snail is being bullied...

[absolom]

I have a small mystery snail, "Garold" (his name) in my 25 gallon. The platys have started picking at him when he comes out of his shell. I only have one tank so I don't have another tank for Garold to move to.

Recently I have noticed my giant danios are running interference... chasing the platys away. Do you think they will eventually get along? I've added fish very slowly for the past 3 months. I love them all and hope I don't have to take someone back to the aquarium store.

 

[Fishfur]

Have they done any damage to the snail ? As in nipped his antennae for example ? It's not unusual for fish and other snails to feed on things they find on snails's shells, usually bits of algae or biofilm, but if they are actually nipping at his antennae or worse still, his breathing tube, it might be useful to move him to another container until he's larger.

I've not noticed that Platies are especially bad for nipping but some fish can be pushier than others and you can get the odd bully.

Do you know what sex ratios you have for the platies ? How many females, how many males ? Sometimes an imbalance can cause some aggression. Best ratio for most live bearers is one male to 3 or 4 females.

Haven't kept platies in decades, never kept giant danios, but I've always had snails. I've not yet seen one badly damaged by fish, but I have heard of them having their antennae nipped or damaged. If it's not to bad, they'll regrow eventually.

Might try providing some wood or rock hiding places for the snail, perhaps, so he can get out of the way if need be. Both will grow biofilm he can eat. Also give him a sinking pellet or two, or a bit of an algae tab. Just small amounts for the snail only. Since the fish mainly feed on the surface while the snail will happily feed at the bottom, doing this may help a bit too.