Beautiful Betta Tank?

[KruseZoo]

I have this 10 gallon tank. It is kinda old, a little dirty(just moved from a spot in direct sunlight where algae bloomed every 3 seconds) and houses a beautiful betta(we arn't sure if it is male or female). This tank has been overrun by small icecream cone snails. Our friend gave us two of them and they have bred, and bred, and bred. We want to turn this tank into a beautiful, perfect home for a betta including live plants, invertebrates and just anything else. What do you suggest doing first? What to do with the snails?( I would not like to kill them, i just can't do it), perfect water stats, best filter, just anything! Please help! If you would like to email my email is [email protected]
Here are some pics:

http/www.flickr.com/photos/90428002@N03/

 

[Flute]

Hi Krusezoo

Definitely a male you have there The snails to me look like Malasian trumpet snails, but I've not had a great deal of experience with them so I could be wrong.

I would go with a nice sand, either play sand from somewhere like Argos (washed through very, very thoroughly!), or black sand (which tends to be more expensive). Lots of bits of bogwood with anubias and java fern attached; you can stack them together to create loads of hidey holes and places to explore. Some crypts and moss balls and other easy to maintain plants, rounded pebbles, etc, would make for a lovely tank

As for the trumpet snails, I don't what to suggest really- you could remove the egg sacks before they develop into snails?

Filter wise, you need something that wont have a huge flow- bettas prefer gentle currents. I have an All Pond Solutions 450L/H internal corner filter, which has a spray bar with adjustable flow, and my betta do great with it, although there are loads of other great filters available on the market. Water stats wise, get yourself a liquid test kit if you don't already have one, and test the water daily for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate. If Ammonia or Nitrite are above 0 ppm, then you need to do as a big a water change as necessary to get the levels back to 0 ppm. pH wise, betta are generally unfussy, and can handle perimeters between 6.0-8.0

Any more questions, don't hesitate to ask either on here or via PM

 

[Baccus]

G'Day Krusezoo

Unfortunatley MTS or Malaysian trumpet snails dont lay eggs they have live young so you will never any eggs to get rid off. My advice since having millions of MTS is kill them, if you can get a couple of Assassin snails (they hunt down the MTS) or use a snail kill product that will render your tank not safe for shrimp. I keep shrimp so I use two methods of snail control manual removal and loaches.

Otherwise I think Flute nailed it for you

 

[Flute]

Thanks for clearing that up Baccus, as I said I have't had any experience with them so haven't got a clue with what to do with them or how they reproduce

Assassin snails are probably the most natural method to deal with the trumpets, and I believe are much slower reproducing? Very attractive little snails that don't damage plants from what I've seen

 

[Baccus]

No worries, the only trouble is depending on the country assassin snails may not be allowed, I know I can not have them in Australia, New Zealand would be the same along with possibly places like Norfolk Island.
MTS wont damage plants like other pest snails but they will breed no matter what, especially when they can have access to plant matter within the tank.