Why does he keep getting so bloated?

[Seki]

My fish keeps getting horribly bloated after being fed for a couple days. I'll feed him one day and he'll be fine, then I'll feed him the next day and he balloons! I feed him Aqueon pellets, about 2-3 at a time once a day. I can post that whole list of things if I really need to, but I dunno if it's necessary for this question. he only gets bloated after eating.

[noellezim]

Nimrod has done this numbers of times... you gotta get them to poop. how to do that? get a mirror and let them get really upset and mad, flare and thrash. He will poop instantly and it will help with the bloat and save his digestive track. works everytime. its so hard not to feed them when they give you "i'm so hungry you never feed me" look. fast them for 2 days and he will be good as new.

[xShainax]

My females are the same way

[Aus]

If he's not a very big fish, maybe cut his food back a pellet per feed. Give him some daphnia once or twice a week in place of the pellets.

What's his poop look like?

[vilmarisv]

neollezim got it right. Flaring will help them poop. I used to have a male with the same problem and I had to exercise him regularly to get him to poop.

[PaintingPintos]

Originally Posted by noellezim

Nimrod has done this numbers of times... you gotta get them to poop. how to do that? get a mirror and let them get really upset and mad, flare and thrash. He will poop instantly and it will help with the bloat and save his digestive track. works everytime. its so hard not to feed them when they give you "i'm so hungry you never feed me" look. fast them for 2 days and he will be good as new.

+1
I make my betta poop every day by leaving a mirror in front of his tank for a few minutes :)

[Seki]

Thanks for all your help, guys! Aus, his poo looks pretty normal to me. Just regular brown poo. His bloat is completely gone... I have figured out that he flares and reacts when I turn the room light off but leave his tank light on, so I'll do that once a day from now on, and hopefully he'll stay regular. I also will cut back on his food a little bit in hopes of not getting him bloated like that anymore.

I really appreciate all the replies, this forum is awesome! I'm so glad I joined here, you guys are great! :)

[xShainax]

I learned a lot from this forum. :)

[RainbowSocks]

Edit: Ope, no new info. :P

[Sakura8]

Possibly try switching his food to a different, higher quality pellet. Look for a pellet or food that has fish products as the first two ingredients. The less wheat germ or wheat meal, the better, as these are undigestible by bettas and can be the cause of his bloating. I know when I once fed a very unhealthy pellet to my halfmoon, he swelled up like a bubble right after.

Good brands to try are New Life Spectrum (both betta formula and small fish formula work well) and Omega One pellets.