Tazmiche

Hi everybody. Hope you are all OK.

Just thought I would let you know that Flame is a very fussy fish. We decided to give him some Daphnia for a change for tea. He took one bite and flared with annoyance as he obviously did not like it. One way to annoy your fish is to feed them with the food they do not like. He is now looking for something else, I have told him 'no chance' (I will sneak him something later, if Mich does not see me). Does anybody else have a 'spoilt fish'. I am quite sure you will all say 'no' ha!ha!

Jaquitaz

nmwierman1977

Bettas are known to be picky eaters. I would just keep trying to feed it to him. Eventually I 'm sure he'll start to eat and learn to love it. What else do you feed him? He really should get a variety like, pellets,bloodworms,brineshrimp,peas (once or twice a week). Mine were finicky too in the beginning, but they learned that what they were given is what they will be fed and they will have to learn to like it. It may take a couple weeks. It took mine a couple weeks to like some of their food, but now they love it and they love feeding time.Natalie

Jacquitaz

Hi Natalie,

Flame has pellets, bloodworms and sometimes brine shrimp all of which he will eat. He also has peas once a week. Daphnia was just a new trial. I am sure he will in time accept it. He is a spoilt betta obviously, as we all do. He is quite a character and lovely.

Jacquitaz

COBettaCouple

We've been fortunate in only having 1 picky eater among the bettas that we've had. Sora would only eat peas, bloodworms and daphnia (ironic, huh michelle?). Another Betta Mickey will half-heartedly pick at the daphnia but doesn't care much for it. The rest suck it down.

voiceless_kat

All of my guys & little gal, are like see it, eat it!! Yum, food..................Miss Lotus is especially funny having to share everything that Sammy & Scooter have...so she has never gotten past the 2 betta pellets stage. Now, Sammy & Scooter are much different, turning their collective noses up at everything except shrimp pellets, the turds!! So I have a cupboard with several bottles of cory food that will never get eaten. I haven't tried the pea with Miss Lotus yet, I got a little unnerved when I gave her a bloodworm and she took it before it got soft, and then swam around with it hanging out of her mouth for what seemed like 5 minutes!! I thought I killed her!! Now I make them soft first.

No spoiled animals in my house, I want you to know that. Gotta go, Zipper my demon seed cat wants to go for a walk on his leash................

Phloxface

Val, if she is eating the cories food she should not be eating anything else. Two pellets is too much for a female (assuming you are feeding the regular size Hikari Betta pellets). My adult females never get more than one pellet per meal, three times a day. When they were babies they ate about 4-5 tiny micro wafers each meal. My small males also only get one pellet, three times a day. Only my biggest males ever get 2 pellets at a time and never more than two. I know the package says to feed more but the danger of constipation is not worth the risk. If you soak the pellet you will see that it expands quite a lot. Since their tummies are only the size of an eye, even one pellet will fill them up once it expands.
None of my fish have lost weight so they are getting more than enough.
If possible try to prevent her from eating the cories food at all. Shrimp pellets all the time is much too rich for her.
The constant stealing of food is why I don't want to keep my Bettas with tankmates. It is impossible to control their eating.

voiceless_kat

She is eating Attison's pellets and they are teeny. I don't think what she samples of Sammy & Scooter is too much. She is curious when the pellet falls, and pecks on it, then swims away, or joins them in the dish. She's fine, but thanks for the cautionary note. I don't give her bloodworms very often since they are so big.

Phloxface

Oh, the Atison's baby pellets are okay. I just wanted to make certain. When she does wean onto the big Betta food just make sure she gets only one per meal.

voiceless_kat

Phlox....I feed this size pellets to all of them....when I first got Neptune and bought betta food, it was so big, so I found these little ones. The little container will feed these guys for a long time, LOL, so won't I just be able to feed her/them a few more as she grows??

It was comical this morning I put daphne in that tank, and wow, there were fish flying everywhere. It took Lotus a while to figure out what was going on, but as some of it fell, Sammy & Scooter were going crazy after it, finally she took some from the top, so then she knew. But she had to keep going down to the cories to see what they were eating............so funny, so cute...........I love fish..... ......who knew

Thanks again. BTW how is your little patient doing??
Val

lilswimmer

My Beethoven is a picky eater too. He refuses to eat bloodworms! Can you believe that?! I tell him it's like gourmet fish food (you would think so just by the price alone) but he doesn't care. I break one into little pieces and put a piece in the tank and he'll eat it, spit it out and swim away if I put another piece in for him. Yeah, he hates bloodworms but can't get enough of the flakes. I'm trying brine shrimp next...

Phloxface

Oh definately. Just use your own judgement as to how many pieces would equal one big Betta pellet. I feed Daphne only the tiny micro wafers because her mouth is deformed (her jaws are misaligned) and she can't eat regular size food. I usually give her about 6 pieces (or less if she's full and swims away)

Which one?? I've got 3 that are being treated for various things! Rocky is doing well and his tail is growing back and turning red again... Daphne is eating again and seems almost back to normal. She was on Maracyn-Two for a week and it seems to have helped. The swelling on her mouth has gone down.
Now my sickest baby is Aenara who is suffering from egg-binding. The eggs are infected and she is so full of them it is pressing on her swim bladder and she can't swim well. She just lays on the bottom and dashes to the top for air and then sinks again. She is still eating well but I am trying to feed her less to prevent more bloating and pressure on her swim bladder. I am treating her with Kanaplex and daily epsom salt baths in the hopes of curing the infection and letting her body absorb the eggs on her own. This could take weeks from what I've read. I hope she can last that long. She's a feisty little thing so I hope so.
I had to move Frasier out of his 2.5g tank and into a 5.5g tank so I could treat Aenara in the smaller tank. He is a very sensitive little guy and was very freaked out by the bigger tank. He hid in a hole all day. He is still behaving strangely today, kind of zoned out... He does not like being in a bigger tank. Most Bettas love the space but you get the odd few who are just terrified. He may never adjust and may need to stay in the 2.5 if thats what makes him happy. I hope he doesn't get sick from the stress...