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Feeding question

392 Views 3 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  UberLia, 
J
Yes, I've read the Betta Care sticky...

I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing...I really want this fish to live as long as possible because she is loved dearly by my 6 year old daughter.

We have a female betta named Rose. She lives in a 3 gallon tank with filter and heater. She is a very lively fish, always dashing around and never still (that I have seen).

From what I've read, we seem to be feeding her the proper amount. We planned on feeding her 3 pellets twice a day with once fast day a week. There is some variation in advice on betta feeding online, but this seemed like a decent average of what people are saying. The thing is...everyone also mentions, "feed them no more than they can eat in two minutes.." Our Rose gobbles up her three pellets in about 6 seconds. When you hold the food jar up to her cage she starts pacing frantically and swims up to the surface. I worry that because she's such an active fish, the one fast day per week might be hard on her. Far from worrying about food clogging up her tank...in the two weeks that we've had her a stray pellet has yet to touch the ground.

What do you think...feed this fish more and do a fast day? Skip the fast day? Or just keep doing what we're doing? I don't want to overfeed her...but I don't want to starve her either. And her owner is constantly asking me if we're doing everything we can to "keep Rose happy." Oy. This girl loves her fish!

Thanks in advance!
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Kaxen
Don't bother with the "feed them what they can eat in x minutes" stuff. Most animals tend to treat every day like they will be starving to death tomorrow since it's basic survival strategy so they will eat themselves sick if you give them as much as they can eat in a minute. I've only had one betta who would leave extra food in the tank alone. And some bettas will eat algae wafers despite being carnivorous.

I don't bother with fasting. If your pellet is high protein, it shouldn't clog their digestion and require a fast day. I'd only fast a betta if it is seriously constipated/bloated. Like one time one of my boys ate a snail shell and that was stuck in there for a few days.
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Engel
If what you're currently doing works, I don't see a reason to change it. The diet you currently have her on is a pretty common one that I notice a lot of people in these forums use.

My pellets are high in protein and .5mm. I feed my bettas 2x in the morning and 2x at night everyday with no fasting days unless I notice a bloating problem (which I haven't had since having the higher quality food).
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UberLia
Thats my question too..! I am not sure either. I have personally being giving my betta 2-4 pellets every 2 days..and my fish is a happy camper in his tank. I have heard so many different ways on how to feed the fish. My previous fish i fed him everyday and I noticed the tank would get dirty so quickly..
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