Snail or pleicostomus?

I've never heard of a golden apple snail. In the past I've just had the regular aquarium snails the size of a large pea. They worked well keeping the algae off the glass, but after a while they begin to reproduce, and will soon take over your tank unless you start culling them out. As for a pleicostomus, I don't know if a beta jar would have enough oxygen for one to live.

For uneaten food at the bottom of the tank I've had good luck with khoolie loaches (spelling almost certainly wrong), but once again, they may not get enough oxygen in a beta jar.

I don't remember exactly what it was called, but we bought a plastic siphon device to suck up unwanted matter from above the gravel in our tank (29 gallons). It worked pretty well.

Please let us know what you decide on doing, and how it worked, and good luck.

It might be better to buy a simple turkey baster and just use that light suction to clean out the visable junk.

A snail moves slowly, and the betta fish are aggressive. I can see the beta really hurting your snail.
I can also see your snail producing other snails, if it is the a-sexual kind, and leaving your little tank infested.

A pleco would stand up to a bettas attacks because thier bodies are very hard and have sharp places. The betta will try to bite once or twice and that will be it.
But your pleco, if still that small, may not survive the tank change like that.
As babies they are much more delicate and have a harder time with environment changes, then they do when they are a foot long.

But, if putting another fish in there is the best choice, go with your pleco.

Make sure that you introduce the placo slowly to the water. About an hour or 2 .
Put him in a plastic bag and float him on the top of the betta tank, adding a little water from the tank to his bag every few minutes for about an hour.
If he seems ok, go ahead and dump him in.

If you see problems , stop , and get him to his regular home as quick as possible.


good luck

Thank you both very much! I will ponder removing crud mechanically versus biologically. Excellent advice.

From what you say, Jim, I'm glad the snail is not reproducing! This thing is honking big. And it's fast. This web picture looks exactly like the snail and the snail is two-thirds the picture's size. http://www.applesnail.net/

The spikes on the pleico would be protective, which is a plus. It's about an inch shy in length from this response screen, left to right. Big for the jar, I fear.

And of course a turkey baster or aquarium siphon (I have one somewhere) makes perfect sense. A battle of right brain v left.

Will check out the loach scene.

Thanks again. Will report outcomes.

What does Mr. Green stand for?



-Sal

if your betta is in a natural tank, i wouldnt go with a big suction. That would break up the roots of the plants.

I can't help you with your question, but I love your username!!!

Hm. A surprise development.

I took the snail, thinking it would adapt to small space better than the pleico. It moved around the bowl and did some feeding on the bottom, where I did not expect the pleico to go.

But then I noticed it no longer had long whisker/antennae things. It appears the betta bit them off. If you saw that picture on the link I posted, a characterizing snail feature was its mega-long feelers. Gone. Now stumps. I hope that wasn't a mortal wound. Brought it home again. It was feeling around with a big long thing I think is a reproductive organ or snorkel. (We feels around with what we gots.)

Yes, it's a natural tank and the plants went to some trouble rooting themselves, but maybe I could suck the dead plant stuff out with a baster, else get a small pleico to live there. The spikes surely would deter a betta, as shewolf pointed out.

-Sal
p.s. to littlek: I actually got permission from a zoo somewhere to let me use their photo for my avatar. Their webmaster seemed entertained by the finished product. -s

I looked up Plecos. You don't need a big one, it'd probably just outgrow your tank. There are a variety of smaller sized plecos. These would be the clown plecos, zebra plecos, bristlenose, scarlet and mango plecos..... Here's a good webpage with unfortunate background color:

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/pleco.htm

Thanks, littlek! Funny how one thing leads to another and pretty soon there's much to learn and enjoy. Beats just changing the water. -s

Thanks for the update, and I hope your snail has a speedy recovery.

Thanks, Jim and others for your good ideas and info. The snail seems to be doing fine. I'm marking my calendar to see how long it takes to regenerate the feelers, assuming that will happen.

Sally

if you need a fish to eat waste, and not just algae, you could also get a Cory catfish.

not very attractive, no, but they are great tank cleaners.

Thanks. Will consider a Cory. I read on a site this morning there was "no such thing as a non-aggressive betta," but could test another species.

Maybe attaching weights to the plants would keep them from having to re-root after water changes. The betta enjoys lurking among the plants, but some parts fall off and rot.

Sal

Bettas don't need much room. Scoop him and some water out of his tank and set him to one side. Clean out what you can with the turkey baster without disturbing the plants. Put the snail, or whatever cleaner fish, in there for long enough to eat the plant rubbish. When the tank's reasonable, take the snail out and put the betta back... I know it's a lot of moving around, but it would seem better than losing body parts!

An excellent suggestion.

Thanks!

you can also line the bottom of the tank with rocks.
This will keep your plant roots safe, make using the turkey baster EASIER and you wont have to worry about pulling on roots when you change the water.

The cleanup is underway ala holding tank, cleaner critter, and baster. It has rocks, but I can anchor more ingeniously. Thank you all!

I'm not experienced at this but now greatly enriched by your input.



Sal

Strange outcomes, my dearies!

I put the snail in the vazz with the betta, who promptly bit off its feeler things. (I think I reported this already). So I took out betta, added snail alone long ago (2 weeks) but he ate up all the plants and left the sludge plant matter I wanted him to eat.

So I had to clean the jar the old-fashioned way. *sigh* And bought new plants.

The betta was delighted to be returned to his green home. I feel sorry for bettas living in water only with a plastic plant--if even--or in those jars with roots (which they apparently don't like to eat). They seem to just lie still as mine did when he was in the spare jar. Returned to the big jar with plants and food pellets, mine made many bubbles right away and has a fine time slinking around in the weeds.

I finally just got weights to weight down the plants. Not worth it to do the natural thing. Betta is happy; snail has now grown new feelers.

End of adventure. Thanks for your input. Much appreciated. -Sal

Tiny bubbles made by male betas is a sign of being ready to mate.

Male bettas will make bubble nests to attract females to lay eggs.
After the female has laid the eggs, he scares her away, fertilizes them and puts them into the bubble nest.
There he stands guard until they hatch.

In nature, the male will then eat the babies in hopes to re-attract another female. ( if I am remembering correctly.. either that or the chase them away.. one of the two )

In breeding tanks, the male would be removed and the babies allowed to live.

Making a bubble nest is also a sign of a healthy environment , and a happy fish. Simply because, if the conditions are not good, the male wont invite a female to his section of the water.

Bettas usually live in the rice fields of asia.

hundreds of acres of low lying water.
They take about 3 square feet and make that 'their' property, but roam every where.
They pick only the best conditions to create their bubble nest..

hehe.. so take that as a compliment. ;-)

Hey, thanks, Shewolf! Yep. I feel bubble-complimented.

"Bubba" (the betta) seems to have good eyesight. He stares at me regularly and seems to know whether it's me or someone else looking back at him.

-Sally