Betta Fish Forum banner

Feeding a betta in a community tank with other small fish

907 views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  jaysee 
#1 · (Edited)
So this is the first time I've had a betta in a community tank where all the other fish are significantly smaller than the betta (i got 6 galaxy rasboras, 6 pygmy cory & 1 oto). Now the problem with this setup is the betta out competes all other fish at feeding time and ends up overfeeding himself and leaves very little for the rest of the fish.

I've looked online for a solution but have not found any posts regarding this. Right now what I'm doing is, I crush NLS Grow (great mix of ingredients, works well for all the fish in the tank) and drop it inside a feeding ring. This way half of the food falls to the bottom where the cories & oto eat it and while falling to the bottom the rasboras eat it too. Also the rasboras seem to have a better chance of getting to the food on the surface as it last longer there because it's in powdered form (the betta gobbles up pellets really fast).

I've been doing this for a few days now and it seems to be working really well, all the fish seem to be getting fed and the betta doesn't seem to be getting overfed. But I understand I am going to see some water quality issues (I do have a filter & a heater in the tank).

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
You can teach him to swim into a cup and you can feed him separately while you feed the other fish as well. It won't take long before he associates the cup with food if he's fed in it everyday ^_^ and will make it easier when you have to move him or anything.
 
#3 ·
Now, that's an interesting take on it, lil. I never would have thought of that.

As for water quality, as long as you don't overfeed. But you sound capable of working that out. Vacuum well with the weekly pwc. The bacteria colony will grow to meet the demand (assuming you're not overstocked). And there are easy fixes.
 
#5 ·
That's where the cup method will help the other fish, you keep him in the cup either floating or out of the water while the rest of the fish eat :) We had talked about doing that in sororities to make sure everyone got their fair share of food but I just never followed up on it. But you can certainly train him to swim into the cup after a while too, the first few times you'll probably have to chase him around to get him in but he'll learn that soon, cup equals food and food is good so therefore cup is good! ;-)
 
#6 ·
I never chase with cups. Baiting the cup sometimes works. Mostly Zen-like patience is less stressful for the fish and the keeper. They do learn, especially if you feed him something in the cup..

You might try using a piece of craft-mesh to corral him while the others eat.
 
#7 ·
I can see the cup method working with a sorority as bettas are not shy and would even eat from your fingers, but galaxy rasboras, pygmy cory & otos are very shy fish. The moment I open the tank hood they run for cover (whereas the betta is literally jumping at me) and I have to move at least a few feet away from the tank for them to come out and start feeding. I did look into the mesh but I'm thinking it would be a bit messy and would stress the fish.
 
#8 ·
Oh no! I meant to cup your Betta! not the other fish! Sorry if I wasn't clear on that! So then you can actually take him out of the tank and perhaps they won't be so shy to come up to eat as well if their "predator" isn't around :)

I like the mesh idea Hally!
 
#9 ·
If you have a filter, then I don't know why you would have water quality issues.

If you are feeding a high quality food like NLS, then I would not worry about over feeding the fish. When you keep fish in a community, it is often necessary to over feed to some degree in order to make sure that there's enough to go around. I prefer to put the pellets in the filters outflow to disperse them throughout the tank. It's difficult to hog all the food when it's scattered
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top