Giant Apple Snail Attempted To Eat Friend's Betta Fish.

THIS POST/INQUIRY IS FOR A FRIEND.

So, a friend of mine and fellow hobbyist has recently encountered quite a problem in her betta tank.

My friend has a 5 gallon tank with heater, filter, and plants. The tank is currently housing 1 male betta and 1 giant apple snail (Pomacea maculata). Up until recently, she also had 2 other, much smaller, apple/mystery snails with them, but took them out.

Her giant snail has eaten all of her plants, though she feeds him veggies and puts extra betta food in for him to mooch off of.

Today, the apple snail attempted to eat her male betta, who now has pretty bad fin shredding due to the ordeal. The snail has been moved into a solitary tank.

My question is, is this normal?? What may have caused it?

 

WOW! That's far out! My Mystery Snail can go surprisingly fast, but I would never have thought it would outrun my Betta. Hopefully someone has some insight for you. Good luck!

 

I've never heard of this... I know mystery snails have the capacity to eat dead fish but not live ones

 

Never heard of it but don't apple snails need 10 gallon tanks? Or is that just my imagination?

 

Never heard of it but don't apple snails need 10 gallon tanks? Or is that just my imagination?

I don't think they do

 

THIS POST/INQUIRY IS FOR A FRIEND.

So, a friend of mine and fellow hobbyist has recently encountered quite a problem in her betta tank.

My friend has a 5 gallon tank with heater, filter, and plants. The tank is currently housing 1 male betta and 1 giant apple snail (Pomacea maculata). Up until recently, she also had 2 other, much smaller, apple/mystery snails with them, but took them out.

Her giant snail has eaten all of her plants, though she feeds him veggies and puts extra betta food in for him to mooch off of.

Today, the apple snail attempted to eat her male betta, who now has pretty bad fin shredding due to the ordeal. The snail has been moved into a solitary tank with no plants or fish.

My question is, is this normal?? What may have caused it?

I have my suspicions (the snail is simply too hungry) but would love any input. Thanks!

Wow, never heard of this happening!
Are the there any sort of sharp decor items in your tank?

 

WOW! That's far out! My Mystery Snail can go surprisingly fast, but I would never have thought it would outrun my Betta. Hopefully someone has some insight for you. Good luck!

Thanks! I do too! It seems quite weird.

Wow, never heard of this happening!
Are the there any sort of sharp decor items in your tank?

My friend had a few tank ornaments, but nothing sharp.

I don't think they do

I have my mystery snails in a 10, but hers seem perfectly happy in a 5. Of course I'm no expert!

I've never heard of this... I know mystery snails have the capacity to eat dead fish but not live ones

That's what I thought as well.

 

That's what I thought as well.

Was the betta inactive or behaving weirdly?

 

Was it a mystery snail or an actual full blown apple snail? How big is this bugger?

 

The tank is way too small for the two of them most likely. What is the gph on the filter? No healthy betta could get grabbed by a snail. The water is probably not very good because the tank isn't big enough so the betta is probably pretty ill for the snail to get it. Also those snails need their own diet to be fed their own food 1-2x per day. They cannot live off of leftovers and live plants. Snail is starving, betta is sick. Is the tank heated? Bettas are tropical fish. What's the filters gph? Do you have a freshwater test kit? What are the numbers? How often do you do water changes?

 

A Pomacea maculata definitely isn't a mystery snail (those are typically Pomacea diffusa). This wouldn't be normal for a typical mystery, but apple snails are known for being invasive, destructive pests. (I think they're adorable, but that's beside the point ) Regardless of that, I thought that apple snails (of any variety) were herbivores. If I'm right on that, the snail almost definitely wasn't trying to eat the Betta.

Also, it seems strange to me that the snail was able to catch the Betta to injure it. Did your friend actually watch the snail attack the Betta, or did she assume that the snail caused it?

 

A Pomacea maculata definitely isn't a mystery snail (those are typically Pomacea diffusa). This wouldn't be normal for a typical mystery, but apple snails are known for being invasive, destructive pests. (I think they're adorable, but that's beside the point ) Regardless of that, I thought that apple snails (of any variety) were herbivores. If I'm right on that, the snail almost definitely wasn't trying to eat the Betta.

Also, it seems strange to me that the snail was able to catch the Betta to injure it. Did your friend actually watch the snail attack the Betta, or did she assume that the snail caused it?

She saw the snail chewing on the tail.

 

My giant apple snail, not sure of its exact name, but hes the size of a lemon, has eaten one of my sick fish before. But that's just it, he was sick and was gonna die anyways. He had a blockage in his swim bladder, and was being kept in a breeder box. Snail crawled in when we were sleeping, no fish in the morning. So, snail has his own 5.5 now. I can totally believe your friends snail ate your betta, but only if your betta was sleeping, sick... etc. These snails are fast, but not that fast.

 

A snail (of any kind) definitely shouldn't be able to catch a healthy Betta. After all, a snail is confined to wherever there's area to stick to; a Betta can swim freely, so it should only have to move a couple inches to the middle of the tank to get away.

I also ended up reading a bit more on apple snails' eating habits, and they are omnivores, but they only eat dying/dead fish.

Basically, the snail isn't the betta's biggest problem.