Snail eating live fish?

[Luvmykids2008]

My first thought is the fish was sickly and the snail found him laying around.. But my kids said mom the fish is alive! So I netted the snail, and never before have I seen this- the neon straightened itself upright, breathing, and is moving. The neon is still hanging low but hovering over the pebbles on the floor. Looks ok except very faded color where the snail had him on his middle section. I'm not holding a bunch of hope but has anyone experienced this?? This snail was a lone survivor of over 100 decent shells on the tank floor when I received the neglected tank AND his 2nd tetra in 2 days. He seems to get them overnight. [/ATTACH]242523[/ATTACH]


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[dragonfisher33]

i doubt it. snails can never catch up to fish, especially neon tetras that are known to be fast/nifty swimmers.

 

[Luvmykids2008]

I think I found my instigator. One of my male gouramis is just not playing nice today. He seems to be bullying everyone in the tank today including the other gouramis so I'm thinking he's picking on the other fish than the snails grabbing lunch.


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[bettaowner]

I don't think the snail would be able to attack a healthy tetra. The fish was probably stressed or attacked at night. The snail probably thought it was dead and started to scavenge.


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[toddnbecka]

I have actually read of one incident where a snail did attack a live, healthy fish. Seems unlikely that it would be that adept of a hunter to take down 2 fish in 2 days though...

 

[Luvmykids2008]

There is a good possibility they are all stressed right now. I received a very neglected algae covered tank w/ 2 inches of water and had to do a complete overhaul, scrub down. Refill etc. it was too gross not to. It was also not a cycled tank but levels are showing good across the charts.
It's possible the fish have all calmed down now and showing who they are.. The gouramis have come out of hiding and a Chinese algae eater I've been keeping an eye on (I'm rehoming) has been out in full force the past few hours.. I'm guessing due to lack of algae perhaps he may be the culprit? After doing more research cae will take out fish overnight and it sounds similar to what we saw this morning. Since this- I found one of my gourami with an injury to the face so I'm going to setup a few of the dormant tanks to remove those I suspect and see if the trouble stops.


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[enrgizerbunny]

I had a case where I found my kissing gourami rasping on a live, stressed tiger barb. It turned out my rainbow shark was bullying all of the barbs and the gourami was taking advantage because he thought it was dead.

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[amyb_70]

IME CAE are one of the worst fish out there. The stores sell them as common algae eaters, SHM, the 1 I had I will call a Common Killer. I started out knowing nothing, and thinking this would be simple. My 1st trip I was told the CAE was a must have fish, and friendly in community tank with guppies. This is NOT TRUE, the CAE was slowly killing my guppies, everyday I'd find at least 1 dead one, when I was able to see the guppies dying I noticed everyone was dying the same way. I was stumped, started a thread, soon after that guppies were missing eyes. I wish I could remember who asked if I had a CAE, and they gave me factual info on them. When the CAE was rehomed, guppies stopped dying. Many stores sell them as community, peaceful fish, I disagree. I had some Otto's and was soo happy with them. I lost them due to disease in my tank. I'm holding out a little longer but will be getting more, a plus to the Otto is they are one of the few fish that don't snack on baby fry. . Good luck. I wanted to add my experience even though I realize this thread was posted a while ago.


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