Snails In Your Betta Tank
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Most Snails are “Hermaphrodites”. Which means they are both male and female. And they can reproduce by themselves. They don’t need a mate. Although, they can reproduce with mates as well. Snails are used most often in tanks because of their ability to eat uneaten food and all other waste. But some of them can create extra waste as well. Be careful if you put snails in your betta fish tank, as the population can easily get out of control.
Pros
Eat Waste
Some eat Algae
Peaceful
Will eat Dead Fish (hopefully not your betta)
Low Maintenance
Cons
Create Waste
Reproduce (very) Often
Will eat small Fry
Eat Plants
Bettas may eat the Snails
May be extremely hard to remove
‘Just one biiig bite and…’ photo by Mean and Pinchy on flickr
April 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Apple snails (aka Mystery snails) are ideal for fish tanks, since they’re one of the few species that aren’t hermaphrodites. Nerite snails are the next best thing. They are hermaphrodites, but their eggs will only hatch in salt water, so they won’t overrun a freshwater tank. They’re still quite prolific, and will lay eggs all over the tank, but they won’t hatch, and need to be cleaned up regularly or they’ll pollute the tank as they rot.