One of my girls is fat.

[Terrie]

One of my betta is a fatty.

She is very active and bright and definitely eats like a pig.

I feed each betta (I have six..two passed on) about 2 pellets twice a day and i fast all of them once a week for a whole day. The other 5 are normal (one is actually pretty skinny).

Still she doesn't seem to lose weight. When I brought her home she was larger but not fat and ever since shes been pretty fat lol.

One of the ones that passed had what I think was dropsy...that one was freakishly large and leaned on the gravel unable to swim...so I don't think Fatty has dropsy too..especially since she has been fat for a long time now(the other barely made it a week)...I read about feeding them pea skins...should I try this?

[NinjaBetta 18]

My girl Angel is quite fat herself...
Perhaps you should try feeding her
less. Peas only help the fish
when they have dropsy.

[Karebear13]

Peas aren't good for Bettas because they can't process is it. I would try fasting her or You can buy frozen daphnia it helps with their digestive system. Im actually going to get some Daphnia my self for my fatty Benz

[xjenuhfur]

+1
Are you sure she's just not eggy?
Otherwise I would just fast for a few days, and if that doesn't work try a frozen daphnia/Epsom salt treatment.

[Terrie]

She may be eggy but she's been this way for months lol

[styggian]

Some of my girls always look "fat" from eggs.

[Myates]

Peas don't do anything for a betta- no nutritional value, etc.. and especially does nothing for a fish with dropsy.

As far as feeding, 2 pellets is a low amount- depending upon the brand/size of them. Since fish can not get "fat" like us or mammals, she may just be a more robust female. My Aanya is very large, but she eats high quality pellets/live/homemade foods.. she's a healthy size.

What food are you feeding? I would always look to the food first when you question the fish's size- whether it be small, or a bloated look.

From the sounds of it- your other fish showed symptoms of SBD, and this current fish has been large for months.. sounds like it's a food quality issue. Omega One Betta Buffet, or the New Life Spectrum are my top two picks when it comes to pellet/flake food.

[Terrie]

I feed them new life spectrum...the pellets are pretty small...sometimes i grab a tiny amount with 2 fingers and drop it in the tank. Each girl will roughly eat 2 pellets...the more aggressive eaters (aka the fat one lol) will maybe eat 3...

I use my best judgement to feed them a total of 4-5 of these pellets a day + fasting on Saturdays..is that a proper feeding schedule?

EDIT: I picked up new life spectrum at Petco not really knowing which food was best...I guess I made a good choice? :D

[Myates]

New Life is good.. She may just be a larger girl.. is it her stomach that is "fat" or is she generally just larger all around?

[LionCalie]

Your feeding schedule sounds good. New Life Spectrum is an excellent brand of food. Most of my Bettas get 5 pellets daily and that keeps their stomachs softly round. Then of course they have a fast day, which for mine is on Sunday.

Edit to add- switching some "pellet days" out with frozen bloodworms (for example) is also good for variety.