Fasting

[labloverl]

I feed my betta twice a day. I give about 2 pellets in the morning and maybe 3 at night. Is that too much? He's in a tank with neons, so I put in some tropical flakes for them, but the betta eats that as well. Normally I check to see how much of the flakes he eats to determine how many pellets to give him. Sometimes it's just 1. Is it a good idea to fast him for a day? In that case, I would have to fast the neons as well? How do you know when the betta has eaten too much, or is getting fat? Could someone point me towards pictures?

[vilmarisv]

You don't have to worry. I would not fast him, I feed my fish much more than that and they do fine.
What you do have to watch out for is for bloating due to constipation.
When feeding, your betta's belly will appear round and full. A fish that is not constipated will pass his food and his belly will had gone down a bit, is not completely, by the next feeding. A fish that is bloated can have a large odd looking belly for days.
A well-fed betta is different from a contipated one and a lot of people confused one for the other. I like my fish to have thick bodies and be ready to spawn at any moment, so I feed a little more than what a lot of people might consider enough. But the care that my fish get is adjusted to their feeding schedules and they are constantly monitored for bloating.

[callistra]

There's a lot of information on fat neons on google. Here's on thread I found :http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums...ter-neon-tetra

[labloverl]

Thanks! Well, my neons don't look like that except after they've just eaten and it's like they have trouble swimming down. Once their belly goes down, everything is fine.

The betta is definitely not bloated. It's just hard to know what's too much when you don't know exactly what thick-bodied betta looks like. I also don't want him to be too skinny.

[styggian]

I never fast my boys as it's very easy to monitor how much they eat. I fast my girls on occasion depending on if I think they've eaten too much. They gorged a bit yesterday on live fruit flies and pellets, so I'm going to fast them today while they continue digesting. A few days ago, they got a mix of pellets, live fruit flies, and frozen bloodworms and were fine the next day, so I fed them as I regularly do. If they're only eating pellets for a few days in a row, I don't fast as it's easy to not overfeed. It really depends on if they look like they have a distended belly the following day if I fast or not.

[Myates]

Fish don't become fat.. their stomachs expand (and should only to a point) right after eating.. but a constant overly large roundness means there is health issues.

I tend to fast differently when I decide to fast my fish.. I will feed in the morning, then skip dinner that night and skip breakfast the next day.. then start feeding once more that evening. So they have time to fast.. but are still technically fed daily.
But that's just me.. you don't really need to fast them, but I do occasionally because they often do in the wild themselves. The higher quality food you feed, the easier it is to digest/process and less of a chance of bloating and constipation.
Live foods, high quality pellets (I prefer Omega One, then New Life), and home made foods are the top of my list for feeding.

[Hopeseeker]

Originally Posted by Myates

Fish don't become fat.. their stomachs expand (and should only to a point) right after eating.. but a constant overly large roundness means there is health issues.

I tend to fast differently when I decide to fast my fish.. I will feed in the morning, then skip dinner that night and skip breakfast the next day.. then start feeding once more that evening. So they have time to fast.. but are still technically fed daily.
But that's just me.. you don't really need to fast them, but I do occasionally because they often do in the wild themselves. The higher quality food you feed, the easier it is to digest/process and less of a chance of bloating and constipation.
Live foods, high quality pellets (I prefer Omega One, then New Life), and home made foods are the top of my list for feeding.

Home made foods? Examples?

[Hallyx]

Originally Posted by Hopeseeker

Home made foods? Examples?

Yeah. I'd like to know what to do with those semi-smashed houseflies I have in my freezer because I'm afraid to feed them to my fish (who love the live ones). Hehehe...