windymeadow

Howdy everyone! Joe Cool was doing great with the Hikari Bio Gold pellets and then I thought he might be getting bored so I gave him a few freeze dried bloodworms. He went wild over those and now when I try to give him pellets he looks at me like he is saying " What is this garbage?!" so I was wondering can he live on the bloodworms (yuck) or does he need diversity? The bloodworms are little, tiny things. How many of those should he be eating? I give him five or so.

My other question is about tank cycling. I finally (!!!!) got the ammonia to 0. The nitrite is at 2 ppm and the nitrates are at 80 ppm. I know I need to do a partial water change. Do I wait for the nitrates to take care of the nitrites first and then do the water change and then put the fish in?

Thanks tons! I sure do appreciate all the help I get here.

LZ Floyd

Some folks can only get their Bettas to eat one type of food (they can be picky).* You're lucky yours will eat the bloodworms as they provide protein.* I give ours five or six pellets in the AM and 5 or 6 bloodworms in the PM.* I also give ours a pea treat every now and again just to clear out his system.

The cycle of the tank starts with ammonia, which leads to the evolution of ammonia-eating bacteria.* When the bacteria eats the ammonia, the result is nitrites.* Nitrites lead to the evolution of nitrite-eating bacteria.* When that breed of bacteria eats the nitrites, the result is nitrates.* When the ammonia and nitrite numbers drop to 0 the tank is cycled, but not yet ready for the fish as you'll have a lot of nitrates.* The nitrate numbers are reduced through water changes.

Mike

antisen

If you don't have any fish in there yet, don't bother doing any water changes until it is fully cycled (nitrites at 0). THEN do a change before adding your fishie to get rid of the nitrates.

So basically to answer your last question "yes."

Hope that helped,
Whitney

Timesdragonfly

If you don 't have a fish in there, let it be.
If you do have a fish in there, you need to do a 50% water change. It will slow down the cycle, but 2ppm nitrite and 80ppm nitrates are too high for a fish. get the nitrates down to at least 40 if you have a fish in there, and after the cycle is over, you'll want to keep nitrates down below 20 ppm

chickadee

My guys eat bloodworms only all the time, but I give them vitamins as well. The pellets contain some vitamins but not a great amount of protein compared to the bloodworms. The optimum diet is to have them eat both the way you had him doing it. (WITH pea treats a couple times a week at least) BUT there are some stubborn little bettas who do not like the feel of pellets or the taste of them or just the idea of them. You will not change them, they make up their minds and that is that.

Since I spoil my little guys, they get what they want to eat and I drop a few drops of vitamins in and feel like they are well fed. They do okay and don't have to have the tantrums to get what they want.

Rose