# Betta picking on Nerite snail!!! :(



## bethaburrito (Jul 2, 2014)

Hello! I am currently facing a problem with my betta and one of his tank mates. I purchased my betta, Vanilla, around November of 2013. He lives in a heated and filtered 10 gallon tank (it's like a tropical fish starter kit you can get at Petsmart). Around March or so, I decided to get him some tank mates! I got two ghost shrimp (Lou and Ferrigno), two african dwarf frogs (Legs and Tonguey), and a black nerite snail (Gastro). Both of my shrimp went missing, and I assume that Vanilla ate them. The ADFs are doing just fine, but it seems that my betta is picking on my snail. 
Now, I never really thought of my betta as being aggressive. He is definitely active though, he swims around constantly and will swim up to the glass to look at you-- and when my filter flow was set too high, he would even act a bit dramatic and sort of drift around the tank with the current for attention :roll: All in all, he's a great fish and he's fun to watch. When I first got my snail, it moved around the tank a bit and had those pretty little eye tendril things. After my shrimp disappeared, I noticed that my snail wouldn't come out of his shell anymore, and when he did, his tendril things were gone, as if they had been bitten off. I also noticed that my betta would float next to him and stare at him, and he even would charge at his shell and try to knock him over sometimes :-( I moved the betta to a quarantine tank to treat him for mild fin rot a while ago, and the snail was up and at em' and crawling all over the tank. However, since I put Vanilla back in the main tank, Gastro stays in his shell all the time. 
So, now that you've heard my story, my problem now is that I am having a diatom bloom in my main tank right now (the brown algae). It's gross and honestly I don't want to clean it myself, especially since I've read that snails will eat all that right up. Gastro, the snail, hasn't been out of his shell in a couple of weeks. I don't think he's dead because his trap is shut and he doesn't smell at all, I just think he feels threatened by Vanilla, my betta. I decided to put Vanilla in a quarantine tank for a while to see if my snail comes out-- I did that just a few minutes ago so I don't know if it's working yet. However, I want my betta and my snail to live in harmony in the main tank, not have two separate tanks all the time! 

Here are my questions:
1. Can I somehow teach my betta to leave my snail alone, or will he always attack him?
2. If I can't get my betta to be less aggressive, is there a way to keep them in the same tank, with say a divider or something?
3. Will my nerite snail really eat the diatoms if he comes out, or do I just need to clean them up?
4. Will my snail's tendrils grow back eventually?

Some other things:
I am willing to purchase a small bowl/tank exclusively for the snail to keep on my desk if that is necessary. 

Thank you all for any help you can offer-- I haven't been able to find any guidance on this situation, so I hope this site can assist me :-D


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## kjg1029 (Jun 14, 2014)

I had the same problem with my apple snailxc now he lives comfortably in his own tank, my snail will usually eat algae...and don't worry I bet his tendrils will grow back, mine did and now he's happy as can be!...but it just depends on what you want to do... it sounds like he's definatly stressed xc....just my opinion tho!..goodluck!


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## bethaburrito (Jul 2, 2014)

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I decided to move the snail to his own bowl. I'll clean up the algae myself, I really need to vacuum my substrate anyway XP I guess I just have to wait for him to come out of his shell. He's been in there for like a month I swear  he can't be dead though, like I said his trap is shut tight. I hope not anyway, he's a pretty snail ha. I'll update on what happens 

Anybody have a snail that tends to hide in it's shell for a long time?


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

Make absolutely sure that bowl has a LID. A secure one. Nerites can leave the water, and like exploring. He might decide to take a walk... er, slither?... if you don't have him secured in his new home.


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## bethaburrito (Jul 2, 2014)

Well I put him in my quarantine tank for now which has no lid, I'm just waiting to see if he comes out of his shell before I buy a nice looking little bowl with a lid to put him in. I'd hate to buy one for a dead snail, you know? I'll put a book on to QT tank for the night incase he comes out to explore though (hopefully he will!). Thanks for the tip!


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You can put a piece of plastic wrap over the quarantine tank.


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