ricktavious

Hey guys, I'm thinking that the fun way to attack the algae in Spazz's and Andre's tank would be to get a snail. But, before I do anything, I'd like some advice.

First, what kind of snails commonly found in pet stores will a betta "generally" accept?

How can I introduce the snail to the bettas?

If the bettas do not respond to the snail, would they be able to harm it or would they just flare?

The plan would be to move the snail back and forth between tanks to keep algae down in both. Could that work?

I'm sure there's more questions to ask.........some of which will go in the snail section of the site

Thanks for any help!

sirdarksol

Bettas are generally okay with snails. From what I've seen, they'll pick at the thing to determine if it's either edible or a threat, and then leave it alone.
I wouldn't move the snail around. This would be added disruption to both the fish and the snail. Often, mystery snails will "shell up" for a day or more after being disturbed. Not sure if other snails do a similar thing.
Mystery snails, nerite snails, ram snails, Malaysian Trumpets, all are good snails. Only the Mystery snail will work as a single addition, the others will need to breed to be effective.

ricktavious

Wouldn't really want breeding snails in case of there becoming a ton of them in there. So mystery snail might be the way to go for me.

How much algae would a mystery snail need to eat to survive, and would the snail be able to go up and down the glass? Thanks!

ricktavious

Oh, and would a mystery snail also eat the live plants I have in there now?

sirdarksol

Yes, mystery snails can move up and down the tank walls. Eventually, the snail will eat everything that it finds edible in the tank, and you will have to supplement its feeding. Petsmart feeds their snails cucumber slices.
Not sure if they eat many live plants or not.

TheEssigs

Mine eat algae tabs!

(let me restate that.... 1 of of my 3 snails eats algae tabs)

Barbrella

You need pretty hard water for snails to keep their shells in good condition. Mystery(apple) snails can grow huge and will pollute the water in small tanks.

I had one in a 30 gal and it was still making a big mess!

COBettaCouple

yea, we were going to get one of those - until i found out their full size and that ended that idea.

armadillo

One way of feeding snails without the bettas getting their filthy mits on them first, is to clip a vegetable outside of the water. The snail can take being out of water for the duration of a snack.

You have to watch persticides and molluskicides, though, and rinse the veggies like there's no tomorrow.

I had an apple snail for a little while, but it died. I don't really know why.

I know my betta didn't at all pay attention to it, aside from when it was still in the bag, so am not sure they'd be much for company. Allie's females seem really interested in her snails, though, so you never know.

I agree with the others on max size and pollution. Not all mystery snails reach that size (there are a gazillion different species), but the pet stores can't be trusted to give you the right species, so I'd be ready for the worst size-wise. And yes, they are huge pollutors.

Perhaps a zebra snail is a better idea? I find them really pretty (even their flesh is zebra-patterned), and as added value, they eat green spot algae.

To keep their shell healthy, you could always try to find crab food (it's got calcium supplements in it) and put in a bit of limestone rock for the snail to browse on. Again, to prevent the betta from reaching the food, just put it outside of the water in a feeding basket, just above the surface.

Oh, and breeding zebra snails requires salt water. Breeding apple snails requires a snail of the opposite sex. So I think you're OK against unwanted population.

Finally, in theory, moving a specimen between tanks is not recommended in terms of risks of disease spreading, but we all bend the rules once in a while, so that one's up to you.

Hope this helps.

heatmisr

Make sure you research them thoroughly to make sure you know what type of snail you are getting. You could end up with an infestation of snails that could endanger your bettas. I know Rose lost one of her babies when the snails attached onto his fins and he couldn't go up for air.

How large are the tanks? Maybe you might consider oto cats instead?

lili70

I have a black mystery snail and bettas didn't care .... The snail eats algae pelets and there was a plant that it liked to eat called Cardamine lyrata (it was actually chewing holles in it but it's a nasty plant to take care off) but no damage to other plants.

ricktavious

Yep, don't want to do anything to harm the betta or bring a snail into a bad environment for it. I remember hearing that about Rose's betta.

The tanks are 5 gallon each.

armadillo

Those were pest snails if I remember well, not pet species (apple or zebra).

heatmisr

You may be right. My only point is, sometimes the LFS will tell you it is one species, and it turns out to be something else, so do the research so you know what you are getting. When it comes to snails and shrimp, I'm leary of trusting the LFS employee's knowledge.

armadillo

And I can't blame ya' !

But seriously though. As far as I know, it's quite tricky to get apple/zebra snails to breed. You'd really need to try to get the conditions right, so am thinking the chances of an unwanted birth are minimal. I could be wrong, though, as I never tried.

I think the main problem with poor inverts ID'ing by pet store employees is adult size, and that goes for apple snail, not zebra snails as far as I know. So I think you'll be reasonably safe with zebra snails.

ricktavious

Of course, after everyone is kind enough to share advice, I'm just now figuring out that a couple of otos might go in well in the tank. Still trying to figure out how feasible that is. But before I do anything like that, I want to make sure I could keep a pair of otos and Andre happy together. I have a thread in the oto forum trying to find out some info

Thanks everyone!