With the mystery snail being one of the best algae eaters available, we constantly see people reaching out each month and asking for advice on mystery snail tank mates.
Although you are able to put a mystery snail in with a wide range of different tank mates without issue, we also see a number of people who usually unknowingly add a mystery snail to a tank with a fish that may show signs of aggression to the snail.
Due to this, we have decided to publish this dedicated article going over the more popular mystery snail tank mates that we see people asking about month in and month out.
Our hope is that we will be able to help as many of our readers as possible who like to use mystery snails as their algae eaters of choice find the perfect tank mates for their snail.
Now, just to be clear, all of the potential tank mates featured in our list are not necessarily good tank mates for your mystery snail, they are simply the most common tank mates that we see people reaching out and asking about month in and month out.
Due to this, we have decided to add our table of contents below so you are able to quickly and easily skip to sections of the article that will go into more detail on the more common requests we get from the community to read out thoughts on adding them to a tank with a mystery snail.
Mystery Snail And Betta Fish
Mystery snails are commonly kept in tanks with betta fish with the type usually going well together with minimal issues.
Even the most aggressive betta fish will usually just ignore a mystery snail and leave it to go about its business of eating as much of the algae build up in the tank as possible.
Depending on your tank size, you may also want to add multiple mystery snails to an aquarium with a betta fish in it.
You are able to find a number of beautiful looking, rare betta fish colors and patterns online to keep in your aquarium with your mystery snail if you are interested in keeping a betta.
Mystery Snail And Goldfish
Mystery snails are commonly kept in the same aquarium as goldfish with there being minimal issues between the two the majority of the time.
You will have to ensure that your tank is large enough to prevent the goldfish from getting bored enough to investigate what your mystery snails is though so a tank of at least 20 gallons is usually recommended if you do want to keep mystery snails and goldfish together.
Mystery Snail And Nerite Snails
Nerite snails are one of the most commonly overlooked mystery snail tank mates due to both snails usually servicing the same purposes of being algae eaters but they can happily live together.
Adding a nerite snail as your mystery snail tank mate can be a great option for a larger aquarium where you want some variety in your snails.
Just keep in mind that the mystery snail poop and nerite snail poop will usually start to build up very quickly so you will have to use a gravel vacuum on your tank at least once per week.
Mystery Snail And Shrimp
Mystery snails tend to get along very well with Bamboo Shrimp, Vampire Shrimp, Amano Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, and Cherry Shrimp with there being minimal issues between the mystery snail and the shrimp in most cases.
In our opinion, ghost shrimp or cherry shrimp are usually the best options as tank mates for your mystery snail but the shrimp and the snail is usually used to do the same job in an aquarium so one or the other will usually be enough to control the algae build up in your tank.
Mystery Snail And Cory Catfish
Although mystery snails and cory catfish can live in the same tank and not have any problems with aggression, mystery snails consume a surprising amount of food each day and they will often out eat a cory catfish with ease.
Depending on the size of your tank and the amount of available food in your aquarium, this can result in a malnourished cory catfish so you have to keep this in mind and potentially consider using other tank mates for your mystery snail that will not complete for its food.
Mystery Snail And Pleco
Housing a mystery snail and a pleco in the same aquarium can be hit and miss with some plecos being totally fine with having snails in the tank with them and other plecos trying to play with the snail.
We use the term play as it is not necessarily aggression that the pleco displays but more of a curiosity as to what the snail is.
This curious behavior can range from carrying the snail around the tank if it is small to constantly bumping its head into it to try and work out what its little friend is so a different tank mate may be a better option.
Mystery Snail And Tetras
Mystery snails are commonly kept in the same tank as neon tetras with the majority of other types of tetras usually being find in the same aquarium as a mystery snail too.
WIth tetras absolutely loving to swim, they tend to just school together and swim around their tank rather than pay much attention to the snails leaving your mystery snail to go about its day in peace.
Mystery Snail And Platy
Some people can successfully keep mystery snails in the same aquarium as a platy without issue but this does tend to be rare.
The majority of the time a platy, especially if you have multiple platy in the same aquarium will bully your mystery snail and harass it multiple times per day making then a poor choice of tank mate.
Even though a number of people do get lucky and get the combination to work, we feel that you will usually be better off going with something else.
Mystery Snail And Angelfish
Baby angelfish usually pay no attention to mystery snails in their tank but as they grow, they often start to show more and more attention to the snail that can sometimes result in aggression and bullying from the fish.
We would guess that it is around 50/50 on if your angelfish will be fine with your mystery snails or not but keep in mind, some angelfish that do bump mystery snails will only do it once or twice per day with it not having much of an effect on the snail as it is still able to go about its business as it wishes for the majority of the day and eat.
Mystery Snail And Clown Loach
Clown loach tend to make poor tank mates for a mystery snail as the loaches will usually eat the mystery snails in your aquarium within days.
There are multiple reports from people who have added a single clown loach to their aquarium that had multiple mystery snails in it only to find that their mystery snails suddenly start to disappear one by one.
Mystery Snail With Axolotl
The majority of adult axolotls will try to eat mystery snails but due to the sizes of fully grown mystery snails, they can end up stuck inside of your axolotl causing the death of both pets.
We would never recommend that you keep a mystery snail with an axolotl and there are usually much better algae eaters that can live with an axolotl with cherry shrimp usually being our number one recommendation.
Mystery Snail And Plants
We often see people worrying about having plants in their aquarium but they actually make for good mystery snail tank mates.
Not only do the plants provide and additional source of food once they start to mold and decay, they also add cover for any other animals in the aquarium too.
Although it may look like your mystery snail is eating your live plants, they are usually only eating the dying leaves that are still attached to the plant and will usually leave the live part of the plant alone and go off to find food elsewhere.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the more commonly used mystery snail tank mates that we see the community asking about time and time again. As we mentioned way back at the start of the article, not all of the featured tank mates are suitable for use with your mystery snail but we constantly saw people asking questions about keeping them together so we wanted to include them in our article to try and help our readers understand why they should be kept apart.
