I got my plakat betta fish (male), Pluto, a two weeks ago. He lives in a planted 23 L (or 6 gal) tank with a tiger nerite snail and within the first couple of days he'd already started to build a bubble nest, so I'm pretty certain he's in good health. So here's the issue: My spoiled little fishy will only eat food that I give to him from my finger. It's no problem for me to sit down and do this every day - in all honesty, I think it's a fun way to interact with him and it means I'm able to control how much food he eats in a day quite easily. However, I'm worried about getting other people to take care of him, if I go on vacation, both because I don't really want other people sticking their fingers in my fish tanks, but also because I don't think many of my friends and family members would actually want to do it. So does anyone know how I can get Pluto accustomed to eating "floating foods"? Maybe getting some live food? He doesn't seem to care for the flakes I presented to him at first, but I currently feed him dried shrimp and frozen bloodworms and am currently searching the web for some nice pellets, since he doesn't want the flakes. Thanks in advance for the help!
That's very sweet, you are lucky to have such a friendly little guy But yes, that may become a problem longer term. Fast him a day, then feed. If he's hungry, he'll figure it out!!
Interesting! I used to have a fish named pluto (In my profile photo) But he passed away last night... Anyway to help you id suggest some frozen foods and smaller pellets. I have 7 differnt foods for my bettas so feeding is never a issue. For frozen food i suggest brine shrimp and daphnia.
Oh no, I'm sorry about your Pluto! He looks like he was a real cutie though. Thanks for the tip! I actaully have some daphnia in the freezer that I haven't tried with him yet, I'll do that tomorrow. Thank you!
I have spoiled my betta by feeding him with a pipet so he won't eat from the surface either: I soak his food in a bit of tank water and then use the pipet to give it to him, usually I make him chase the pipet to get some exercise first. A pipet might work for you too since people won't have to stick their fingers in your tank. You could also try just soaking his food so it will sink right away instead of floating, this can also help prevent bloating.
Oh, that could probably work! I’ll see if I can get a hold of some pipets right away. Anything that makes my fish keeping feel more science-y is very appealing to me, haha Thanks!
