Stress

[nvallejov]

So I've had my tank running for two years now it's a 13gal tall. My betta recently starting flaring and attack my mystery snail. He's never done this to any of the other fish/inverts in my tank could the stress of the constant flaring and attack kill either one?

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[nvallejov]

L

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[Fishfur]

Just fyi, that is not a mystery snail in the pic. It's a zebra nerite. It's not usual for Bettas to get all out of sorts at a snail, but if he's flaring fins and opening the gill covers wide open and doing it for long periods of time, you can try taking the snail out to see if it helps him calm down. The snail could easily live in a bowl for a short time while you watch to see if the fish stops flaring.

And you say he never bothers other fish or inverts.. what other fish or inverts are living with him ? Betta often do not get on with other fishes, and something may have happened to set him off, so that now he's unhappy, where before he was ok. Sometimes things like that happen.

 

[nvallejov]

My bad a zebra nerite, And he has two cherry shrimp and 6 orange tetra with him. I can't remember the whole name but he doesn't bother any of them

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[Fishfur]

You've been fairly lucky. Many Bettas would have attacked the tetras and eaten the shrimp. But they are not all as aggressive as some of them are.

If he's still freaking out over the snail, I'd take it out for awhile to see if it helps. If it does, great, though you then have to find a home for the nerite, but if he continues the behaviour, then the snail is not the reason and you can put him back.

You may find you have to keep the Betta by itself, in a tank of it's own. Generally, most Betta's are kept alone, simply because they don't usually get along with any other fish.

But there are always exceptions of course.

 

[trennamw]

How much is he really doing it? In hours per day?

One LFS here always, always, always keeps bettas in community tanks with a lot of other fish. They haven't had one problem, they say, since switching to this practice from betta vases.


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[nvallejov]

Uh I think he does it for the first three hours after I turn on the light now. It's starting to slow down and I've kept betta and community tanks for a while and this is the first one that's ever done this

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