Snail & Beta Newbie

nynikki

nynikki

"Would you like to play a game?"
Aug 7, 2007
348
0
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Phoenix
On Saturday I decided to buy a CT Betta at Petsmart. Picked up the bowl, gravel, decided on a live plant, and the sales girl mentioned that a snail would be good to help with the algae. Me being a sucker (no pun intended) thought it would be a good idea so now the Beta wouldn't be lonely. I decided on only one so I wouldn't end up with hundreds in this tiny bowl. No sooner did I get the bowl set up, that I noticed there was a baby on the back of the adult. Now I'm no dummy, I thought perhaps it could have hitched a ride under the adults shell, or perhaps was on the plant. Well the next day I noticed there were like 5 of them, and I'm seeing tiny specks sticking to the side of the glass which I fear are growing babies. Also, there is a string of bubbles on one side of the tank that I thought were bubbles only, but they seem to have changed in color slightly, and seem a little tough for your average bubble.

I guess I'm writing to you all for some information and advice. First, I'm not sure what kind of snail this is. I think it's a Blue Mystery (the girl called them blue a gold at Petsmart) but if anyone has any advice on what it could be, that might help. Second, is it possible that it is reproducing this quickly? It's Tuesday, 4 days ago is when I got the snail. Are these bubbles some type of egg sack? And thirdly, what about my Beta? I think the poor thing already does not like the snail, and it seems to be over running the bowl.

Of course, I know I could just dump the bowl and start with fresh water which would get rid of a lot of the babies, but I feel terrible doing that. Also, I'm very curious to see what and how they grow up. Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated - this was supposed to be an easy way to break myself into something bigger and more complex... who knew it would get so complicated so quickly, :)
 
First of all, how large is the bowl?

The so called "baby snail" I'm afraid, is probably not one of your same type of baby snails. it's probably a common pond snail. You want ot get rid of them otherwise they will keep reproducing since they are hermaphrodites. Also, I'm guessing what you have (your blue a gold) is a pomacea bridgesii, which is the most common kind of snail probably sold at Petsmart. If so, the snail will get to the size of a golf ball, and will need 2.5 gallons when it grows to that size (in ~6-8 months)

Next, bettas should have some sort of filtration and a heater, since they are tropical fish. 78*F is good. More then likely, your betta does not like the snail since they are in a small space together (fish bowl). Also, you need to test your water parameters daily, since you have no filtration, ammonia and nitrites will take a toll on your betta and snail (snails produce A LOT of waste).
 
The small snails are probably pond snails, they frequently hitchhike on plants. The mystery snail would not reproduce that fast. Mystery snails lay their eggs in opaque masses above the waterline, and have separate sexes, so you need one of each sex to get eggs. Pond snails are hermaphroditic, and all it takes is one. Their egg masses are tiny specks embedded in clear jelly below the waterline (on plants or anything else), which may be what your "bubbles" are. If you don't want pond snails, pick them out when you see them, remove the egg masses, and if you do that diligently and don't overfeed, you can eventually get rid of them.

Also, the betta would be much happier in a filtered tank than in a small bowl. The "betta in a bowl" is one of the saddest misconceptions of the fishkeeping hobby. Maybe see if you can return the bowl and get a 5-gallon tank, filter and heater?

(That last bit came out sounding a bit preachy, but it wasn't meant to. I just wanted to let you know that the betta won't be truly happy in a bowl. :))
 
Becca and I were typing at the same time! Great minds....:dance:
 
Great minds think alike :)
 
The bowl looks like it holds about a gallon, it's 12"x12" rounded out in the front and flat on the back side.

Thank you both for the advice about the filter, I began to wonder the same thing. I live in Phoenix though, so heat is not really a problem, keeping them cool would be trickier. ;)

Just out of curiosity, how big do the pond snails get? All this reading I've been doing has got me considering getting a 10 gallon tank primarily for snails. But I guess pond snails are probably not something I would want to keep since they can reproduce so easily. I guess I was just hoping that these babies are blue or gold since that was what they had in the tank at Petsmart - wishful thinking huh? :confused:
 
Pond snails get to be ~1/2" long.
 
Everyone has already said just about every bit of general advice I was going to give.

Your pond snails are probably malaysian trumpet snails. Depending on your view of little teeny pest snails that reproduce like it's going out of style, you're right, they're probably not something you'll want.

Since you only have five right now, pick them out and toss them. ASAP. These guys are indeed hermaphroditic and will reproduce unbelievably quickly. They will eat all the food your bridgesii will be needing, and if you don't get rid of them now there's really no hope once their numbers grow.

If you want to learn more about your bridgesii, check out applesnail.net. It's THE site to visit for everything and anything regarding apple snails and "mystery" snails. The main site is a great resource for general info about apple snails and their care.

http://applesnail.net/content/species/pomacea_bridgesi.htm

That's the page you're going to want for the bridgesii. They're fantastic snails, wonderful and sweet. They can be trained to be hand-friendly, and will nibble on your fingers and crawl all around your hand. I have three, and they're awesome.
Sorry to say, though, he probably won't make much of a dent on the algae, they're not very good at that. Not really an algae-eating species. They love peas, green beans, collard greens, shrimp, bloodworms, algae wafers, and mine ESPECIALLY love zucchini and cucumbers.

Oh- and don't rely on the Petsmart employees for fish or snail info. They know nothing. Almost as a rule, they are misinformed and ignorant.

Good luck!
 
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