Falling food question

[wah543]

When feeding my betta sometimes he'll like lunge at the pellet and miss it, but he ends up hitting it and it sinks down, sometimes he'll catch it and eat it sometimes it just sink into the gravel, If it sinks into the gravel can it be harmful?

[LebronTheBetta]

You shouldn't leave it there. Uneaten foods can turn into ammonia and be harmful to the fish. Only a few Bettas eat from the substrate. Doesn't your pellet float? Floating pellets are better than sinking for Bettas.

[finnfinnfriend]

Originally Posted by LebronTheBetta

You shouldn't leave it there. Uneaten foods can turn into ammonia and be harmful to the fish. Only a few Bettas eat from the substrate. Doesn't your pellet float? Floating pellets are better than sinking for Bettas.

Yeah well even floating pellets will sink if the betta jump at it and manages to push it down. I suggest feeding one pellet at a time and drop it in really quick, because when my hand hovers over the feeding hole too long he tries to jump at it and sometimes knocks the pellet down.

[Kenny G]

No it wont be harmful but I agree with LebronTheBetta if he doesn't eat it after a few minutes remove it. I use Hikari Bio Gold micro pellets. They are smaller than regular pellets, which means its easily digested plus they float. So its a win win.

[wah543]

They do float when I put them in and he does like try to jump with my hand hovering over it too, I do a 100% water change once a week would that get rid of any harmful stuff from the pellets in the gravel?

[Perseusmom]

How big is you tank ? You could try a use a turkey baster to suck up the uneaten food. I think if you do a 100 perfect water change that would be okay unless the food is sticking in the gravel. I use a gravel cleaner when I do water changes those things are awesome and dont cost much around 7 or 8 dollars and so worth it !

[shellieca]

Do you know if your Betta will scavenge the bottom of the tank? I know all of mine do. I feed the Top Fin Betta pellets which float pretty much no matter how water log they get. I do make sure that each fish is eating properly by dripping 1 pellet at time. I have 2 Males in individual 10g tanks & 3 Females in a 46g community tank and all 5 of my Bettas will eat from the surface or the bottom. What size tank do you have? Does it have proper filtration? If you have the proper sized tank with filtration and vacuum the substrate properly you shouldn't have a problem with some of the food falling to the bottom of the tank.

[wah543]

2.5 gallons and I clean out the gravel good and make sure everythings out of the gravel when I do

[shellieca]

Originally Posted by wah543

2.5 gallons and I clean out the gravel good and make sure everythings out of the gravel when I do

Because you do such a good cleaning weekly I think you're OK. I'm guessing that there isn't that much food that falls to the bottom. Sometime with my Bettas, they get so excited the don't see the pellet when I drop it so I poke the top of the water next to the pellet to get their attention to it & they eat like little piglets. You may want to get a water test kit and just check your water parameters (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte) and see what effect if any the food is having. I test the water in my established 10g tank weekly and my other two (1 10g & 1 46g) that are still cycling I test daily to make sure my water stays healthy.

[wah543]

Originally Posted by shellieca

Because you do such a good cleaning weekly I think you're OK. I'm guessing that there isn't that much food that falls to the bottom. Sometime with my Bettas, they get so excited the don't see the pellet when I drop it so I poke the top of the water next to the pellet to get their attention to it & they eat like little piglets. You may want to get a water test kit and just check your water parameters (ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte) and see what effect if any the food is having. I test the water in my established 10g tank weekly and my other two (1 10g & 1 46g) that are still cycling I test daily to make sure my water stays healthy.

Ok thanks for the help I'll get that and check the water every now and then