New betta owner: food and bubble nest questions

So I'm the new owner of a Betta, but it's my first, so I'm not sure about some things.

We've had him for two days now, and although he appears happy, I don't think he has ate anything.
I started him with the Tetra Betta Plus floating pellets. No-go.
Algae wafer. Nuh-uh.
Yesterday I tried Tetra freeze dried bloodworms. Nope.

I'm going to try a pea today, but what would be my best bet to get him to eat? Or should I just leave it alone and figure he'll eat when he is hungry. I don't count the Coke my daughter poured in his tank last night -_-

On the note of seeming happy, I think he has made a bubble nest, or at least there are a bunch of bubbles along one side of his tank. Does that mean he is happy?

Also, is it good or at least okay to put driftwood in his tank?

Here is the big ol' pile of bubbles in question.



And the handsome man himself. Still un-named though :/

 

It's possible he's still settling in. He may also be used to flake food.
I use New Life Spectrum pellets for my boy <3

He may have made a nest, but it seems awfully early for that, especially considering the coke incident. I hope you changed all the water?

Typically they won't make bubblenests if they're unwell, I think.

 

Forget the freeze dried blood worms and get the frozen variety. Just thaw them in a small amount of tank water prior to feeding. A medicine dropper or something similar can be used to feed them. I've never had a non-vegetarian fish refuse frozen blood worms.

Also it should be noted that many fish can easily go a week or more without feeding (on occasion...not as a regular feeding schedule) so it's not the most pressing of issues.

You could also try some guppy fry if you don't mind such things. My bettas used to gobble them up.

 

I'll check out those pellets Eienna. There wasn't much coke put in there, the water in the top pic is with the coke in it. It was most likely a couple drops. I checked the parameters and did a good sized change anyway.

Forget the freeze dried blood worms and get the frozen variety. Just thaw them in a small amount of tank water prior to feeding. A medicine dropper or something similar can be used to feed them. I've never had a non-vegetarian fish refuse frozen blood worms.

Also it should be noted that many fish can easily go a week or more without feeding (on occasion...not as a regular feeding schedule) so it's not the most pressing of issues.

You could also try some guppy fry if you don't mind such things. My bettas used to gobble them up.

I won't be too fussed about his not eating then, since he does act pretty happy. I'll see if I can get some frozen bloodworms from Petco when I drop off my molly for adoption.

I'm not opposed to feeding guppy fry, and I've been seriously wanting some guppies. The guppy I got last week had all his fins rot off in about 24 hrs. I had to put him down before I could even get him back to the pet store. It was heartbreaking, but that is who the Betta replaced. I don't have a QT tank anymore, but I'll probably go ahead and pick up a male and two females when I drop off the molly.

My main 10 gallon tank wouldn't be too overloaded with a platy, a 1 inch crippled and growth stunted molly, 3 guppies, and 2 otos, would it? I have another 10 gallon that I was wanting to set up once my Hunny gets used to the 2 tanks, so temporarily overloading wouldn't be the worst problem

I added pics to the fist post.

 

bettas usually take a couple days to settle in. mine did not eat for the first two to three days and I was a bit worried as well. Once he gets comfortable and hungry he should eat just fine. I have small flakes, ellets and freeze dried bloodworm for variety. I would hold off on the peas
I hope you changed all the water after the coke incident as well.
J

 

bettas usually take a couple days to settle in. mine did not eat for the first two to three days and I was a bit worried as well. Once he gets comfortable and hungry he should eat just fine. I have small flakes, ellets and freeze dried bloodworm for variety. I would hold off on the peas
I hope you changed all the water after the coke incident as well.
J

I will give him a few days to see how he does on the food issue. I changed most of the water, and it was only a tiny bit of coke (my kiddo drank pretty much all of it first, lol). So, the water looks good and reads good. I'm not wanting to make it re-cycle too much, so I'm going to try daily changes of 20% this week.

 

Congrats on the new betta boy!

Changing the water should not make you tank re-cycle, as most of the good bacteria live in your filter media. So be sure not to toss your filter cartridges (or whatever you use) every month like they say to on the box.

 

well I see I am to late. I was going to post that my wife has a betta and most likely could answer some of your questions but I see she has already said something. LOL

 

He's so pretty! I think, after seeing his colors, your daughter wanting to name him Mr. Unicorn Poop makes sense, in a twisted kinda way.

Gorgeous fish!!

 

Looks like you've got some great advice here.

It doesn't appear as though anyone's answered your driftwood question, though. Driftwood will add tannins to your water, which will stain it a slight yellowish brownish, sort of like the weakest tea you can imagine. Bettas love this, some people don't. It's your choice, but it would help, rather than hurt, your fish.

 

He's so pretty! I think, after seeing his colors, your daughter wanting to name him Mr. Unicorn Poop makes sense, in a twisted kinda way.

Gorgeous fish!!

Haha! Thanks. We finally settled on "Mr. Bubbles" .. Sooo, it'll be a lot easier to tell the Grandparents that the kids' new fish's name, lol.

wisecrackerz, Thanks. I do have driftwood in my 10g, so I'm familiar with the water color. I just wanted to make sure it wouldn't be something he could tear is fins on or anything like that. Good to know that they like the water that way!

 

So, the food issues seem to not be an issue anymore.

He ate three of the floaty pellets almost from my hand earlier, and then a little bit ago I used two of the freeze dried blood worms to train him to swim onto his leaf. Now he's happily laying on his leaf for bed

 

Bettas are so much fun, I'm sure you'll love him!

And yes, that is a bubblenest And a pretty big one for a new fish!

Driftwood should be fine. I have 3 pieces in my 10 gallon with a betta. As said above, the water tends to be a yellowish-brown; water changes every 4-5 days or so would likely get rid of it though (I do mine weekly, and the water stays clear for about that long).

 

Thanks dolphinlover, I am loving him to bits. He's REALLY easy to train too. I just took the top off his tank and call him, "Here, fishy, fishy, fish, fish" with my fingers over the water and he knows exactly what is going on how. He actually ate the blood worms straight from my finger while in his brand new leaf hammock! I'm amazed at how much he's watching us, how he'll hang out in different parts of his tank depending on where we're at. He still "talks" to his mermaid friend, lol.

Sadly, I kind of destroyed most of his bubble nest with that 50% water change, but it was super cute watching him up there spit out the bubbles all day long. I hope he get's it all rebuilt soon.

Blowing kisses up to Ash in the great fishy ocean in the sky. I've been telling my kids that the fishies, when they "don't make it" are all swimming in the bigest ocean with Jesus. It helps them deal with it.

 

Thank you

Ash loved to bubblenest- if you're betta's anything like he was, he'll have another built soon enough!

 

Thank you

Ash loved to bubblenest- if you're betta's anything like he was, he'll have another built soon enough!

He did! He built another huge one last night! It's in a slightly different corner, but then sadly the baby knocked the tank lid INTO the tank and wrecked most of it. Poor guy, just can't catch a break. However, he happily ate his breakfast from the baby's fingers. Sooooo cute!

 

You need to be careful if you feed freeze dried bloodworms or things like that. It should be soaked in de-chlorinated water or garlic juice first to prevent it from swelling in his stomach and possibly killing him. I never had any problems not soaking it, but I will now just to be sure. Be careful of over-feeding too. A small amount of food once or twice a day should do it. You can also feed a frozen (and steamed) shelled pea once a week to clean out his digestive system.

 

You need to be careful if you feed freeze dried bloodworms or things like that. It should be soaked in de-chlorinated water or garlic juice first to prevent it from swelling in his stomach and possibly killing him. I never had any problems not soaking it, but I will now just to be sure. Be careful of over-feeding too. A small amount of food once or twice a day should do it. You can also feed a frozen (and steamed) shelled pea once a week to clean out his digestive system.

Thanks, I will. I soaked them in the tank water a bit first, but I'll be sure to do it intentionally. He doesn't seem to eat more than 3-4 pellets at a time. After that he just spits them back out. I'll make sure and keep the feeding to a minimum.

However, I'm noticing the slight cloudyness that I have been battling in that tank since it began may be an algae. I notice it mostly as a light fluff on the cut ends of the bamboo, but a few other places as well. Could that be the stuff that sometimes developes on new driftwood? Should I try putting an otocinclus in there to help clean it? I did scrub it a bit with the sponge and change 50% water, but it is yet again, just as slightly cloudy as before the change. Any suggestions?

 

It is probably just a bacterial bloom. This often occurs in newly set up tanks, and should clear on its own within a few days.

 

It is probably just a bacterial bloom. This often occurs in newly set up tanks, and should clear on its own within a few days.

You know, now that I think about it, the other tank did the same when it was new. This one is maybe two weeks old..? I did start it with filter, substrate, and water from the other tank, but I guess it can do it here as well.

I won't put an oto in there, I'll just keep an eye on it (and let it keep bugging me to death).

 

Otos really should have a group, anyway.

 

Otos really should have a group, anyway.

I've got two living happily in my 10g, I just thought about moving one or both for a week maybe. The water is almost identical between my tanks.

 

They tend to get very nervous alone.

 

It's never a good idea to move fish between tanks just because you're unable to manage a problem in one of them. This causes undue stress to the fish, and doesn't solve your real problem. If you really want to get rid of the fungus, scrub it off yourself, or move the entire piece of drift wood into the tank with the fish you think will eat it. While this might destroy your scape, your scape is never as important as the health of your fish.