Snails And Bettas?

[jfeld]

Can anyone tell me: is a snail a suitable companion for my betta? She's alone in a 2.5 gallon. what kind of snail should i look for, and what special needs would it have? (how the hell do you care for a snail anyway?) Thanks so much.

 

[sylvia]

The snails sold for aquariums are usualy apple snails. These grow to a very good size and produce a huge amount of waste. For this reason they are not ideal for small tanks. other than that, they are very easy to care for. They'll eat flake food and leftovers quite happily, as well as scrapind algae off objects/glass. The main thing to watch out for is their sensitivity to certain medications but they are otherwise pretty much as tolerant as fish to most things. You can read about them here: http/www.applesnail.net/

 

[starrynightxxi]

like sylvia said, they arne't really suitable for small tanks, but would be fine with a betta otherwise. for a tank that small, i'd say you really only should have a betta, but if you want more, a ghost shrimp or two would fit in.

 

[hakisuma_chan]

Hehe, I was wondering the same thing. (well, kind of.) I want to get Red Ramshorns. I don't know about how much waste they produce, but if it's too much, I have a spare 55 gallon. XD My friend has like a crapload of Malaysian Trumpet snails in her fishtank, and it doesn't seem that dirty. If you're interested, maybe I can get her to send you some. You have to be careful with them, though, because they breed like crazy. Her dad has to scoop them out by the handful when it's breeding season. Her tank looks like a ten gallon, though.

Since you have a 2.5 gallon, a ramshorn would look nice. (There's red, pink, blue, even magenta shelled ones. Eee, so awesome > <) You're supposed to do frequent water changes anyway, so maybe one snail won't be so bad. I don't know. ^^; hope I helped!~