My Betta Bit my Snail

[101DalmatianMollies]

Hi Folks!

So Sir William Benjamin III passed away a few weeks ago (he was my crowntail betta). It was quite sudden, he was doing quite well prior and then torpedoed on me and was gone by the evening. Sadness .

I acquired a new Betta today, my first from Critter Jungle (I had been admiring them from there, as they come in such beautiful colours!). His name is Sir Malcom Henry IV (he is a plakat, but his tail fin looks like a heart), and I decided to get him a minion (snail) to keep his kingdom clean. I got a bright red ramshorn snail. Very active when I picked him up, and I put them both in the tank together. It wasn't long before I witnessed Malcom bite his shell!

Minion hid a little, but re-emerged and continued on his merry way. So I left the room and when I came back noticed that he was curled up in his shell, Malcom must have bit him again. I decided to leave it for now, but when I went back up to check on them, Malcom was sitting in front of Minion watching him. I've now moved Minion into another tank.

Does anyone have experience with Betta's attacking snails? Would it be the bright red colour of the snail that is the trigger? I want a cleanup crew in there as I have a weird algae situation that happens in that tank so I'd like to have something in there cleaning it up between tank cleanings. Otherwise I've never witnessed a Betta attack a snail before! I'm just waiting to see if Minion comes out of his shell in the new tank, I feel bad for the poor kid, I hope he's not hurt.

Thanks!

[exv152]

I've had bettas attack snails of all sorts. But I never paid much attention to it since they were always in a comnumity tank with schools of other fish. You might do better with a plain coloured snail like pond snails or malaysian trump snails. But they do reproduce quite quickly. Oto cats work well with bettas.  

What sort of algae are you experiencing?

[101DalmatianMollies]

It's a small tank, only about 5ish gallons. I can't do anything too big or too prolific of he'll be ousted out of his own kingdom.

In that corner of the house algae seems to bloom like mad. It doesn't happen anywhere else. I get hair algae and wicked blooms and am often fighting it regularlary. There is no direct sunlight, and I do not have a light positioned on the tank. This has happened to this tank once before with a heater in it, and a completely different tank with no heater in it.

What about a nerites snail or mystery snail?

[sas]

I wouldn't entertain any snails in the environment you have setup. It's just too small.If you had a larger tank that you could plant heavily then it ,May work. Snails are tricky, they need to be able to move freely and this means exposing a nice big foot that fish find appetizing.

[angelcraze]

Even my 5 weeks old angelfish bit a ramshorn.  My 2 month krib babies killed all of them, including neocaridinas.  Unfortunately, these inverts are at the bottom of the food chain.  I might suggest a nerite snails with a trapdoor to clean up the kingdom, they are even more efficient at that.

[101DalmatianMollies]

So.. I tried a mystery snail in the tank, and sure enough Malcolm bit him too. So Malcolm apparently is not in any need of any servants for his kingdom and thusly will not have any. Both minions are happy in their 10 gal paradise where they are the current rulers.

Thanks for the tips everyone Malcolm is just a meanie.