Overfeeding My Betta?

I'm extremely new to fishkeeping; I just got my first 2 fish ever; betta fish from petco as sort of an impulse buy since I'm still in the thinking stage of my 75 gallon tank and wanted some aquarium experience before I started that; I got one female, one baby male. I have one set up in a 10 gallon tank by herself. I was thinking of dividing it for the male (baby betta) and the female atleast til he gets bigger, but the divider I got was flimsy and I wouldn't trust it so I returned it and baby boy is staying in his cup with daily water change til I can go back and get him his own tank tomorrow. Also the female loves the 10 gallon all to herself, she is extremely active in there, always swimming all over the tank and with loads of energy checking everything out. Reading some info it seems 3 pellets a feeding or a day (idk...info is all over the place for bettas) is pretty standard for a betta. OR all they can eat in 2 minutes.

I feed her...alot more than 3 pellets a day..I try to see what she'll eat in what I can guess to be 2 minutes, but usually shorter as I don't want to kill her. I feed her around 5 pellets or fruit flies per feeding about twice a day and she'd eat more I'm sure if I let her; she's a voracious eater and the definitely the most active betta I've seen. She dosn't look bloated and I imagine from all the activity she metabolizes it quicker. Is this way too much? Should I limit it more?

 

5 pellets twice a day is a lot. Just feed 2-3 pellets twice a day. Bettas will eat everything when given the chance and they won't stop if you let it happen. Overfeeding can lead to her getting fat, constipated, or get swim bladder disorder. A good rule to follow is to feed as big as her eye because that's about how big a bettas stomach is. It's better to under feed than overfeed.

 

Okay so a betta's stomach is about the size of it's eye. You should be feeding no more than that volume once a day for the adult (every other day is even better). The baby you can be a little more generous with as he's growing.

With my Bettas I feed New Life Spectrum Betta food (2 pellets each for the adults, 4 for the baby) 3-4 days a week, blanched pea or veggie floating pellets 1 day a week, frozen daphnia, mysis or baby brine shrimp the day before water change (again, only a few for my adult while I reserve more for the baby and for my other grow outs) and I fast them the day of water change (and often one other day a week when I'm busy).

Now, all my bettas have tank mates who pick up the litter and/or who also have food going into the tank (fluval bug bites and/or cobalt algae grazer wafers being the most common) so they do pick at that too but the above is what I feed specifically for the betta.

 

Thanks you guys, I'll cut it down to 3. What tank mates do you have Small Tanks? Any that would suit 10 gallon tanks? The ph of my tap water is quite high btw; about 8.1 so something that can adapt to that as well.

 

Just going to say either way female and males can not go together in a divided tank. Males release a hormone that can make the female go egg bound. If you do divide it you need to do male and male or female and female.

 

Ok yeah thanks, I read that somewhere..I was just going to do it til he got a bit bigger but just don't trust tank dividers anymore from that little test run so no worries.

 

Thanks you guys, I'll cut it down to 3. What tank mates do you have Small Tanks? Any that would suit 10 gallon tanks? The ph of my tap water is quite high btw; about 8.1 so something that can adapt to that as well.

The potential tank mates you can consider are: Cory catfish, harlequin rasboras, nerite snails, maaaybe shrimp(ultimately depends on the bettas demeanor). Be careful not to overstock your tank. 10 gallons give a fair amount of flexibility with fish selection, but you need to be mindful of how many fish are in there.

For perspective, I have a 10 gallon with one male Betta, 5 false juliI corys, 6 harlequin rasbora, and 2 nerite snails. They all live pretty happily together and no toes get stepped on(so to speak).

 

Ok thanks I'm considering adding a couple small creatures...only thing is through the containers the bettas were both flaring up to eachother and I keep the cup with the baby betta close to the 10 gallon female's tank til he gets his...when I had it right next to it she'd swim up to the cup flare up and lunge at it. He's very tiny and flares just the same...is this a bad sign for adding company?

 

Ok thanks I'm considering adding a couple small creatures...only thing is through the containers the bettas were both flaring up to eachother and I keep the cup with the baby betta close to the 10 gallon female's tank til he gets his...when I had it right next to it she'd swim up to the cup flare up and lunge at it. He's very tiny and flares just the same...is this a bad sign for adding company?

Not necessarily. Bettas do not make good company for each other, but they may do just fine with other fish. The only way to know for sure is trial and error. I recommend adding one or two of your creatures of choice and observe the behavior of the betta. Your betta may do fine with non betta company, but be prepared for the possible dead fish in your tank due to an aggressive betta.

Keep us posted and good luck!

 

I feed my betta’s 3 pellets and a dried bloodworm twice a day and they are thriving! For tankmates: corydoras, harlequin rasboras, snails, SOMETIMES Endlers will work, and sometimes shrimp will work. Flaring is normal for a betta to do when introducing to someone new it just means they are alert, angry, or threatened. The typical store divider’s are flimsy and not trust-worthy if you ever need a divider get this one: 10 gallon tank dividers. Ideal for Betta fish

 

Thanks Oden well not sure if I even want to try out tank mates for the bettas, think I'd feel bad to have some fish attacked and killed, when I don't have a good feeling about pairing them up to begin with but we'll see...I have a larger tank to play with for that I'm planning on being only peaceful species. So oh well on betta companions for now.

FishFor2018 Thanks so much for that link! Those are a really good price too

I just thought it was weird how she was flaring and lunging at a miniscule betta fry in a cup...you'd think she wouldn't be able to identify him as a male betta or lunge at such a tiny fish like that, but I guess I underestimated their senses or their aggression towards their own kind

 

5 pellets twice a day is a lot. Just feed 2-3 pellets twice a day. Bettas will eat everything when given the chance and they won't stop if you let it happen. Overfeeding can lead to her getting fat, constipated, or get swim bladder disorder. A good rule to follow is to feed as big as her eye because that's about how big a bettas stomach is. It's better to under feed than overfeed.

I agree

 

Thanks Oden well not sure if I even want to try out tank mates for the bettas, think I'd feel bad to have some fish attacked and killed, when I don't have a good feeling about pairing them up to begin with but we'll see...I have a larger tank to play with for that I'm planning on being only peaceful species. So oh well on betta companions for now.

FishFor2018 Thanks so much for that link! Those are a really good price too

I just thought it was weird how she was flaring and lunging at a miniscule betta fry in a cup...you'd think she wouldn't be able to identify him as a male betta or lunge at such a tiny fish like that, but I guess I underestimated their senses or their aggression towards their own kind

My bettas (2 females in a 50 gal community, 1 male in a 10 gal w/guppies & snails) always flare at new fish/critters for a few days when first introduced. Once they realize the other fish aren't interested in a fight, they stop acting like punks and are perfectly peaceful. I think they just consider themselves the rulers of their domain.

I wouldn't say no to friends altogether, it's definitely doable! Just get small, peaceful fish that don't have long fins that would entice the betta to nip. My male has had varying roommates for the year I've had him, and he's never hurt anybody, just given them the stink eye for a week or so until they accepted him as their king.

 

I couldn't agree more with PatientStars. You should give your betta a chance otherwise you might be missing out on a wonderful tank environment.

 

Depends on the size of the pellets and the size of the fish. I've started feeding mine more since watching this vid:

I feed mine up to ten 0.5mm pellets a day or about 6 1mm pellets, or a few 2mm pellets if they will take them. I also feed live daphnia that I culture myself and frozen bloodworm. One of my bettas will eat flake so he gets some of that. They quite like the sinking catfish pellets but I only give that to the fish who are motivated enough to chase it when it starts to sink.

 

Hmmm..that sounds pretty cute; I am just a bit worried...I'll look into the species more in the future.

I couldn't agree more with PatientStars. You should give your betta a chance otherwise you might be missing out on a wonderful tank environment.

Do they actually enjoy company?...seems like stuff I read seems to say bettas are more solitary animals and if you add tank mates it's for you not for them?..I of course would like the fish to be not stressed whether that's alone or with tankmates, not sure which one they'd prefer...she seems very happy in her tank atm, super active and curious also very calm at the same time; comes right up to my hands or whatever I'm working with during water changes and shifting things around and is very excited about food...will be adding some plant friends soon lol Baby is going into his tank today btw.

...I just got the aqueon betta food because that's what they sold at the store and cultured fruit flies...not sure in mm...I tried to get them to eat norI but baby was not into the taste I guess and female will eat a bite and mostly just rip it apart.

Thanks for that video techfool; that seems more in line with what I want to do for feeding, I had a feeling the issues caused by overfeeding were mostly due to poor diet or not the best tank conditions (especially from uneaten food and waste); fish have abundance to eat in the wild.. I'll get some more food variety and start feeding like this..heheh. I'm just going to make sure I limit the pellets to 2-3 a feeding either way because I think that may be the actual issue overfeeding problems...just a guess though.

 

I think having peaceful tank mates provides more stimulation. Vincent, my male, was first partnered with a Japanese trapdoor snail. After a few nips at his antenna to see what he was, Vincent was satisfied that his new buddy was cool. The two of them eventually got upgraded to a bigger tank, where they got 4 neon tetras, and a handful of mystery snails, to complete their little community. He didn't look twice at the new snails, and only flared at the neons for a day. After that, it wasn't unusual to see him resting on top of one of the snails, or even swimming along next to the tetras.

My female, Rudy, was by herself and always going crazy. She almost seemed frantic. I moved her to the community tank to see what she'd do, and after a few days of flaring at any fish that came near, she is now the calmest and most curious she's ever been. I rarely see her still, she's always exploring decorations or following one of the other fish around for a while before going back to her favorite caves to explore again. She is much more of a bully than Vincent ever was, but she accepted friends faster than I thought she would!

The fish I have successfully paired with bettas, some of which are currently in the community tank, include:

Panda corys
Bn plecos
Ottos
Mystery snails
Rabbit snails
Japanese trapdoor snails
Nerite snails
Furcata rainbowfish
Harlequin rasboras
Neon tetras
Guppies
Neon gold gobies

Honestly, give it a shot. Each betta is different, so you'll know if it isn't working. I think that as long as they have enough room to get away when they want, having some peaceful tank mates is beneficial.

 

Ok thanks ...well I'll do this...when I stock my 75 gallon in a month or two I'll get some extras for the betta tanks and see how they do if there's any issues I'll just put them in the 75.

 

Ok thanks ...well I'll do this...when I stock my 75 gallon in a month or two I'll get some extras for the betta tanks and see how they do if there's any issues I'll just put them in the 75.

Sounds like a good plan.