# Can snails and betta fish ltogether peacefully?



## Armani33 (May 13, 2012)

Okay so first of all I am new to this forum and betta fish. I have one male halfmoon betta fish named Armani. He is almost completely black with a little blueish purple on his back and throat area. He lives in a 2.5 gallon acrylic tank with a filter,light,natural aquarium gravel,one live plant,four fake plants and a rock thingy with a hole he can swim through. I have had him for a little over week. I was thinking about getting a small snail to put in his tank to keep it extra clean. I know betta fish (especially males) can be agressive towards other fish but would they be agressive towards a snail since it's not another fish?


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## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

Is your Betta Fish aggressive? It depends on their personality.
Most of the time they live peacefully together. But sometimes, they get a little feisty. People claim that sometimes, Betta Fish eat Snails.


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## Armani33 (May 13, 2012)

From what I can tell he seems like a pretty docile fish. He doesn't swim super fast or try to attack stuff. He usedto give my finger a nip but now if it's in the water he just ignores it. What kind of snails are okay to keep with betta fish?


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## MyRainbowBettaFish (May 9, 2012)

just to clear this up, snails only eat algae. they do not eat fish waste or any other things. I could be wrong, but this is from my experience...


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## SamJustice (May 5, 2012)

Really, it depends o the betta.
Cosmo and Johnny were fine with the mystery snail i put in there.

I watched Raph attack it. (he managed to kill it. o.o)

Any would be fine, But snails do add a lot on the bio-load, Just beware of that.


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## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

Armani33 said:


> From what I can tell he seems like a pretty docile fish. He doesn't swim super fast or try to attack stuff. He usedto give my finger a nip but now if it's in the water he just ignores it. What kind of snails are okay to keep with betta fish?


What size is your tank? And is their Algae growth in the tank?


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## Micho (Aug 22, 2011)

Since this thread is more popular I'll post my answer here too.  



Micho said:


> Hey there welcome to the forums.
> 
> First off a 2.5g tank is a great home for a Betta, you've listed a lot of things, but not a heater, do you have one? I'm just sayin' Bettas are tropical fish and need tropical water in order to thrive (78F ~ 82F).
> 
> ...


Also some shrimps actually don't even touch algae. Snails also eat uneaten food that has sunk to the bottom and some species of snails prefer meatier diets, Nerite snails are the best snails for algae, unlike Apple/Mystery snails.


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## True Indigo (Mar 22, 2012)

Generally they get along pretty well. My betta, Gyarados has killed everything else I've put in his tank but almost completely ignores the two nerite snails I have in there.. Probably because they don't move fast and look more like background. Hahaha. He only notices them when they go in his little stone hut in which case he just goes in another part of the hut until they leave.

I also would suggest getting nerite. Have had nothing but positive experience with them.


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## gidgeystartedit (Nov 13, 2011)

Everyone said it. It depends on your betta. One of mine pushed a baby snail around before..


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

True Indigo said:


> Generally they get along pretty well. My betta, Gyarados has killed everything else I've put in his tank but almost completely ignores the two nerite snails I have in there.. Probably because they don't move fast and look more like background. Hahaha. He only notices them when they go in his little stone hut in which case he just goes in another part of the hut until they leave.
> 
> I also would suggest getting nerite. Have had nothing but positive experience with them.


do nerites eat long brown stringy algea and diatoms?


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## Silverfang (Mar 25, 2011)

nerites are your safest bet (save from trumpets in sand)


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

Most of mine did fine with snails, then i bred some pk's that either ate, or attempted to eat, every snail they came across. At some point they had some snail eggs in their tank while growing up and developed a taste for them.


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## Ginzuishou (Feb 16, 2012)

I got a grown black mystery snail for my ten gallon tank. The betta fish stares at the snail all day and night, will lay on the snail, and will sometimes bite the snail's antenna. The fish seems to be completely obsessed with the snail and it's been over 2 months. I even bought a tank divider to separate them at one time.

Although he does nip at the snail a bit, the snail doesn't seem to have any injuries.

You just have to try and see how it goes.


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## gidgeystartedit (Nov 13, 2011)

Ginzuishou said:


> I got a grown black mystery snail for my ten gallon tank. The betta fish stares at the snail all day and night, will lay on the snail, and will sometimes bite the snail's antenna. The fish seems to be completely obsessed with the snail and it's been over 2 months. I even bought a tank divider to separate them at one time.
> 
> Although he does nip at the snail a bit, the snail doesn't seem to have any injuries.
> 
> You just have to try and see how it goes.


Did the snail get over the divider?:lol:


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

Oh my goodness, I think we've found the solution to an endless food supply =D Fish eats antennas, antennas grow back, fish eats more antenna! I'm a genius! lol

Silliness aside, +1 to the nerites, I love the zebra nerites since their skin is striped like their shells, and they eat almost all kinds of algae. The only algae they don't eat in my tank if off those growing on leaves that are too light to support their weight.


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## Ginzuishou (Feb 16, 2012)

gidgeystartedit said:


> Did the snail get over the divider?:lol:



Nope, everyone stayed on their appropriate side.

I just didn't like the divider; )


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

how fast may the eggs gather over a month?


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## roubidoux (Aug 30, 2011)

Just put a mystery snail in Scooter's 5 gal tank, and he is quite obsessed with his new pet. Last night he would dive bomb the snail and you could hear the click outside the tank! It was pretty funny, but I worried the snail wouldn't survive the night. Today Scooter is still pretty curious, but not acting quite as aggressive toward the snail. Fortunately, the snail gets out of view frequently due to lots of plants and other stuff in the tank. Out of sight, out of mind! :lol:


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

nel3 said:


> how fast may the eggs gather over a month?


idk, when i finally noticed i had 2 or 3 clutches in there that the fry started picking at. After that they would not leave the snails alone. They killed off the smaller pond snails and then went after the huge mystery snails (the fish were still pretty small at the time). I had to remove the Mystery snails.


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## roubidoux (Aug 30, 2011)

Here's Scooter and his new muse! Sorry the pic is so small. I couldn't figure out how to make it bigger.


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

That is too cute.


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## roubidoux (Aug 30, 2011)

does anyone know the life span of a snail? Assuming it has enough to eat, healthy environment, etc.


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## Armani33 (May 13, 2012)

@LebronTheBetta My tank is a 2.5 gallon acrylic tank with a filter and light. The name is the Aqueon mini bow 2.5.


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## Armani33 (May 13, 2012)

there is no algea growth in the tank I just thought he would eat any debris that was in the tank. Would a small cat fish work better. I was just thinking that Armani would be more inclined to attack a cat fish than a snail but I have seen a video of a betta living peacefully with a cory catfish.


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## Twilight Storm (Apr 14, 2011)

Armani33 said:


> there is no algea growth in the tank I just thought he would eat any debris that was in the tank. Would a small cat fish work better. I was just thinking that Armani would be more inclined to attack a cat fish than a snail but I have seen a video of a betta living peacefully with a cory catfish.



Cory catfish need sand, they like to dig and do best with groups of 4-6 from what I understand. 

Gravel will bruise their mouths and possibly scrape them up causing infections. 

Unless you move your betta to a 10 gallon I doubt anyone here would recommend cory cats.

I do have a black mystery snail with one betta in the same tank you have. The snail is probably the size of a golf ball now. I have a sponge jammed on the intake tube of the tank. ( One of these [see link] cut in half with an X cut in the middle of the sponge. I have left this sponge alone through water changes and it actually holds a great colony of beneficial bacteria. It *DOES* look ugly as heck but I figured I would rather a happy healthy tank that looks a little bit bad. I have a big glob of java moss in the tank too which might make a difference in the tanks health with the larger bio load. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754144 ) <---Offhand I don't know what size I used I looked at them in the store and was sizing up which one, cut in half would work to jam on the intake.

I use these http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3650250 in my other bow to jam on the intake tube they look better but the foam holes are smaller. I honestly don't know offhand if large hole foam or small hole foam is better overall for the bacteria colony. I have been using the ugly white foam successfully on my filter for over a year with the snail. the fluval sponge tanks only contain a betta, no tank mates.

Before you add a snail I would add the sponge on your intake tube for a while to cycle up the bacteria colony before you put in a snail. Just my opinion anyway.

GL with whatever you do decide on!!


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## nel3 (May 29, 2011)

ive had the snail almost 2 days and hes gotten most of the bottom algea but he still has a large job ahead. he's climbing on the glass readily but hasnt touched the main area id like for him to get. the crafing mesh has 80% of the algea on the tank. have any of you seen the snails crawl on the crafting mesh often?

i got him from the other LPS. the usual one had 2 out of 30 zebras dead. the one i got at the other LPS was in a 1/3g with 2 other zebras and a CT. the ct was healthy looking. couldnt do much to get the ct but that probably helped him live longer.


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## Armani33 (May 13, 2012)

are there any small catfish that do well with gravel and a calm betta would be okay living with?
.


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