kingmatherz Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Hi all So I just got 3 little dwarf puffers a few days ago, they are quite small fish to be honest, like the size of a small guppy Today I got some Blue Mystery snails, about the size of a 50 cent piece, and 2 hours after putting the snails in the tank, i was looking for the fish and 1 was missing, i ended up seeing the tail of the fish sticking out one of the snails - i had to grab the snail and break a bit of the shell to get the fish out i dont know if the fish will survive it is in shock now i think i have never heard of snails eating fish, the snail was upside down so i guess the only thing i can think of is the fish was being inquisitive and went into the part of snail that was open and then the snail retracted or something and it got stuck??? i was in shock myself never seeing or hearing of this before... anyone heard of this b4??? ive googled mystery snails and only read that they will eat dead fish not live... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BikBok Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 wow, that's pretty out there! Hope the puffer pulls through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windsparrow Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 So it got stuck in the snails shell, not actually in it's mouth? Probably tried to have a snack but got stuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 i can vouch for snails eating fish. i had a small tank with two golf ball sized apple snails, and two slightly smaller blue mystery snails. i added twenty neon tetras, bought as feeder fish, to the tank. after a week i noticed some of the neons disappeared, practically into thin air (or thin water?) and that got me wondering if the snails had eaten some. because as ridiculous as i thought it sounded, it seemed the only explanation for the disappearing fish. when fish go cannibal, they generally leave a bony carcass. so i decided to see if my suspicions were correct. i left the neons in there, (rather than feed them to my oscars) and over 6 weeks, one by one, all the neons disappeared. twenty gone in six weeks! i cleaned out the tank, no carcasses, no bones, nothing stuck in the filter, no nothing, just four fat snails. although i never saw anything, i'm 100% convinced that my snails ate all those tetras. but what got me really wondering is, how on earth did the slow moving snails manage to catch the quick tetras?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterlogged Posted April 28, 2011 Report Share Posted April 28, 2011 Ive had fish totally dissapear with no snails. Mystery Blue snails will only eat decomposing fish or plant matter as well as fish food. I have had them devour a dead fish but they never touch ones that are almost dead. I don't think even if you starve them they will go for live fish. I forgot to feed mine in a snail grow out tank for a month and they didn't even touch the plants i had in there. Plus i don't think they would be able to trap a fish under their foot to eat unless there was something already wrong witht he fish. Their fast but not that fast. I think you may have just got a bad batch of neons Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Ive had fish totally dissapear with no snails........ I think you may have just got a bad batch of neons i've had fish disappear too, but not like this! i was looking into the tank several times every day and never saw any dying or even slightly unhealthy fish, plus it was a small tank with bugger all substrate and nothing else, and a tight lid. i don't know where the fish would have gone! i'm just saying, i'm only convinced it was the snails because if there was another explanation for it, i would have found it. do apple/mystery snails have teeth? (serious question lol) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterlogged Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 they have a rasping i beleive, don't quote me on that. they only reason that i think it would have eaten them would be if it was starving but it takes a completely bare tank to do that, and even then there's the algea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 they have a rasping i beleive, don't quote me on that. they only reason that i think it would have eaten them would be if it was starving but it takes a completely bare tank to do that, and even then there's the algea maybe they just got the taste for blood and turned rabid? lol.. they ate the inside out of a freshwater mussel i had in there too.. i used to drop a piece of lettuce in there daily from my burger and they'd eat that too. they grew quickly, i got them at marble size and after a year they were golf ball size. actually i kinda miss them now. aww. my little flesh eating snails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterlogged Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 freash water mussle are cold water and die in a quaria usually any way as their filter feeders and can't compete with filters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamH Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 I've seen my shrimp feeding on fish, but only once they're dead. The fish probably died then the snail went to clean it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Yes, mystery snails can eat fish. I saved two full grown shellies that were standing their ground and were getting engulfed by the snails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterlogged Posted April 29, 2011 Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 I Stand corrected Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 Sorry, perhaps I should clarify, the snails weren't swallowing the fish whole, they were sitting on top of the fish clearly eating. The rescued fish were clearly stressed at being suffocated and one had a wound on its head where the snail had been nibbling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingmatherz Posted April 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 hmmmmm omg so some people say yes some say no haha i moved thme anyway to another tank that has convict babies but the babies seem fine so maybe the puffer just got too inquisitive??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waterlogged Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 would have been trying to eat it. when I had a red eyed puffer he was taking chunks out of my mysterys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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