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Bettas CAN NOT be housed with Mystery Snails

87K views 57 replies 21 participants last post by  Fishmon 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I apologize for sounding upset, but I am, and I hope you understand why. In my 10gal heavily planted tank, I originally bought 4 mystery snails, all decent sized. After reading on these forums that they're okay to be housed with bettas (and seeing tanks with both in there) I thought it'd be okay too. Well, the first betta I got completely tormented them and nipped off half of their tentacles before I could remove him from the tank. He would literally hover above them and nip them despite me tapping on the tank to shoo him away. I returned him to try a different betta, maybe I just got an aggressive one. I got a smaller betta too, as the first one was pretty big. The same thing happened, once the new one got warmed up. He was okay in the beginning after I fed him, but in a little time, he started attacking them too. My poor snails barely have any feelers left beside one of them.

On top of all that, I look like a fool in front of the Petco people (lol) since they even warned me it probably wouldn't work after I returned the first one. I said no it's okay I see other people who have them! Well, now I'm going to have to go back with this one, can't wait for that. I guess I'll just get some cory catfish and not get any betta, the reason I spent time on this NPT in the first place.

Unless your temperature is low and which will make your betta not that active, or he's being overfed like a pig, I can't imagine bettas getting along with mystery snails.
 
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#2 ·
Interesting! I have 2 Betta tanks (1 solo mail, 2 females) each with their own mystery snail. Initially, the fish did harass the snail; but it both cases, the snail pulled in and played dead until the fish got bored (about 2 seconds). Then each snail sped (as fast as snails can go) into the decor and started being a snail. No problem ever again. The only thing I saw happen is my male knocking his snail off the front center of his tank, as if to say "EXCUSE ME- blocking my view!") These are young snails; maybe they were raised with nippy fish and knows how to react. The only thing I can think of is that, in both tanks, I have those glass aggregates as accents- maybe the fish confuse them?
The only other Snail Incident I had w/ the Bettas is that, before getting the Mystery snails, I asked the LFS for some of the free baby snails that come on the plants. They gave me 6. The tank is lit well, the snails were small but visible, but after about 2 days I never saw a single one again. I tried questioning the girls (whose tank they were in) but all I got were innocent looks. Hhmm.
 
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#3 ·
Thats too bad.....I have never had any problems keeping Betta and snails together...Just shows us that every Betta can be different in their tolerance of other livestock and if your Betta won't tolerate snails-they may not tolerate corydoras either-but at least they can swim away and hide a bit faster than the snails...Good luck with your corydoras....
 
#4 ·
Initially, my betta didn't really like my mystery snail either. In fact, it took about two and a half weeks for Bandit to leave the snail alone, and even then he would pick on her every so often. The two of them have been living peacefully since about the end of September now. I got the snail in July. It's taken some time, but they don't mind each other anymore. The snail rarely hides from Bandit these days and it's not uncommon for me to see them literally right next to each other in the same corner of the aquarium, either. But I guess it's just like OFL said - every betta is different.
 
#5 ·
Your Bettas must be quite aggressive. I have 2 mysteries with a sorority of 6 girls, they hardly bother them. They get plenty of food, and the temperature is a warm 76F and stable. (76 due to Cory)
 
#6 ·
Wow! Interesting!
I have atleast one ramshorn snail in every one of my tanks and never had much of a problem.
It always took a few days to a week for the betta's to get used to them and till they got used to them they'd nip them and push them off walls, but afterwards payed no mind.
How long did you let the fish get used to the snails before returning them?
 
#7 ·
I have a barebottom temp tank set up while I'm home, and I have 2 rabbit snails in with Goblin. He tormented them for a few days, but I floated him in his cup and made sure he could see them. I'm not sure if he enjoys their company, but he tolerates them.
 
#10 ·
LOL- As I type, my male EE is pestering his snail. It only bothers him when Mr. Snail decides to crawl directly in his view of me! He just nudges it once or twice- the 1st time he did this, he knocked the snail off the glass. Now he just poked it once to express his dislike of the snail's position. He is exhibiting territoriality- snail in the plants; fine- snails in his way, not so much. He didn't harm the snail. The girls don't even notice their snail. All my fish are very chill.
 
#12 · (Edited)
I envy those who have no issues, but for those that say the betta only tormented for "a little while" or only if the snails are in sight, I guess i simply don't have the backbone to let that happen. I think mystery snails are just as cool/adventurous as fish, and I don't think I could have sat there and watched the betta continuously pick off their antennas until he got "used" to them. What if that never even happened? And what if even if the betta DID settle down, the snail would still live more stressed than he would normally be, always having to hide when the fish came around (what mine were learning to do). Guess I just couldn't let that happen

edit: and yeah I'm guilty of only giving both the betta about 2-3 days, but the snails didn't even have enough antennas left to bite off, I was scared he might start attacking eyes n stuff.
 
#13 ·
But, can you imagine what a snail goes through in the wild? They can grow back eyes & antennae. I think the're cool, too. My females totally ignore their snail. The male is a little more bored than they are, so hence the nip and bump. There are good buys on nano tanks this time of year; mabe have a snail-only tank? I treat snails as my fishs' pets, but maybe they deserve their own habitat.
 
#15 ·
But, can you imagine what a snail goes through in the wild? They can grow back eyes & antennae. I think the're cool, too. My females totally ignore their snail. The male is a little more bored than they are, so hence the nip and bump. There are good buys on nano tanks this time of year; mabe have a snail-only tank? I treat snails as my fishs' pets, but maybe they deserve their own habitat.[/quote/]
We should never compare what they go through in the wild too aquariums.
 
#16 · (Edited)
Funny, someone posted that they have an algae problem but doesn't want snails b/c the don't like them! Aw!
I'm feeling terrible b/c my girls ate the baby snails I got for them. I guess it's better than a slow death in a dirty tank, but now I know: if I want (free) pond snails, I have to put them in a different tank and let them grow up. I happen to like pond snails b/c they're relatively small, so there's less of a bioload concern, and their egg clutches can make good fish food if you don't need 100 baby snails...
I used to pull mature pond snails from our fish pond. They don't have the long, yummy anntenae for munching.
 
#18 ·
I love all snails!!!
 
#21 ·
The moral of the story is that bettas are as individual as we are. Some harass snails, some ignore them. I have a feeling, if the snail is the only other living animal in the tank, it will be in more danger that if there are other fish/inverts to keep our bettas busy. They are smart fish! They'll always inspect a snail, then decide on it's entertainment value. My 1 large snail in with my male is smart enough to tuck all appendages IN if he sees my betta hovering near by. I guess you need a smart snail, too! (I look at the snail each day w/ a magnifying glass just to be sure s/he is not getting hurt.)
 
#23 ·
And I never met a betta I didn't like! I don't think a betta will break up with you, have an affair, drink too much, and leave you for another person!!! You also don't have to spend $$ on a lawyer to get alimony payments....
 
#24 ·
I was one of those people who didn't like snails, now I am on the snail band wagon with my golden mystery snail Tesla. He will be living with Nix in the big 10 gallon and she is fairly small so I am not expecting too many problems. I tested her aggression with my frog knowing he will snap back and in a 2.5 gallon for 2 hours she ignored him. I also got two shrimp...we shall see about them.
 
#25 ·
I've had horror stories of bettas and shrimp. I had a sorority kill 3 BIG pregnant ghost shrimp JUST to get the eggs.

Onto the original topic of snails and bettas. It's been stated into overkill that bettas are individuals, some bettas won't tolerate ANY sort of tank mate, others, you could probably get away with throwing anything into their tank, and they won't care one bit. On the other hand, snails are individuals too, and it's the ones that learn to protect themselves that tend to live longer. Some snails just don't develop those particular survival instincts. I have a trapdoor snail of some sort that I collected from a lake last summer, and this is honestly my most successful snail out of all of them!

About comparing what snails go through in the wild, compared to tanks. I feel it's appropriate to make that comparison, because the inhabitants of our underwater worlds don't really know to act any differently than they would in the wild. Bettas eat small invertebrates, shrimp, snails, bugs. And people culture these things specifically for their bettas to consume. Since they're trying to replicate nature as much as possible for their pets, is this wrong too? Knowing as much as we can about the wild relatives of the animals we share our homes with, helps us to better care for them.

In closing, just like some bettas don't do well with other livestock, some snails don't do well with other stock either. And I would consider an invertebrate (shrimp and snails) tank for your snail, and fish only setups for your bettas rather than returning them (because they deserve good homes too). I hope your snails recover from the social experiment that the bettas didn't comply with. They must not have gotten the memo that they're supposed to be nice ;)
 
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