Is it good for the betta??

[tdalessa01]

Hi Everybody,

I asked you all about some pond snails that appeared in my tank a little while back.

Well, instead of freezing them(I am a sucker for underwater creatures) I just put my betta in a bigger setup and put all 8 of the snails I had in with him.

My question is that he seems to be flaring at them quite a bit, however doing nothing. The betta was my girls but she didn't want him anymore so I took him. She never listens to a thing I say! Is it healthy for him to be flaring up all the time? I don't want to stress him out. I am no way putting the snails back in my tank because I got them all out.

So in all your expert opinions, is this entertaining him, or stressing him? There are also snail egg sacks everywhere. This is not harmful to the betta is it? I am surprised he didn't eat them

 

[JustOneMore20]

The snails aren't harmful..neither are the egg sacks.

If the betta is flaring at the snails, it shouldn't be harmful. He's just entertaining himself. If he is at the glass flaring, he might be able to see his reflection (mine flares at his reflection from the glass).

Either way, it shouldn't be harmful to him. Mine does it alot at night, when his tank lights are out, but the room lights are on. He will spend forever swimming up and down the glass at himself!

 

[tdalessa01]

Thanks. He has never flared before and I didn't know if it was to much stress for him. I have never had bettas but my girlfriend took on to much. Now I bought her a 10 setup and she wants to rush everything. She can't understand why my fish have been alive and healthy for so long and her's die after a week. Oh well, what can you do ? The betta(Frank) has grown on me a little. Maybe it will be healthy for him to have something to flare at and explore. After he flares he just stares at the snails. It is kind of comical.

 

[Annie/Aggie]

where did your snails come from? Did you buy them?

 

[tdalessa01]

No, I did not buy them. I purchased a couple plants from a local Petsmart and obviously didn't inspect and wash enought. Three weeks later I had about 8 snails

 

[Annie/Aggie]

Been there, done that, same store and from a plant. That was over a month ago. I ended up doing a 100% clean out of my entire tank, substrate included after trying to just crush them. The rid-a-snail stuff has copper in it.

Two days ago I found a dozen baby snails, aren't they disgusting? I went out and bought a small clown loach.

After many different solutions the loaches are your best bet. How big is your tank? I bought a small one two days ago and yesterday there were still a few more snails but today I don't see ANY. I will be getting him a partner tomorrow as you are suppose to have at least two. I only have a 10 gal at the moment and plan on the bigger tank I need for them shortly. Right now he's the perfect size, they will eat any size snail.

Please move your betta away from the snails as I also lost a betta to the first batch of snails. They don't hurt them but the betta rubbed itself in the egg sack and it got all around his gills and face. He suffocated from them as they are sticky and he couldn't get them off.

 

[joannde]

Annie/Aggie, what a horrible story about the betta - poor guy. Who would have thought it could happen !

 

[Guest]

How can egg sacs hurt a Betta Fish?

Edit: Oh, I get it. But I think that may have been a rare occurence. I have heard a lot of people keeping snails with bettas, however I am sorry about what happened, that is sad

 

[tdalessa01]

So I should take the stem that has the egg sacs out?

 

[rich311k]

Yes, remove the eggs. they will over run your tank. Put in a lettuce leaf and weigh it down. They should congrate on it an you can remove them. You wont get rid of all of them but should be able to keep ahead of them.

 

[Annie/Aggie]

Sorry people I didn't mean to be such a doomsayer LOL.

They can be gotten rid of but so far as I can see the loach works best, or some other snail eater but loaches eat egg sacs and all!. You won't believe it once they start to hatch how many there are, they get in your filter media and it's pretty gross unless you are fond of snails.

As for my betta I had a large leaf silk plant in with him and an egg sac stuck to the top of it. Simon layed on the leaf and rubbed it all over himself. PM me if you want to know what I tried to get it off him but nothing worked.

I never did try the letttuce, post it here if it helps with them.

 

[tdalessa01]

Guys, I have no snails in my main tank after a lot of hard work. I put them in a 2 gal betta tank because I didn't want to kill them and I was originally asking if it was healthy for my betta to be flaring at them although he seems to have calm down. I will remove egg sacs as I find them so my betta doesn't get clogged with the jelly-like sac

I do noy have a snail problem in my main tank.

 

[joannde]

Sorry - you're right tdalessa01 - we got off on a bit of a tangent. I would say that constant flaring is like a never ending adrenaline rush. If he doesn't calm down after a bit you might want to consider removing the snails - I can't imagine that its helpful to him to be in an "excited" state all the time. Keep in mind that some bettas just flare more than others so yours could be one of those or he may just not be used to anything else sharing his space yet.
My two bettas lived side by side in 2.5G tanks - they could see each other often - one betta flared alot at the beginning and then got used to seeing his "buddy" (for the most part LOL). Once I put them in a divided tank he started flaring again - I'm hoping that he'll mellow out in a couple of days.
HTH