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A Complete Care Guide for Mystery Snails With Betta Tank
For a quick intro, Mystery snails are about 2 inches in size, hardy, and easy to care for. Once you add them to a betta aquarium, the gastropods feast on the algae and detritus in it. By snacking on algae and detritus, they keep the ecosystem clean and water safer for the fish.
The snails are peaceful, so you don’t have to worry that they will disturb your fish. Furthermore, you do know that they have multiple colors – something that enhances the beauty of your home. All this explains why you should add some Mystery snails to a Betta tank.
With your mind made up, you need to understand what it takes to keep their cordial relationship going. Thanks to my extensive experience, knowledge and research; I will show you how to successfully pair them in this care guide.
Effective Care for Mystery Snails in Betta Tanks
To effectively take care of them, focus on these areas.
Temperaments
If you want the two aquatic creatures to live in harmony, you should consider their temperaments. Although the two tank mates are often peace-loving, male bettas are the exception because they are aggressive and territorial.
To tackle this challenge, ensure there is enough space for all. By and large, the female ones get along with other tank mates better than their male counterparts. More often than not, the fish either eat or nibble at the mollusks when they are hungry.
Therefore, endeavor to feed your fish well. For a hitch-free experience, I suggest you combine the two aquatic creatures in a tank of not less than 5 gallons.
Acclimating Mystery Snails in a Betta Tank
You can acclimate the gastropods in the new environment using two methods – namely, the drip acclimation method and the float acclimation method. I will explain the first method because that’s the technique that returned great results for me for several years.
To apply the drip acclimation technique, follow the steps below:
- Put the mollusks into a jug and gently drip new water
- Wait for about half an hour or until the jug has about ½ new water
- Afterward, take them out of the bag and lower them into the tank
- While gently dropping them to the bottom, don’t add the mixed water from the jug because it could contain unwanted items.
At this juncture, the next task before you is getting the new tank mates live in peace and harmony. Sometimes, if you add the mollusks to the aquarium, your fish won’t accept them. In fact, the fish will chase them away. To change the narrative, put the fish in a separate breeder box and add the snails first. Afterward, return your fish to the aquarium. You will notice that the betta won’t attack them.
Water Management, Water Parameters, and Temperature
Mysteries love a water pH balance of 6.5 – 7.5 and a temperature of 68 – 80oF. On the other hand, betta needs a water pH range between 6.5 and 8 and enjoys the temperature of 75 – 80oF. If you want the snail species to survive there, keep the water pH balance at about 7.0 – 7.5, while the temperature is between 68 and 82oF. This way, the two tank mates can coexist.
In truth, if you want your aquatic life to be happy in their newfound home, water management is critical. So, remember to change your water once every week. The good thing is that it won’t matter if you miss one week. Once you change about 10% of the water every week, you can refresh the minerals and get rid of waste.
The Right Diet
When it comes to the right diet, you have no worries! That’s because Mysteries’ food naturally occurs in that environment. How nice!! Truly, these include soft filmy algae that accumulate on slow-growing plant leaves, aquarium glass, and other hard surfaces.
Because algae grow beneath the surface of the gravel, the mollusks burrow to get to the surface and snack on them. Aside from the naturally occurring food sources, you can feed them supplements, such as bottom feeder tablets, flakes, and pellets. These combinations provide them with a balanced diet. Are you unsure what else to add to their menu?
Don’t sweat it because you can also feed them balanced veggies such as zucchini squash, and leaf lettuce. If the gastropods are not interested in the supplements after one or two days, remove the supplements from the aquarium.
Stopping Mystery Snails from Escaping
I have to admit that I have never seen Mysteries escape from tanks before – not even in tanks without lids. Nevertheless, you know what they say, prevention is better than cure. Therefore, the best bet is to keep the aquarium water low so that the gastropods cannot get to the top.
Moreover, ensure your tank has a lid on top of it. This way, it stops all aquatic creatures from escaping. Guess what, the lid will also reduce humidity in your room and keep the water clean. More importantly, don’t overcrowd your aquarium, otherwise you are encouraging them to escape. Yes, mollusks need a spacious milieu to survive in and stay happy.
Lastly, maintain the water parameters and temperature above so you don’t force them out of the tank.
Conclusion
In this guide, I have shown you some care tidbits for snails in a betta tank, but that’s not all. Don’t forget that the water should be calm or moving moderately. Still, keep the water hardness balance between 150 and 300 ppm.
Interestingly, Mysteries have operculum and shells. So, if they sense any danger or attack, they hide in their operculum. Less I forget, Mysteries dwell in water bodies where they scavenge for plant dead matter. Therefore, it does them a world of good if your aquarium mimics their habitat.
To achieve that, add plants to your aquarium. Try plants like Java moss, dwarf lettuce, Anubias nana, water wisteria, hornworts, water sprite, driftwood, etc. because the fish love being around them. With that, you can make the tank mates feel at home. Wrapping up, I hope you learned something new.
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I also cover other topis related to Snails and Betta fish such as the best small tank for Betta.
