Adding a snail to your betta’s tank can often seem like a great idea. They don’t have any of the traits that can often cause bettas to attack, such as bright colors or long tails. However, sadly sometimes, your betta will still end up attacking your snail. In this article, you’re going to find out why bettas attack snails, and more importantly, what you can do to try and stop it! So keep reading to find out.
Do Bettas Attack Your Snail?
Whether your betta is going to attack your snail or not is going to be entirely dependent on their personality. Some bettas are going to attack everything in the tank, and some aren’t going to bother with snails at all.
It’s best to say that bettas definitely have the capacity to attack your snail and may do, but you’ll never know for sure until you put the two together.
Will Your Betta Stop Attacking Your Snail?
In a lot of cases, once your betta becomes more used to the snails in your tank, then they will often stop attacking them. As well as this, it can often be that the betta is only attacking a snail because he feels they’re in his territory. Once the snail leaves his territory, things should go back to normal again!
So How Do You Stop Your Betta from Attacking A Snail?
Fortunately, if your betta is attacking a snail in your tank, there are a few things you can do to help prevent it from happening anymore. So if you notice bullying and attacking happening, do the following!
Add More Decorations To The Tank
One of the best ways to reduce the chance of your betta attacking your snails is to add a lot more decorations to your tank, especially plants. By doing this, you’re going to make it a lot more likely that your snail will stay out of your betta’s line of sight, and if your betta doesn’t notice your snail, then they won’t attack them!
Rearrange The Tank
You can also try rearranging the tank as well. Sometimes bettas will attack other tank mates because they think they are in their territory. By changing the tank around, your betta will feel like they are in a brand new tank, so nothing is their territory.
This, in turn, can often make them more tolerant of other tank inhabitants, including your snail!
Make Sure You’re Feeding Them Enough
One of the reasons that your betta might be attacking snails in your tank is because they’re hungry. Remember, bettas are carnivores, so if they’re hungry enough, snails will definitely turn up on the menu.
You should be feeding your betta 1-2 pellets twice a day, as well as supplementation with live, frozen, and freeze-dried food to make sure they’re getting all the nutrients they need in their diet!
Remove Your Snail
If all else fails, the best thing you can do is remove your snail from the tank. Sometimes your betta is just going to be aggressive towards them no matter what. And for the safety of your snail, the best thing you can do is add it to another tank!
Sometimes if a betta catches a snail off guard, it’s entirely possible that the snails’ antennae will get bitten off. However, fortunately, snails are able to grow their antennae back. However, this isn’t going to be pleasant for them, so if it does happen, you should remove your snail and add them to a safer tank where they have time to heal.
Recap
As you can see, in a lot of cases, it’s entirely possible to stop your betta from attacking your snail, and by rearranging the tank and adding more decorations, you’re going to reduce the chances of bullying happening. However, sometimes, if you have a particularly aggressive betta, there’s not a lot you can do. And the best course of action is to simply remove the snail.
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