FireFly

Hello oo im so excited! i love fish and aquariums and im very happy to join the forum. i have a consitpated female betta possibly. she is about 2and half years old and i have had her for about 2 years. recently she looked very plump. but her scales were not protruding like a pine cone so during my research i found that she could be consitpated. so i took her out of her 3 gallon tank and kept her seperate with no rocks on the bottom of the little tank (about a half gallon) and did not feed her for a few days. I fed her a pea and poof she pooped finally.. alot too.. i kept her like this and fed her a few peas for about 4 days. then i put her back in the 3 gallon and she is still really plump looking.. she rests on the plants (plastic..i know i should really get live ones.) she eats what ever i put in the tank but she his having a hard trouble swiming. she looks fine other that being plump. she is very active considering too. any ideas on how to get her thinner? is it a problem? thanks so much and happy fish keeping everyone Jeanine *FireFly*
ps i also have 2 male bettas in smaller "betta tanks" they are about 2 and half and 3 and half. they have been in these tanks since i bought them at the store. are these tanks really ok for them or should they be in bigger tanks. they seem really happy and puff up at anyone coming over to my desk. (they are at work with me along with the 3 gallon tank)

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore.

You could try fasting her for a day or 2, followed by a day with 2 pea meals (AM & PM - 3 small pellet-sized pieces each). They do rest more as they get older, so she may be alright.

What is her regular diet? I recommend mainly thawed frozen hikari-brand bloodworms, around 3 per meal (2 meals a day). Ocean Nutrition Betta-Pro pellets are also good. Once a week, we feed ours the pea meals mentioned above and one day a week we fast ours.

luna

How small are those "betta" tanks? The 3 gallon is really the smallest tank they should be in, as they are tropical fish and need heaters (which don't fit in tanks smaller than 2.5-3 gallons).

Also, as COBC asked - what is her normal diet? It's possible she's plumping and constipating because you're overindulging her...bettas have the tendency to eat themselves sick, yet "beg" for food any time they know you're looking. Their stomachs are about the size of one of their eyes (I hear), so they shouldn't get more food than that in any given meal.

FireFly

hi her normal diet is betta pellets.. its not the hikari kind..she didnt like them lol i guess she is picky. she is on the wardly betta pellets. i give her about 5 pellets a day. she wont eat more then that and if i feed her 2 times a day the second meal the other fish eats and she doesnt show intrest in it. i heard the same thing that the eye is the size of the stomach so i dont think im over feeding her. i have to say she is a brat. has that typical "im the best" attitude. i will try the pea thing again.
the betta tanks that my males are in are about a half a gallon each. they always have bubble nests and are active, always "defending" lol. i guess they are happy. would you reccomend changing their tanks?

KittieKat

no fish should ever be in anything smaller than a 3 gal.. i too had 1 gal, and half gal tanks when i first started... i didnt know better either.. u would assume since they sell them that its what is right but its really not... u could get urself one of those 10 gal starter kits and divid it.. or even a 5 gal and divid it. there better because of being able to put a heater in them, a filter, and u can decorate them! yay! pretty tanks are nice tanks

COBettaCouple

It's actually Ocean Nutrition's Betta Pro pellets that we use. They're nice & tiny - even young betta girls can eat them. Hikari is the brand of frozen bloodworms that we like to get - they're triple sterilized for nasties and have vitamin c added, which fish need.

Betta males get to around 2.5-3" so they need the 1 gallon per adult inch that is the guideline for small tropical fish. Part of it is waste production and then Betta are also fish that like to swim a lot and 5g is the recommended minimum. They especially LOVE a long run to swim from one end to the other. We've been putting ours in these 6.6g bookshelf tanks that are longer than a 10g tank even.

FireFly

thanks so much everyone i will try that food. is it available at my local petstore? or at like petsmart? i have a mom and pop type pet store that is huge!! i love it.. im sure they would have it. have a good weekend! yay!

COBettaCouple

You should be able to find it locally.

lilsoccakid

its nice to see somebody really care about their fish, and i hope your betta gets better!

make sure with the half gallon tanks your doing weekly water changes!