My Betta Attacked My Snail!

[starlitsunrise]

Hello, 
 
I just bought a small mystery snail from Petsmart, which I named Atlas. I brought it home and put it in my 10 gallon tank with my betta (Rainbow) and 2 African Dwarf Frogs. Rainbow bit the tip of one of his "feelers" off, spit it out and swam away. The way she did it made me think it was curiosity and not aggression. I thought that was the end of it as Atlas came back out of his shell and Rainbow left him alone. But them as Atlas was climbing up the side of the tank Rainbow full on attacked him. He now has about 2/3rds of his feeler missing and he looks absolutely terrified. Currently I have him in a little cup of tank water. 
 
I want advice on what I should do.The way I see it I have a few options.
 
1. Put him back in the tank and hope for the better (not even really an option)
2. Put him in the small "betta" tank I have pest snails living in.
3. Find my two gallon tank and set that up (I was already thinking of setting it up as a shrimp tank)]
4. Bring him back to Petsmart. 
 
I really don;t want to return him, I feel that I have gotten him into this mess and I should make it up to him. Plus I've gotten attached to the little guy. 
 
Seriously, any advice or suggestions would be great. 

 

[NyanKat]

I agree with No. 3

I have a betta at home and if they see each other, their reflection, or another fish, they will spaz XD
It is best if they are kept alone with no mirror

 

[starlitsunrise]

I agree with No. 3

 
It's literally just a tank though, I have no heater and no filter for it and it would be uncycled. I'd need to go out and get those and I probably wouldn't be able to until this weekend. Do you still think I should do that? 

 

[NyanKat]

Or maby just move the betta idk what else to do
I don't think they need filters

 

[starlitsunrise]

Ya, that's what my fiance said, but I don't want to move her since it was after all her tank first. I think I'll go see if I can find the tank so he'll at least have somewhere to go. Thanks for your replies. 
 
---------
 
Ok I couldn't find the 2 gallon tank, but I did find my old 1.5gallon Sponge Bob tank. He's in that now. and is actually moving around so it's an improvement. 

 

[AshleyNZ]

Remove either the betta or the snail. Some bettas have a good temperament, can have any tankmates, but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case. The betta will continue to attack if the snail's left in there (Probably)

 

[starlitsunrise]

Remove either the betta or the snail. Some bettas have a good temperament, can have any tankmates, but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case. The betta will continue to attack if the snail's left in there

(Probably)

 
It's weird, she is really good with the frogs. Never done anything to hurt them. This came as a shock to me. 

 

[AshleyNZ]

 

Remove either the betta or the snail. Some bettas have a good temperament, can have any tankmates, but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case. The betta will continue to attack if the snail's left in there

(Probably)

 
It's weird, she is really good with the frogs. Never done anything to hurt them. This came as a shock to me. 
 

Maybe it's because the frogs are bigger, and the snail seems more like prey or a threat

 

[starlitsunrise]

 

 


Remove either the betta or the snail. Some bettas have a good temperament, can have any tankmates, but unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case. The betta will continue to attack if the snail's left in there

(Probably)

 
It's weird, she is really good with the frogs. Never done anything to hurt them. This came as a shock to me. 
 

Maybe it's because the frogs are bigger, and the snail seems more like prey or a threat
 


 
I think you are right, I can see her thinking the feelers were worms (she had blood worms recently). I guess I'll keep Atlas in the 1.5gallon for the time being, until I can figure out a permanent home for him. 

 

[attibones]

For a mystery snail, you'll certainly want to find a larger home. They can get rather chunky. Another thing you could do is this:
 
1. Remove all creatures from the tank
2. Large water change
3. Rearrange decor to break up territories and stuff
4. Refill
5. Add snails and frogs FIRST
6. Add betta
 
If you try this, be on standby in case it goes poorly again. Basically this is just supposed to make the betta think she's in a different tank, different territory, that kind of thing. It works when adding new fish to the tank, so may be fine for snails too. 

 

[starlitsunrise]

For a mystery snail, you'll certainly want to find a larger home. They can get rather chunky. Another thing you could do is this:
 
1. Remove all creatures from the tank
2. Large water change
3. Rearrange decor to break up territories and stuff
4. Refill
5. Add snails and frogs FIRST
6. Add betta
 
If you try this, be on standby in case it goes poorly again. Basically this is just supposed to make the betta think she's in a different tank, different territory, that kind of thing. It works when adding new fish to the tank, so may be fine for snails too. 

 
Thanks for the advice Atticus, but I don't think I'll try it, honestly it freaked me out when my betta did that and I don't want to see the little guy get hurt again. 
 
When you say he would need a bigger tank do you mean bigger than the 1.5g or bigger than the 2g (plus I would  want to add 5 shrimp to the tank) ? Either way, once I get it set up should I just keep him in the smaller tank and do frequent water changes until the permanent tank is done being cycled?

 

[Ninjouzata]

I think you'd want at least a 5g for the mystery snail. They get the size of a golfball and can make quite a mess.
 
Here is my blue mystery snail, his name is Turbo. He's in a 55g if that helps give size since my hand is kind of small.

 

 

[starlitsunrise]

I think you'd want at least a 5g for the mystery snail. They get the size of a golfball and can make quite a mess.
 
Here is my blue mystery snail, his name is Turbo. He's in a 55g if that helps give size since my hand is kind of small. 

 

  Wow he's a big guy! Alright, 5 gallon it is haha. Thanks for the picture reference

 

[starlitsunrise]

Sorry for the double post, just wanted to update and say that I just went out and bought the Tetra Complete LED Aquarium 5. So I will get this set up and hopefully *fingers crossed* I will have a fast cycle. Thanks again to everyone who replied

 

[Ninjouzata]

You're welcome, and yay!! I'm sure he'll love it, or is Rainbow going into it? You can use a bit of your filter media to speed up the cycle, just don't take too much.