them.
The good news is that most popular fish species (like tetra) won’t bother your assassin snails. You won’t have any problem if you keep them with betta fish, guppies, or platies. We recommend adding these snails to a tank with corydoras because they make a great cleaning crew. These bottom feeders help to regulate the algae levels in your home aquarium, offering a natural way to maintain a healthy tank.
Assassin snails have hard shells and spend most of their time buried in the substrate. They’re great survivors and have hardy natures. However, some fish species are more aggressive and will try to eat them.
You May Need to Feed Your Assassin Snail
Assassin snails primarily feed on other snails in the wild. But what if there aren’t any in your tank? Here, owners will need to provide more food for their assassins.
You could add a few pond snails to the tank if you want to give them their natural diet. However, this isn’t essential. Bloodworms and brine shrimp are popular alternatives if you want to avoid adding invasive snails to your aquarium. However, this may affect the growth of your assassin snails. They will also consume carnivore fish pellets and any other protein-rich fish food. However, don’t expect them to eat algae sheets because they’re a carnivorous species. That’s why you can keep them in an aquarium with many live plants and not worry.
Remember, sometimes pests enter the aquarium on marine plants, so assassin snails can help remove them. They may even use the plants to transport themselves quickly around the tank. Sometimes they’ll eat dead fish, but that’s not a guarantee.
Buying Assassin Snails: What to Know
If you want your assassin snails to be effective tank-cleaners, you should ensure they’re healthy when you buy them. This isn’t a guarantee because some unscrupulous marine dealers don’t care for them properly. Firstly, check if they have whole shells without any cracks or visible damage. They should also have a complete proboscis. Without this, they can’t do their job properly!
Meanwhile, your potential new snails should be active. This may seem like a weird description of snails, but it’s easy to identify. You’ll see them stuck to aquarium walls or ornaments because they’re moving. It’s a red flag if most of the snails are on the base of the tank. This could be a sign of unhealthy water conditions and poor health.
Another key point is to ensure the shell isn’t empty because this sometimes happens! Most hobbyists will get three to six assassin snails for a standard 20-gallon tank.
Assassin Snail Habitat Requirements
Assassin snails are one of the best snail species for your freshwater tank. They hail from the warm waters of Southeast Asia, so take care to maintain the correct temperature levels. The water should be 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The pH levels should be 7.0 to 8.0, and the water should be relatively hard. This is good for their shell health. They can survive some fluctuation, and there can be a wide light disparity. Assassin snails often bury themselves within their substrate anyway.
The ammonia and nitrogen levels should be zero because these are very damaging to your snails’ health. Owners can perform regular tank parameter tests and use devices, like thermometers and hygrometers, to check that everything is balanced. Finally, exercise caution when using fish medications because some contain copper. This is very toxic for snails, so remove them before using it or find an alternative. Also, be careful with aquarium filters because they can suck in the snails if the setting is too strong.
These Snails Don’t Reproduce Quickly
Hobbyists love these unique aquatic creatures because they help control other snail populations. Meanwhile, they don’t reproduce as quickly as other snail species. Breeding is possible, but you’ll need male and female specimens. It’s very difficult for most people to identify the gender of their snails. That’s why it’s advisable to get about six snails to increase the odds of having at least one male and one female in the group.
These snails aren’t hermaphrodites, unlike most pest species, which is why they reproduce more slowly and don’t take over tanks. Meanwhile, it takes up to six months for baby snails to reach full maturity after hatching. Healthy assassin snails live for between two and five years.
