About the species

The assassin snail is a highly effective and entirely natural way to control unwanted snails in the aquarium. The species is carnivorous and actively hunts smaller snails, which makes it popular with aquarists who want to reduce or hold down populations of bladder and ramshorn snails. The shell is attractively marked with yellow and dark brown bands.

Facts

• Latin name: Anentome helena
• Common name: Assassin Snail
• Size: 2–3 cm
• Lifespan: About 3 years

Behavior

Assassin Snail is a predator that hunts other snails. It spends much of its time buried in the substrate, lying in wait. Towards fish and adult shrimp it is peaceful — it is far too slow to catch them. Important: it does not distinguish between pest snails and your ornamental snails.

Reproduction

• The sexes are separate, so the species cannot reproduce from a single individual
• The female lays one egg at a time in small transparent capsules on hard surfaces
• Development takes 4–8 weeks and the young stay buried for months — the species never becomes a plague

Feeding

Assassin Snail is a predator and does not eat algae. It feeds on:

• Other snails, especially bladder and ramshorn snails
• Trumpet snails and other burrowers
• Carrion and animal material

Once the pest snails are gone you must feed it:

• Frozen food such as bloodworm or tubifex
• High-protein sinking food
• Avoid overfeeding with flake — it makes the snail lazy

Aquarium

• Minimum aquarium size: 20 litres
• Substrate: Sand or fine rounded gravel — it burrows and ambushes

Difficulty level

🟢 Easy

Recommendation

Despite its predatory behaviour it is peaceful towards fish and adult shrimp — it is far too slow to catch them. But it does not distinguish pest snails from ornamental ones, so do not keep it together with nerites, rabbit snails or any other snail you want to keep.