Female Betta Likes Cucumber...

[Arowan]

I recently acquired some Otocinclus' for my sorority/community tank, and have quickly run out of algae for them to eat. While I'm making my photo period longer, it will still take some time for more algae to start growing, so I've been supplementing theirs (and my cories') diet with green veggies: lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, green beans, etc. Whatever I can get a hold of.

I thought it was a nice way to feed my cories, too, since I figured my bettas would hardly be interested in green veggies!

But... I was watching my new cellophane female picking off pieces of the cucumber slice that I added the other day. And she is constantly picking at it, and eating the fleshy part of the cucumber. She is starting to get fat, too.

Should I be concerned about her odd eating preferences? I know peas are bad for bettas, but are cucumbers bad too? >_<

[Arowan]

Uploaded a few photos of the cellophane, Odette, with her cucumber...

Most of the holes in it are from the cories and otos eating it, but she likes to pick bits off too.

[ForbiddenSecrets]

I'd like an answer too - I think my betta boy is eating more of the zucchini then my oto's are *sigh*

[Arowan]

None of my other bettas seem interested in it, either.

Guess I can try to do more lettuce and spinach instead of cucumbers, lol xD

[Sakura8]

Aside from how insanely cute that first picture is, I'll just say that I've been told over and over that bettas are carnivores and don't eat herbivorous matter. Your girl is clearly proving them wrong. I can only guess that bettas who eat vegetables are instinctively doing so to correct a possible vitamin deficiency, much the same way humans can crave dirt if they are low in iron or chalk if they are low in phosphorous (no really, it's true). I don't think eating the vegetable matter is bad per se (or they wouldn't eat them), but eating a lot of it IS. Arowan, I would QT your girl and fast her until she regains her normal size and after that feed lettuce or other green veggies that she has no interest in. If she continues to eat them, maybe switch her diet around like change to a new pellet with more vitamins. ForbiddenSecrets, I would suggest the same thing: try feeding lettuce or other vegetables that your betta may not be interested in.

[ForbiddenSecrets]

Ha ha the problem with that is the Oto's are picky and seem to ignore most of the food given to them except the Zuch though I could always try again. I'm going to admit to being surprised if he is lacking vitamins in his diet however since New Life Spectrum seems to cover it rather well as well as his frozen treats.

[Sakura8]

Yeah, that's true, New Life is one of the best out there. Maybe we're all wrong about bettas being strictly carnivorous. Maybe in the wild they resort to vegetation if insects are in short supply? Although, I know that our bettas are basically a man-made variation so what wild bettas do and what our bettas do are different. So maybe our man-made bettas eat vegetation and the wild ones don't? Ugh, I'm making my head hurt.

[ForbiddenSecrets]

Maybe they just get curious when they see others eating it and try it out for themselves. As long as they don't do it too much it can't be too harmful for them.

[Sakura8]

I agree. It's like cats are carnivorous but they eat grass. Maybe the veggies are helping the bettas with digestion, just like the grass is supposed to help cats.

[Arowan]

If it was a vitamin deficiency though, wouldn't my other bettas be eating it, too?

And considering how often this particular girl also steals my corydora's granules, I think she just likes to follow them around for food.

I've been keeping an eye on her weight, also, but so far I think she's just made up for her skinny condition in the Petsmart. And I'll try to use more green leaves... xD The cories really like their lettuce.

They all hate greenbeans, though, still can't get them to eat those...