Betta Fish Forum banner

Hart might not be eating enough?

614 views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  summnd 
#1 ·
The pellets I bought float on top for 1-5 seconds, then sink to the bottom (fast.) He doesn't really eat or take interest in anything floating on the water, and he won't bottom feed once they fall either, but he isn't fast enough to catch them all falling. I felt like he wasn't getting enough to eat so I tried, first, dropping 10 pellets in & letting him catch all he could, drop 10 more and same, drop 10 more and same, when I thought he was done eating, immediately turkey-baster all the fallen ones off the gravel, but I was afraid I was missing too many that got between the gravel cracks so I tried the second way, dropping 1-2 and letting him get those, drop 1-2 more, again and again until I though he had eaten enough.

My question is, is there a better way to do this? I had pellets that didn't sink, but I was finding them 12+hrs later, still afloat, looking untouched. And I've yet to see him get "a full round belly." I thought about slow release tablets or something similar, but those just don't seem like a good option nutrient-wise. :( My Petco does not carry snails at all, only salt water and LARGE bamboo shrimp. They have a lot of different frozen gummy feed drops, but none seem suitable for a Betta. They have krill (HUGE) and micro blood worms, but that shouldn't be a constant meal should it? Not 2-3 times a day every day.

I'm thinking:
1. Continue feeding him 1 pellet at a time until he seems full, which just isn't feasible with my work schedule and everything else we have going on right now.
2. Find/order mystery snails and breed them in a small tank to feed him babies, or do the same but with ghost shrimp
3. Feed him tiny tadpoles, minnows, other fish fry, etc.

He only wants live/moving food, but he needs it slow enough to catch.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
It may be the type of pellet you use, betta can be pretty snotty p. maybe freeze-dried blood worms? If he only wants moving food I might even consider hand feeding him, or feeding him with your fingers.
 
#4 ·
Yes, don't feed bloodworms daily, they are like candy for Betta fish. Hmm... how many pellets do you estimate that he does eat? Generally, about 6-8 pellets a day is a healthy amount depending on their size. Not all Betta fish will get a rounded belly after eating - it really depends on their size, build and type. My male, which has a more slender build gets a rounded belly after 2 pellets. My female could eat half a dozen or more and still not show a rounded belly, but she is more robust than him and has a thicker build.
Live food might be the way to go with him when you don't have the time to feed him one pellet at a time.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Is that at one feeding, or throughout the whole day? Unless your pellets are super tiny, only feeding once per day, or you have a giant Betta, 6-9 eaten per feeding is WAY too much.
 
#7 ·
Another thing, most Betta fish will continue eating as long as food is present. So if you keep dropping in pellets, he will continue to eat until you stop. Many Betta fish have eaten themselves to death - it's instinct to eat as much as available because in the wild, they may go days or weeks without finding food to eat.
 
#8 · (Edited)
At every feeding my fish eat their fill. The bettas, and every other fish I've ever kept, do stop eating when they are full. I've actually repeatedly tried to have one eat itself to death, unsuccessfully. Of course I feed NLS which is easily digestible so there's no concern about the fish getting bloated. Perhaps if I fed some junk flake food it might die, due to the quality of the food alone stopping things up.

I agree, it's instinct for fish to gorge themselves - they do it all the time in the wild...and don't die from it. This further supports the notion that the quality of the food is the determining factor, not the quantity.
 
#9 ·
He's eating about 6, give or take a couple, per feeding. I'm feeding him 2 times a day. He does eat a lot more than any other Betta I've had/have, but he's plenty active and I haven't seen him bloat.
I'm a firm believer in letting animals and children eat whatever amount they want to. It's very rare than an animal will either starve itself or fill itself to death. It happens, but not often or under normal circumstances. Usually if it happens, the animal was previously starving, all ready sick, or something physically went very wrong in the digestive tract, like when a dog's stomach twists and ties off.
 
#11 ·
That sounds like it might be something fun to do. Could you point me in the right direction to take part in something like this and possibly give me some instructions for feeding brine shrimp to Betta :)
 
#12 · (Edited)
It's actually really easy! :) They sell 'sea monkey' kits for children, and I always just purchase one of those. It includes a small container, the 'sea monkeys' which are actually brine shrimp eggs, and a packet of water conditioner (salt.) Brine shrimp eggs are dormant until put in water. Once they're in water, and with a little light, they hatch within 24hrs, and they breed like crazy!!

You add 1/4tsp of sea salt per every 40ml of water. (You can use rock salt or aquarium salt too.) They need to be in a lit place, but not in direct sunlight. A warm place is preferable. You can feed them Liquidfry brand or similar fry food, yeast, whey, wheat flour, soybean powder, fish meal, egg yolk, or just about anything small particled that doesn't dissolve in water. Once it appears they've all hatched, you want to siphon/suck up all the live brine shrimp and transfer them to a new bottle/hatchery because the one they hatched in will be full of their egg sacks and dead eggs that didn't hatch. They require small water changes regularly, but not much. (Add salt to the water each time you change it.)

You feed them to Bettas by siphoning them into airline tubing or a turkey baster. Just be sure to choose the ones sized right for your Betta(s). It takes 4-8 weeks (depending on their environment) for Brine shrimp to reach adulthood and begin to breed. Once they do, you'll need 12 more tanks, because they take over like snails. A cylindrical container is recommended, but I usually use 2.5 gallon aquariums or round fish bowls.

They're much like Bettas..they CAN live in a small soda bottle, with tap water, little food, no water changes..but that isn't what you WANT to do with them. They're not expensive or high maintenance though. I used to have 8 tanks of them, keeping about 70 in each tank. :) I miss it.

You do have to cull a lot because of how they breed. As I said, if you don't cull, you'll need a LOT of containers..fish bowls, flower vases, 2L soda bottles, whatever works for you. A lot of times when I need to cull, I ask all the local elementary school teachers and high school science teachers if they want a small tank of them. Think of all the daycares and schools in your county..that's over 200 teachers that might want to take a tank when you get too full.
 
#14 ·
Very close..more like this http://www.amazon.com/Schylling-674...qid=1382721791&sr=8-1&keywords=sea+monkey+kit

It's a little more work than the kits are sold to seem. As I said, it's a lot like Bettas. People sell them in tiny bowls and tell you poor some gravel in a bowl, put the Betta in, feed it pellets every now & then, change the water once a week..but we all know that's wrong.
A brine shrimp hatchery is more work than advertised if you want to do it the 'right' way & have them healthy, but it's a LOT less work than fish or other shrimp. The only real downfall is how fast they reproduce. You could always separate male/female though.
 
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