# Do Bettas eat snails?



## SomeDudeAtHome

So right now I'm in the process of cycling a 5 gallon tank for a future betta. It's been going for a couple of weeks now and yesterday I decided to get a couple of plants for it. The guy at my LFS said swords would be a good fit for the tank so I bought an Amazon Sword and Melon sword and some Duck weed hitched a ride on both of them so I have some of that floating around (who doesn't love a free plant haha). Anyway both swords are relatively small right now. After about an hour of being planted I looked in the tank and noticed a really tiny snail crawling up the glass and kind of groaned. I woke up today to find a little batch of what I believe to be snail eggs on the bottom of one of the melon leaves. If it's not snail eggs than I'm not sure what it is because it wasn't there yesterday. But if it is than I'm probably going to have a lot of snails all over my tank before I get my betta which leads me to the question do bettas eat snails? I tried googling the question but a lot of different answers came up.


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## denaliwind

Haha what an interesting thought! I've never heard of bettas eating snails before, I can't imagine they would be able to digest the shells.... but maybe the babies snails would be a tasty treat, they do scavange around a lot. XD


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## BlueHaven

lol, your username is cool. 


They might heat them if they are small enough, it depends on the betta. 
My bettas tried to eat the snails that hitched a ride on the hornwort I got, but they couldn't get to them because the snails had trapdoors. 
I believe one of them in my CT tanks was either eaten by him or just died because I couldn't find it. Though I believe it had enough food so my betta probably ate him. 
If you want to get rid of them, you should always check for the eggs and squish them onto a paper towel and toss in the trash. 
The snails themself, well, they are probably the kind that populates super fast so you could crush them against the tank if your bettas don't eat them. This I assume kills them fast so they don't feel much. 
If you want to keep them just keep a very close eye for eggs, they will reproduce on their own, at least the ones I had did!


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## Oldfishlady

I am a big fan of common snails and feel that they have a place in a planted tank...mine have a job....they eat the dead and dying plant material along with some algae, however, common snails can get out of control if not kept in check.....my Bettas will eat the smaller snail especially the ones that just hatch and will eat the meat of the larger snails if I crush them first......it varies from Betta to Betta if they will eat or even bother snail in the tank.


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## B3TTA LUVA

Hmmm...never heard of that, but it sure would be inresting to see them try...


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## demonr6

Polo pays no attention to the snail in his tank, Dante on the other hand decided to have his way with the snail in his tank and the poor thing is missing some vital appendages.


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## LisaLB24

I've never seen my betta's eat a snail but if the mood strikes they will peck at them or carry them around for a while. I love my snails though, both the intenitional ones and the hitchhikers! In a planted tank they do a great job of keeping things clean!


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## Littlebittyfish

It depends on the betta I think. My fish Cleo doesn't try to mess with the ghost shrimp or the snails in my tank, but Batman used to try and attack the snails non stop.I took them out of course, and put them in with Cleo.


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## SomeDudeAtHome

Thanks everyone! You're all much more helpful than Google  I guess I will just have to hope I get a Betta that enjoys the taste of snails but who knows maybe they'll grow on me. At the rate most snails reproduce though probably not haha.


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## dramaqueen

One of our members told the story of their betta carrying a snail around and smashing it into the side of the tank, killing it and eating the snail.


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## denaliwind

dramaqueen said:


> One of our members told the story of their betta carrying a snail around and smashing it into the side of the tank, killing it and eating the snail.


O.O Wow! That's impressive... not for the snail of course. XD


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## vaygirl

Three out of four of mine hunt and eat pond snails. Not all the time. I'm not even sure what the criteria is. I saw Wraith trying to eat a snail as big as his head. It was out of the shell. I've seen Logan hunt small snails, usually at night. No snail has ever survived in Kilo's tank. Tango is the only one who doesn't eat them. I think they do it the same way my puffer does. He grabs the snail by the body and sucks it right out of it's shell.


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## denaliwind

vaygirl said:


> He grabs the snail by the body and sucks it right out of it's shell.


Ahaha wow! Who would have thought.


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## MrVampire181

My juveniles will peck at snails but for the most part ignore them.

Weird snail thing:
One time I got up and I was still half asleep and I saw an almond leaf that was stuck to the side of one of my betta jars and I thought it was a giant snail out to take over the world ().


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## dramaqueen

lol!!


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## shadowsbiker

lol!


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## Larry69

My Betta tried to eat a snail twice, but his mouth was too small... ) Crazy Daron


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## Aqua Aurora

I've had two bettas that eat ponds, ramshorn, and baby Malaysian trumpet snails (these are small species). I kept one betta with a nerite that it ignored (don't know it ever actually saw it as the snail was always on the dark underside of the driftwood and hard to see). Every betta is different so keep a back up plan to put the betta or snails in another tank is the betta decides they're just 'very fresh' escargot (a french dish using snails).





vaygirl said:


> Three out of four of mine hunt and eat pond snails. Not all the time. I'm not even sure what the criteria is. I saw Wraith trying to eat a snail as big as his head. It was out of the shell. I've seen Logan hunt small snails, usually at night. No snail has ever survived in Kilo's tank. Tango is the only one who doesn't eat them. *I think they do it the same way my puffer does. He grabs the snail by the body and sucks it right out of it's shell.*


Sadly dwarf puffers suck a little then bite off the snail and don't eat the entire meaty part of it, leaving rotting snail bits in the tank that have to be removed (or have a clean up crew of shrimp to eat the leftovers.. that the puffers are too dumb to eat...at least my husband's are dumb like that)


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## TerriGtoo

Same here, some of mine pick the babies right off the sides of the tank. Larger ones they just flare at.


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## Charc14

I used to have a mystery snail in each of my tanks, but then my female betta Ice kept Beating up her poor mystery, It was bad. Even worse she was actually eating the parts she ripped off, her snail never came out anymore. But he was NOT dead. I thought maybe she would get used to him, and stop eating him, But apparently not, So I took the poor little guy out. Now my male Marius, Has two mysteries in his tank. He doesn't bother them at all. Infact, the snails will be by each other, and marius will go up and rest on them! lol. 


I love all my snails, Infact, I have two tanks with just snails in them, and one that I gave to my dad. He likes em too lol. 


So, I guess it just depends on the betta.


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## Charc14

P.s. Did anyone notice this thread is from 2011?...Its 3 years old..............................................


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## Littlefin

Yeah it pretty much depends on the betta. Mine just stares at them.


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## TerriGtoo

Charc14 said:


> P.s. Did anyone notice this thread is from 2011?...Its 3 years old..............................................


Lol. Oooops! Ah well, it's still relevant to betta keepers!


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## Charc14

Yup. I had just realized that after I had posted! ;-)


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## Littlefin

Oops xD


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## evan47

my recently cycled planted tank has hitch hiker snails. every morning i see them floating on the surface or on the sides of the tank.
i added a betta imbellis yesterday and this morning there are less baby snails on the glass.
i dont mind a small number of pond snails for clean up duties but i am hoping my betta will keep the under control.


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