Snails are friends, not food.

[Confetto]

I brought home a mystery snail this evening to serve as a zamboni to assist cleaning my 3gal tank. Thirty minutes in, my betta discovered his new room mate. After an hour, Miso pounced at the snail. Zamboni has stayed in his shell for two hours now & Miso is circling him like a vulture.. er, a shark.

Will the bullying continue? Will my betta lose interest or is this going to turn ugly? Is the snail too small? Do I need a larger gastropod?

[Fish Folk]

Aw bummer! Betta splendens are sometimes tricky to predict with tank mates. My guess is that your snail’s eyes will be targets no matter what size. Sometimes if a Betta has other things to distract it, the snail can get by. But in a small, isolated space… 😬

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have a betta that I adopted from my friend because the betta was mercilessly attacking her mystery snail. I now have him in with a king Koopa nerite and the betta leaves him alone. The king Koopa nerite’s shell covers his body so there’s no flesh exposed to pick at. 
 

P.S. Friend’s temporary solution before I adopted her betta was a tank divider. One side snail, one side betta. But the betta did become depressed with the smaller space. This will not be an option in a 3gal. She made it kinda work in a 10gal for a short period of time.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Nerites and bladder snails are much less likely to be picked on by a Betta, as has been mentioned Nerites have very small antennae and very little body exposure. Some of them come in a horned variety for more protection. Bladders are usually to small for them to care about tho I'm sure some of the babies get picked off which is ok. 

 

[Confetto]

Zamboni survived Night One. He's been more active and a pooping machine!

I haven't seen Miso go after him today, however he is still curious about his new roommate. I'm hoping he'll lose interest and Zamboni and Miso can coexist in my countertop ecosystem.