Is it just me? betta question

[Gingimaru]

Hi all,

when i initially got my betta i had already done plenty of research. most places say bettas are picky eaters and may only eat certain food.
my betta will eat anything and i mean anything. flakes, pellets, bloodworm, shrimp, even algae wafers and cucumber. now i'm only really asking this question to get an idea of peoples experiences as i'm now having trouble feeding my snail (and soon to be added shrimp, or i assume i will have an issue). whenever i put an algae wafer in or a blanched cucumber in the betta fish wants it. even if we've fed him a few flakes and bloodworm or a few pellets or any combination of the 3 he will go for the food the snail has. last night in fact he attacked the snail a little to get the snail off the cucumber it was eating and the betta then preceded to claim that area of the tank as such and eat some of the cucumber.

has anyone else has similar problems? and how did you stop it?

i realise that yes the snail (and shrimp) dont necessarily need food in the tank in the form of algae wafers or cucumber, they are just a suppliment. however with this being a "new" tank (been set up for well over a month now probably 2) its not exactly covered in algae so i want to make sure they inverts are getting what they need

 

[LyndaB]

If you drop in some finely crushed algae wafer/flakes, the snail should be able to feed at its leisure. You could also try dropping in snail specific food after lights out or set up a spot in the tank that the betta cannot fit into and place the food there.

Personally, I don't feed snail specific foods and my snails are all fat and happy.

What kind of shrimp are you planning on getting? Depending on size, they may become betta food.

 

[Gingimaru]

thats what my thought was (about the shrimp) they should be cherry shrimp and no bigger than maybe 2-3cm. so they may end up as food for the betta however i'm hoping that once i have some more plants in to break up the tanks lines of sight a little the shrimp should be able to hide away from him if needs be. for example i'm getting a lot more easy to keep live plants like java and anubis as well as some driftwood. we are no longer keeping resin decorations in the tank as we were a bit uncertain as to wether it was the decorations that tore the betta's fins (discussed in another thread)

hmmm might be a case of dropping food in at night for him as even crushed up food the betta will find and eat or at least find and move till he gets bored. and i wouldnt be able to make an area the betta wont be able to get to as the snail is bigger than the betta haha so that wont work unfortunately so it may end up just letting the snail roam free as such and getting what he can from around the tank (which should do him just fine)

i will be trying to make a little area that only the shrimp can get to as i know when they mault they need somewhere to hide away from eveything.

 

[LyndaB]

You would have to have either a densely planted tank or a heavily decorated tank for the RCS to survive with just about any fish, including a betta.

Good luck with that.

 

[Gingimaru]

thanks for the sarcasm....

well i'm getting the shrimp from a friend who has a (he doesnt know the exact type of fish) red tipped shark. and he says that the shrimp are fast enough to get away from his shark, sure they can get away from a slow swimmimg betta

 

[VioletEmber]

thanks for the sarcasm....

well i'm getting the shrimp from a friend who has a (he doesnt know the exact type of fish) red tipped shark. and he says that the shrimp are fast enough to get away from his shark, sure they can get away from a slow swimmimg betta

Hee hee- yes, but bettas can stalk really well. They just slowly get in really close and then wamgulp! I have to say it's fun to watch. But with enough hiding spots, I bet some will survive!

 

[siva]

Hi all,

when i initially got my betta i had already done plenty of research. most places say bettas are picky eaters and may only eat certain food.
my betta will eat anything and i mean anything. flakes, pellets, bloodworm, shrimp, even algae wafers and cucumber. now i'm only really asking this question to get an idea of peoples experiences as i'm now having trouble feeding my snail (and soon to be added shrimp, or i assume i will have an issue). whenever i put an algae wafer in or a blanched cucumber in the betta fish wants it. even if we've fed him a few flakes and bloodworm or a few pellets or any combination of the 3 he will go for the food the snail has. last night in fact he attacked the snail a little to get the snail off the cucumber it was eating and the betta then preceded to claim that area of the tank as such and eat some of the cucumber.

has anyone else has similar problems? and how did you stop it?

i realise that yes the snail (and shrimp) dont necessarily need food in the tank in the form of algae wafers or cucumber, they are just a suppliment. however with this being a "new" tank (been set up for well over a month now probably 2) its not exactly covered in algae so i want to make sure they inverts are getting what they need

I think the snail does in fact need supplements. A full grown apple snail has a large appetite. The first time I ever owned them, I did not supplement them and lost many of them, to what I believe was starvation. It sounds to me like the betta and snail are probably not going to be compatible. With apple snails in community tanks I have often taken the snail and put them directly on the supplement so they can get to it before anyone else. In this case your betta persists once the snail is already trying to eat it, so I don't think the combo is going to work in your tank in the long term.

I recommend feeding your betta only high quality betta pellets such as NLS and Hikari, and live or frozen foods, with a few pellet sized pieces of blanched pea about once a week. Bettas are very prone to swim bladder disease, bloat, and dropsy, and IME these are easier to avoid with a strict diet.

 

[Gingimaru]

we cant get hikari stuff around here unfortunately so we make do with what we can, hence having pellets, flakes and frozen blood worm. its the best diet we can provide.

i'm hoping once i break up the lines of sight in the tank a little more the betta will be a little more friendly with the snail and shrimp. if in the end it doesnt work, it doesnt work, and the shrimp will end up a nice meal for the betta

 

[shellyx]

Hi regarding your snail, I have one in my community tank which also holds a male betta. My snail use to have too fight for her food till I bought 2 vegi clips which I place at different ends of the tank so it gives her more chance to eat, also drop food in for her when the lights are out the snail will find it. Mines learned to come out of the water at the top of the tank to get fed which is much easier for her!

 

[Gingimaru]

thank you for that may have to take that approach of putting 2 bits of cucumber in or putting food in at night.

i know the betta may eat the shrimp but if it happens it happens, but hopefully not

 

[shellyx]

No problem, hopefully the shrimp will be fine just put lots of plants & hiding places in for them. Hopefully the betta won't eat them!