Do bettas eat snails?

Question

i have a betta fish(male) and a tiny snail, about the size of a piece of gravel. he was moving around fine a few days ago, although he had climbed around above water level, so i nudged him bakc in the tank a little. however, i haven't seen him move in 3 or 4 days, and he used to move around all the time!! he's not stuck to anything, just kind of sitting there. i don't know if my betta ate him maybe, or is he dormant, or did he just die randomly? i was thinking maybe my betta ate him, because my betta will eat the leftover food out of the gravel sometime and i'm thinking maybe he got hold of the snail...any ideas?

so, do all dead snails float, or only the ones who have been eaten? because i had another snail and i'm pretty certain he was dead, but he wasn't floating.

Answer 1

Bettas can and will eat snails if they are small enough, my betta will actually eat the snails eggs too even with all that nasty slime. They will usually just pick on the snail and the snail will retreat back into its shell though. If the betta did eat the snail then the body won't be in the shell anymore, take a look and see if you can see it or not. If the body is still there it could of died, could be dying or could be sleeping and walking around but when you aren't around. To test pick the snail up and see if pulls if self farther into the shell, if it doesn't then poke it a little (not hard) and see if it moves, if it doesn't then it is most likely dead. Smell it, if it stinks it is definitely dead, if it doesn't it probably isn't. You can put the snail in a little bowl or cup and put some food in, it should wake up and start eating it if is alive.

Nope all dead snails don't float, if their shells are full of water they will sink.

Answer 2

My friend used to have 20 snails in with her betta, she bred the snails. I don't think your betta ate the snail on purpose, they don't usually do that...

your snail probably died randomly, and your betta might or might not have sucked the remains out of the shell.

My mom's snails the size of quarters just disappeared out of their shells! one each day... she had 3. we have no idea where they went...

Sorry about your snail...

Answer 3

Bettas do peck and eat snails. The surest way to find out is to pick up your snail and look on the underside. If the shell is empty, your snail is done for. ( I doubt your snail is eaten though, because if it were, then the empty shell will float up) If however, you see the fleshy underside of your snail, then it's fine and it's still around.

Answer 4

I've had them together many times and never seen a betta eat nor bit a snail. Nevertheless, snails are very sensitive to temperature changes, and they die easily, they are delicate....

Answer 5

Yes, some of them do eat small snails and snail egg clusters, as reported by thd National Aquartium Forum. Most probably won't though as they are such picky eater anyhow.

Answer 6

Frenchmen eat snails,Clown Loaches eat snails,some African Cichlids eat snails,but Bettas don't eat snails, I'm betting that your snail made a break for it. -----Good luck.----PeeTee

Answer 7

oh yes they will eat snail's they like em like brine shrimp
but even if hes gone odds are in a week or so ul have a few more snails believe me

Answer 8

Maybe if you stop "nudging" him back when he is trying to get to the surface, he would have lived? Snails going to the surface is a sure-fire indicator that the water quality is bad... You need to improve your maintenance routine. Partial water changes every so often help many animals that are living in their own excrement to stay healthy.

Answer 9

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