Grrrrrrr Bettas Killed Again!

[BethK]

My bettas have just killed my apple snail!!!!!

Seriously had enough, first the cherry shrimp and now the poor apple snail

Is this normal behavior for female bettas? Anyone known them to do this type of thing?

 

[VaegaVic]

Yes, they are bettas at the end of the day.

 

[BethK]

Just baffled, they never bothered the apple snail before, then this morning it was like a feeding frenzy. My fish are #41#### pigs!

 

[soph_betta]

Could either be that the snail died in the night as they would naturally eat it or it could be that you are not feeding then enough!
I know my girls used to eat about 8 pellets per day each (6 in the morning 2 in the evening)
If they are just picking off other things in the tank but not fighting among themselves it may be hunger not aggression!

 

[BethK]

Believe me, these girls aren't hungry, if anything, they over feed on the Khuli/cory's food, aswell as theirs.

 

[Shred]

Please don't be mad at your fish, they are probably just doing what's natural to them. I'm sure you've learnt your lesson and you won't try anything like that with these fish again, as they are clearly not compatible.

 

[BethK]

I've crossed red cherry shrimp and apple snails off the list. They are fine with khulis and corys.

 

[JoshuaA]

Ahhh! I have bought both red cherry shrimp and golden apple snails for my male Betta tank! Though I intend to wait some time before introducing the Betta Oh dears. Well theres plenty of hiding places. I might be lucky if I see one of the shrimp at all in a day. The snails are pretty fast an enlusive too!

 

[Larkspur]

That's weird.

I keep male bettas with ghost shrimp with no trouble. Never tried snails.

And I have 3 females in a 37 community with (2 rams, 6 guppies, 2 platies, 9 cories, 1 pleco) The only thing they eat are guppy fry and lately one of the 3 females has become a punching bag so will probably get a couple while shopping in a larger city tomorrow about an hour from me.

 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Was there anything odd in their behaviour towards the snail before this?

 

[nurglespuss]

Bettas also get bored easily. if the tanks is smallish, and there isnt much to interact with (or its the same all the time) they will get destructive (as much as a betta can).

 

[BethK]

Nothing weird with the snail, I have an idea of which 2 females it was and I think I may rehome those 2. They are bigger than the other adult females, I am thinking they are giants, usually peaceful but I don't want to take the risk of them taking something else out.

They are fine with my Amano shrimp, maybe the snail wasn't well? I dunno but my tank has been getting on well since day 1 (excluding the cherry shrimp incident).

 

[VaegaVic]

Pardon my first rude post,
In all honesty, it is rather rare for a betta to attack an apple snail, simply because the snail has a shell and they learn it's pointless.

Now depending where you live in the Uk, we've had a bit of a heatwave the last couple days and it's entirely possible the water was too hot the snail on the glass, so he had his shell open on the gravel, giving an attack opportunity.

How old was the snail? The average in tropical tanks is about 1 year, due to higher temps speeding up their metabolic rate and therefore life cycle. The snail could have been getting old and just simply died by itself with the shell open.

Did you actually see the bettas attack and kill? Or just find a dead snail?

Also, on regards to the heat, I've heard recently from a lot of stockists in my area, that during the warmer days, 30C +, their bettas are getting a lot more aggressive, if that's purely agitation from the heat or otherwise, I don't know, but there is definitely a positive correlation, at least in my area anyway.

Hope that gives you some more ideas.

 

[ian]

i agree with Vic on this one, it'll be the first time i have heard a betta kill a snail. Unless you have a super fast snail!

 

[BethK]

3 of the girls were ripping at the snail's meat like wild lions.

Dunno the age of the snail, only had him for 3 weeks, brought from a LFS.

The heat thing makes sense, even though my tank has been at a steady 26c.

A lesson learned, no more snails lol