genie

I tried to give Spike a pea treat-- he wants none of it. I cut the pieces really small-- still not a single bite. He just looks at me like "as if I would touch such a thing". Oh well maybe the Ottos will eat it.

Phloxface

The best way to get him to eat it is to fast him for a day until he is good and hungry. Then he will be willing to try it. I've never seen a Betta that doesn't love peas once they try them. It took mine a while to figure out that peas were food but once they did they'd rather have peas than anything else in the world!
Make sure he sees it dropping so he will chase it. If he doesn't see it he won't find it later.
Lava loves his peas so much he uses all his strength to dive to the bottom and retrieve the ones that fell before he could grab them. Swim Bladder or not, he won't rest until he's found every piece!

genie

He chased the pea and then decided that he was going to ignore it. I will try the fasting thing.

COBettaCouple

you could also try dunking the pea in garlic juice from those jars of wet minced garlic in the produce section, then mincing it up for him. The garlic scent should help with his incentive to try it.

genie

interesting-- will he eat fresh garlic as well?

COBettaCouple

i'm not sure.. you might ask Rose that, she posted the tip on garlic juice a little while back - i'm not sure they eat the garlic, but they apparently go for the scent.

Phloxface

I don't think they should eat whole garlic but dipping something in a little garlic juice is good. There is even a product called "Garlic Guard" that you can put on their food that contains garlic juice and added vitamins. It is for fish that are picky or off their food.

Jendayi

Cujo didn't pay any attention to the pea sinking to the bottom of his tank. But when I put the pea on a toothpick and just hovered it at the surface of the water like it was one of his pellets he went right for it. He ate three small pieces the first time I tried it, and seemed very enthusiastic about it.

genie

Good Idea!

Phloxface

Now that he knows it tastes good you won't have any problems getting him to eat it next time!

COBettaCouple

try mincing the pea as small as you can and feeding it just as if they were pellets. just watch for him to chew and swallow it, since they'll try to fake you out to get more food before they finish a piece.

chickadee

If the fish want to eat the little bits of Garlic for heavens sake LET THEM. It is very good for them. It is like a vitamin tonic for them. If you look in Drs. Foster and Smith catalog under vitamins almost every other product is Garlic this or Garlic that. Concentrated Garlic that you put drops in their food or in the water and I asked Butterfly once and she said she had seen them eat minced garlic so it is fine. I just have never seen mine do it.

Rose

voiceless_kat

I tried the garlic pea with Storm, but he just let it float down past his nose. He moved around a bit, - I thought the smell might have alerted him to something. But no luck. It may be too early. I will try it again if he ever decides to eat.

COBettaCouple

we're going to have to try the garlic with Sora who has gotten himself constipated again with his picky eating. Even after days of fasting, he has refused to eat anything but bloodworms, daphnia & peas.. and a 1/2 algae wafer one day that was meant for his corys.

I hope Storm gets into the mood for eating soon.