Ways to discourage betta from eating sinking wafers?

[jaela]

I feed my habrosus cories with a sinking wafer, which they love. Unfortunately, so does my VT betta girl, Ann. Even if I try to distract her with her own food while I drop in the wafer, she hurriedly eats a pellet and then dives down to grab the wafer. She carries it around in her mouth, looking completely ridiculous, and bites off little pieces of it at a time. I've tried to distract her time and time again, but she always goes back and picks up the wafer again. The way she tears it apart, the cories get a good share, but Ann gets quite bloated. I'm sure it's not good for her because she is eating a LOT, and the wafers have some plant matter in them.
I recently put her in with a sorority with five other girls, and that helps a little -- because one of the more aggressive girls will sometimes come to see what she had and chase her until she drops it - but she's still eating enough of the wafer that her little tummy looks too bloated. None of the other girls are interested in the wafer at all, so it seems like it's just an oddity with this one girl.
I tried turning off the lights when I drop the wafer in, and that way it takes Ann a little longer to find it, but she still finds it.
This happened again today so I put her in my 2g hospital tank with some epsom salt to hopefully help with the bloating. But ultimately she's much happier in the big tank, and I don't want to separate her out permanently over something as silly as a food dispute.
I would just separate her out every day while I feed the cories, but I'm afraid that will stress her out needlessly.
Is there anything else I can do to discourage her from eating food that isn't hers?

[Sena Hansler]

hmmm I know gals can be greedy little poops xD have you tried different food alternatives? like giving them zuchinni on a plate...? do you have a breeders net? you may need to have her in the breeder's net (easy to bring the net container around her without ever lifting her out of the water!) while you feed the cories...

[jaela]

Originally Posted by Sena Hansler

hmmm I know gals can be greedy little poops xD have you tried different food alternatives? like giving them zuchinni on a plate...? do you have a breeders net? you may need to have her in the breeder's net (easy to bring the net container around her without ever lifting her out of the water!) while you feed the cories...

Will the cories get enough protein/other nutrients if I just feed them veggies? I used to have otos and fed them exclusively on zucchini and other veggies, so I can totally do that if it's okay for them. =]

A breeding net is a great idea! I just looked them up on Amazon and it seems like a great low-stress alternative to putting her in another tank. Are the cube-shaped ones generally considered to be better? That seems like it would be a little nicer to her than the ones that are just basically mesh bags.

[Sena Hansler]

I have the one that is mesh on the connected pieces, allows circulation, easy to snatch them up, and nice to clean =D plus it ties to keep it firmly on the "frame". Not sure of the cube one you mentioned. mine's rectangular, and well over a year old. but it really is up to you :)

as for the veggies,I've been told a variety of veggies is pretty good for them. ancoring an algae wafer to the bottom works, which you can do with a plant tie (metal and don't rust) when you do a water change (you may be able to remove her for this then put her back so the cheeky gal doesn't steal the food)