The assassin snail, scientifically known as Clea Helena, is often referred to as the killer or bumblebee snail. It belongs to the Buccinidae family and originally comes from South-West Asia.

They normally live in warm fresh waters, not very deep with a slow current. They’re predators, hunting and eating small living snails as well as decaying organisms.

How about their behavior? Well, assassin snails are seriously slow, so you won’t be seeing much activity in your tank. They tend to come out and feed at night so you might miss them a lot during the day.

They’re generally non-aggressive species, they won’t attack or hurt any fish, only creatures small and slow enough to become a prey.

Assassin snails are carnivores, which means plants aren’t on their food menu so you don’t have to worry about any green life, including algae, in your tank.

Mainly, they feed on shellfish, aka snails, which is why they’re ideal for pest control. Some of their favorite snacks are Malaysian Trumpet snails, Ramshorn snails, and pond snails.

While they can eradicate entire populations of unwanted snails, they aren’t exclusive to feeding on them. They’re opportunistic eaters, as they’ll consume just about anything getting in their way. Dead tankmates, commercial fish food, little living organisms, and frozen foods.

You can also feed them frozen blood worms and fresh chicken liver once they wipe out the targeted intruders. They don’t really fancy apple snails, only rare moments when they absolutely have to. It’s important to change up their diet and not solely stick to their natural prey.

It’s kinda tricky to tell how much you should feed them as they don’t have an eating schedule, rather whenever they feel like it. However, 1 or 2 snails should do the trick, especially that they’ll pick up any leftover fish food.

Temperature: 68° – 75° F (20° – 24° C)
pH: 6.5 – 8.0
KH: 2 – 15 dKH
Minimum tank size: 8 Litres per snail