I bought this amazing betta a little over a week ago, and up until now he’s been thriving. I just came home from college for the weekend, and he’s gone. No skeleton, no nothing. My parents say the last time they saw him last on Thursday (2 days ago) and he was happy and healthy. Now he’s just gone. I have 3 small mystery snails, a larger snail, and a pleco housed in the tank (20gal). And I wonder if the pleco is responsible. He’s abt 4 inches long and I’m not sure of his exact breed. He’s definitely territorial of his corner of the tank, and sucks on the snails when they come near, and I’ve seen him kinda chase the betta away when it comes over too. He doesn’t move much during the day but is active at night.
I don’t think snails have it in them to be aggressive. Previously they began eating a betta I had that had developed a fungus and couldn’t swim, so I had to separate them, but I don’t think they would ever hunt down a betta???
Pls let me know. I’m really upset because this betta was so unique and I really wanted him to live a long time. Rip “punk” 🙁
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1qflxxc
Posted by Cheese_curd_
11 Comments
The snails won’t hunt down a betta but if it gets sick and dies, they absolutely will chow down on it (calcium and all..)
Would you happen to have a better photo of the pleco at all?
Do you have a lid on the tank? Did you check around the tank to see if he jumped out? Bettas can be jumpers. Had a friend this happened to in college and she found it tucked between the back of her desk and the wall of her dorm room :/
I can tell you with 100% confidence your pleco did not kill your beta. Betas not only are more sensitive and can die to a number of other things, but another thing people disregard is that sometimes you are already buying them at the end of their lifespan.
My guess would be the pleco got ahold of your betta and it died, and then your snails got to work on the cleanup
I think the betta maybe passed and the pleco ate it. Snails
Probably helped
Way back when, I had a pleco (Vlad) who loved to eat my guppies. So it’s entirely possible your pleco ate your beta. 🙁 Little shitheads those plecos are lol.
No
next time get a betta it’s own tank. if you try a couple tank mates should be teeny nano fish or shrimp if the betta doesn’t mind or bug them. Lotta plants and hides where they can’t get stuck will keep them busy enough. bettas are not the easiest fish to keep IMO. Sometimes we luck out and get a hearty one. Im done with long fin varieties.
I’d say a betta more likely to pass from stress having such a big tank-mate even if the pleco is chill, or genetics from overbreeding and treatment before you adopted him. Also, unless in a natural tank, I do weekly 1/4 tank water changes for my one 10 gal betta tank with just my betta in it. Plecos put out a lot of waste I hear. Also having to feed two fish with such different needs makes it more difficult. More risk of parameters becoming unfavorable with waste and uneaten food. I have lost a few chain store bettas. Sooner than I’d hope. Hopefully my new koi delta will do better. So far he made the first bubble nest I’ve seen with my own eyeballs and is very active. He is in my first all plant substrate tank with no cap. Bettas from big stores are built so differently. A crap shoot.
However he passed. Sorry for your loss. The mysteries likely ate him.
Back in the day we had a betta in a jar (it was the 90s I know. 🙁 …) and one day it just disappeared. We had a lid on it, a fake plant and a shell. We checked under the gravel, we broke open the shell, we checked around the jar in case he somehow got passed the lid and.. nothing. It was like it vanished in thin air. It’s a mystery we’ve never been able to solve.