Assassin Snail Lifespan: How Long Do Assassin Snails Live?

If you have a snail pest problem, the best solution is an assassin snail. These snails, also known as bumblebee snails, are skilled predators that take pride in assassinating other snails, hence getting their name. However, you may wonder how long they live. How many years can you expect from your assassin snail in the long run?

Assassin snails typically live for about 2 years on average, but with proper care, they can reach up to 4 years. The lifespan of an assassin snail ultimately depends on how well you take care of it. Some owners keep them specifically for breeding and controlling pest snail invasions, and the assassin snails are usually discarded once their job is done while others breed them for sale.

In this article, we’ll explore the lifespan of assassin snails, what it entails, and how to extend their lifespan to a considerable length.

The Life Cycle Of Assassin Snails From Birth To Old Age

Assassin snails have a different life cycle compared to other aquatic snails, mainly due to their predatory nature and lower breeding rate. Here is an explanation of their life cycle:

1. Eggs to Hatchlings

Unlike some aquatic snails that lay in clutches, assassin snails lay single eggs. They scatter these eggs in various nooks and crannies throughout the tank. The eggs have a distinctive square shape with white dots in the middle, resembling square sunny-side-up eggs! Female assassins may take up to a month to lay their eggs at intervals and these eggs usually take 2 to 3 months to hatch into hatchlings (globs).

2. Hatchlings to Juveniles

Once the assassin snail hatchlings have emerged, they immediately burrow into the substrate. They spend most of their time hidden, occasionally coming out to feed on debris and biofilm. This stage lasts about a month before they transition into juveniles.

3. Juveniles to Adults

After a month of being in the substrate, the hatchlings become juveniles and venture out more frequently. They spend the majority of their time above the substrate, actively hunting and feeding on decaying food, dead animals, and snail hatchlings. They also possess the ability to hunt, ambush, and cooperate with other assassins to attack and kill prey.

Assassin snails are generally not cannibalistic, and if there are assassin snail hatchlings present, they are often spared. However, it’s important to note that assassin snails may exhibit occasional cannibalistic behavior depending on hunger levels or mood, although it is not their typical nature.

4. Adults to Elders

After about two years of successful living, an assassin snail can be considered an adult. At this stage, their diet primarily consists of protein-based food, and under favorable conditions, they may begin breeding. Assassin snails typically die from old age during this period, assuming they have survived this long. However, with proper care, they can live for more years. Providing a well-maintained tank and ensuring their nutritional needs are met can potentially extend their lifespan. With the right conditions, it is possible for an assassin snail to reach the 4-year mark successfully.

It’s important to remember that individual snails may exhibit slight variations in their life cycles, and these observations provide a general overview of the stages an assassin snail goes through during its lifespan.

In summary, it will take four months before your baby assassin snails grow into sexually mature adults capable of breeding and starting a new generation.

5 Practical Tips To Choose The Healthiest Assassin Snails For Your Tank

Just like all animals, assassin snails have different traits that determine their behavior. For example, some snails are hardier than others because of their genealogy. While you can’t run tests there and then to tell which snail is healthier, you can look out for tell-tale signs to ensure you choose the fittest snail most likely to stand the test of time.

If you’re looking into breeding snails, these tips are crucial to prevent you from making a loss.

It’s All In The Stripes

Assassin snails have distinct yellow and black stripes that give them the name “bumblebee snails”. In some cases, these swirls can become faded or grungy-looking, identifying an illness, weakness, or malnutrition. The brighter the swirls, the healthier the snail.

Check The Activity Level

Bumblebee snails are averagely active. They move around scouting for food most of the time, but they also bury themselves to ambush prey or to feel comfortable. If you notice the snail is not reacting to touch or stimulus at the very least, it is probably on its way to dying. I recommend you choose a healthier snail instead.

Confirm The Siphon Is Intact

If you observe an assassin snail, you’d find a tube-like structure resembling a snorkel sticking out of their heads upward. This is called the siphon and they use this tool for breathing and perceiving aromas underwater. When they bury themselves in the substrate, you’d find the siphon sticking out above where they’re buried because they use it to breathe.

The problem is that some assassins live with aggressive fish like bettas that will bite and nip at the siphons, often severing them off. An assassin without its siphon is weak and would mostly die along the way in a matter of weeks. Do not purchase or choose assassin snails with missing siphons.

Ensure The Shells Are Healthy And Robust

Aquatic snails face several shell struggles like shell erosion, cracks, and collapse that are fatal to a degree. Usually, snails that get to the point of having affected shells die off before the others do. It reduces their lifespans and puts them under immense stress. Go for snails with properly formed healthy shells so that they don’t die too soon.

Purchase From Reputable Sources

I encourage you to buy assassin snails from reputable sources so that you are not in danger of getting bamboozled with feeble killer snails. If you have a pest problem, the last thing you’d want to deal with is a sick snail incapable of dealing with the problem at hand.

Ensure that the snails you’re willing to buy are from a good local store before your purchase or obtain them for your tank. Take your time to go through their living conditions; overpopulation makes it harder to monitor snails allowing parasites to dwell. Snail tanks that are overpopulated in local stores are more or less red flags you should avoid.

The Non-Negotiable Ways For Your Assassin Snails To Live Long

If you’re considering breeding assassin snails for profit, ensuring their longevity is crucial, and here’s how to go about it:

Cycle The Tank Properly Before Introducing The Snails

Tank cycling can either be the genesis of your problem which will later kill off every animal you put into the tank, or be the reason why your snails’ lives are healthy and happy.

Cycling a tank is the process of growing beneficial bacteria capable of handling ammonia spikes in the tank. The bacteria break down ammonia to nitrite and then into nitrates which are not harmful to the inhabitants. Without this bacteria, your snails are prone to dying when ammonia is imbalanced. Here’s how to cycle your aquarium:

• Ensure your tank is set up correctly with a working filtration system and a few plants to complete the nitrogen cycle. Plants consume the end products of the nitrogen cycle (nitrates) to prevent it from building up.
• Throw a piece of perishable product into the aquarium and let it rot. Examples are fish pellets or just a piece of fresh fish.
• Now, you either have the option of using Fritz Zyme7 (view on Amazon) or acquiring some of the substrates from a properly cycled aquarium to introduce bacteria into the tank. The bacteria will feed on the ammonia breaking it into nitrites and further into nitrates. This is the beginning of the cycle and the start of a generation of beneficial bacteria.
• Use an API water testing kit (view on Amazon) to track the cycle of your tank. It’s highly necessary to know how good your tank is cycling, and the kit helps you read that clearly with visual comparisons. Once your ammonia and nitrite are at 0 ppm, and nitrate is detectable, it means ammonia is actively broken down and your tank is properly cycled. Hence, your pets can enter their new home.
• Last but not least, patience is key. It can take anything from 2 days to months to get your tank fully cycled depending on the size of the tank and the quality of the bacteria you’re introducing into your tank.

Employ The Proper Water Parameters

After cycling the tank, you must maintain the correct and safe water parameters by keeping track of the water using your API test kit (view on Amazon) and performing water changes. Stable water parameters are maintained by frequent 20% water changes. Depending on the bioload of your aquarium, you may need to change the water weekly or every other week.

Assassin snails produce less bioload compared to omnivorous aquatic snails, but due to their high-protein diets, they’re able to disturb the ammonia levels. So, you must always have your eye on these parameters to ensure your pets’ safety.

Below are the standard water parameters you can compare to.

Feed Them More Of Fresh Diets

Fresh food like live feeder snails, bloodworms, and shrimp are healthier than processed foods, and will generally improve your assassin snail’s experience in their new home. Replicating their wild feeding habits is necessary for your snails to live long lives. Though they could survive on being fed every other day, they naturally prefer daily meals and will resort to eating biomatter and decay if available.

Do Assassin Snails Eat Plants?

Assassin snails do not eat plants as they’re not omnivorous. However, they may eat algae when they are starved or simply by chance. They eat high-protein foods consisting of live snails, blood worms, shrimp, decaying animals, and protein pallets. Also, they’re known to pursue animals smaller in size compared to them but will hunt down even bigger snails, sometimes successfully killing them.

How Big Do Assassin Snails Get?

Assassin snails can grow as big as 0.5 to 1.25 inches in size. This would depend on how much they eat, as they grow as frequently and healthily as they’re fed.

Here’s a quick table with the sizes of assassin snails in their different stages of growth.