Snail to Clean Up Betta Poop

[ChrisD]

I plan to rescue  my GFs depressed betta from a bowl and put it in a 2.5 gallon aquarium. She's not going to want to gravel vac it weekly if at all.

The tank is going to be planted (prolly pennywort since I have plenty extra) but what about the fish poop from one betta? Would a snail be able to take care of it and if so, what type of snail would both handle the poop and not becomes dinner for a hungry betta?

 

 

 

[FrozenFins]

Most snails wont become a meal for a betta. A snail wouldn't do much because it would still poop, and its very messy. If its in 2.5 Gallons you would have to do waterchanges often anyways regardless of a little snail. But I would suggest floating plants as well, like duckweed or amazon frobit to keep those nitrties down in between waterchanges. I wouldn't do a snail, it will add too much bioload in such a small aquarium.

But, if you still decide to do a snail here are some of my favroites

-Apple Snail

-Golden Mystery Snail

-Nirite Snail

[Fonske]

3 hours ago, ChrisD said:

but what about the fish poop from one betta?

Betta poop is a very compact round thing, it can be easily detected and sucked out using a turkey baster or something similar. Any snail, even a relatively small one like a pond snail, will produce a lot more poop than a betta. Snails are 24/7 poop factories. 

[Pearl]

Does she have room for a larger tank? A larger tank would be more stable parameter wise and need cleaning less often.  Like, monthly or less water changes with a planted 10 gal if it only has one fish. The betta will likely be happier and live longer too!

No snails eat poop as far as I'm aware. Snails will help by eating most algaes on any surface and any dead stuff/leftover food in the tank. I've kept ramshorns and malaysian trumpet snails successfully with bettas. Ramshorn tolerate the low ph that bettas like better than most snails, plus they breed a lot and those babies make for good betta snacks. MTS aerate the substrate by burrowing into it, which helps prevent anaerobic bacteria growth.

[ChrisD]

@Pearl I can get more tanks using smaller ones that one 10 gal in  the same amount of very small extra counter space. I'd like at least one more small tank to offload some junky guppies into.

[Kat_Rigel]

I agree with @Pearl, snails generally do not eat poop. Instead they produce it. Snails are good if you are trying to reduce algae and biofilm, but for poop it's either plants (which you said you were adding) and/or water changes/gravel vac.

[Brandy]

Just pack in the plants and use a nice sized gravel in a natural color, and you will never see the poop, and it will become fertilizer. If you have tons of plants and cover and are still worried about debris, you could add shrimp, which, unlike snails add very little, very small poops.