10/31/2014 #2
I've decided I'm tired of writing s/he or him/her, lol. For now, I'm gonna refer to Lava as a she until she shows me otherwise! Anyway...
In addition to their different personalities, their eating styles are so different, too. Lava is a gulper; as soon as the food is dipped in, she gulps it down. If it falls down behind her and she doesn't see it at first, she makes a super speedy bee-line down to it and it never touches the gravel. And I swear, she never gets full! I have to make the decision of when to stop because she will probably never stop!
Flash, on the other hand, is slow, picky, and spits out food all.the.time. It's almost like he can't swallow pieces that are no problem at all for Lava. (I feed them frozen BBS and frozen bloodworms... tried crushed betta pellets when I first brought them home, but they got ignored.) He especially spits out BBS. Sometimes he makes one or two more attempts and sucking it down, but usually it comes back out.
I've taken to feeding him right above his hammock. Since I've never seen him lounge in it, it is more of a feeder now. That way, if he spits something out, it lands on the hammock instead of the gravel. And he also then gets to graze on his leftovers- which he does- I wonder if he needs them to soften up first? I've included a photo of his unique, specialized feeding style: