NIGEL ARRIVED!!!!!

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swanandmokashi

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Apr 30, 2004
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Location
Cary NC USA
So finally my 3 Gal tank has been (fishless) cycled !! WOHOOO!
Ammonia 0 , Nitrite 0 AND Nitrate around 20 !

So yesterday marked the arrival of my new prized possesion , NIGEL , the male tourquise betta !! I am so excited. He seems comfortable in his new home so far

I have got the Hikari gold pellets and freeze dried blood worms for him.

How much and how often do I need to feed him . He is about 2-3 inches.

I gave him 3 pellets yesterday and I can't see them anymore in the tank .Also gave him 1 bloodworm , he has not touched it yet. I know bettas take some time to adjust to new environment and food , but just making sure everything is fine !
 
Hi swanandmokashi,
Congrats on the new betta! :D (and congrats on a successful fishless cycle!)

I feed my bettas the Hikari freeze-dried bloodworms and the daphnia, and also the Hikari Gold pellets. You're right that the bettas may take some time to get used to their new home, and begin eating. One of my bettas didn't eat for 6 days when he was new.

This is my feeding schedule:

Hikari pellets on M-W-F mornings (3 for the smaller betta and 4 for the larger one), OR Marineland Bio-Blend Betta pellets (same number of pellets as the Hikari.)

Hikari bloodworms on T-Th-Sat -- about 6 pieces for each betta; if it's a very big bloodworm, I cut it in half with my fingernail and count it as 2 pieces.

Hikari daphnia on M-W-F evenings (2 or 3 per betta) The daphnia are very small and not easy to pick up; they're more like a powder. I try my best to get a fairly substantial piece.

I also skip feedings on Sunday, and on Mondays, I skip the usual Monday feeding about every two weeks, and feed a pea. The pea is the only thing they get for 24 hours. Then I would resume their schedule on Tuesdays.

My bettas are picky (or maybe I spoiled them :) ) I get some tank water in a plastic cup and soak the Hikari and Marineland pellets for a minute or two. They don't spit it out that way. I use a plastic spoon to feed the pellets. The bettas know the spoon by now, and come right up to it!

I also supplement with live brine shrimp or blackworms every few months, when I happen to be near the hatchery that I got the bettas from. Brine shrimp is not very nutritious and should be given just as a treat, not more than once every week or two. But they do enjoy the live food.

You must post pics! :) A turquoise betta sounds beautiful (and 3 inches sounds like a pretty big guy!)
 
LOL, it does seem like they eat a lot! But not really...those daphnia are so small that the bettas sometimes don't see the smaller pieces. That's another reason I use the plastic spoon. The bettas know the spoon means food, so they are more likely to look for the food, and it doesn't float away. The bloodworm pieces are small, or I break them to make them small. The bloodworm pieces are not much bigger than the Hikai pellet. The bettas don't get an evening feeding on T-Th-Sat-Sun.

I've read that the size of a betta's stomach is about the size of their eye. Sometimes that helps, and sometimes it doesn't -- following this rule, it would seem like only one pellet would be all they should get. Three or four pellets is usually what the food label instructions say, and that seems just about right. I guess the "eye" rule is good to keep in mind so you remember that their stomach is small. I look at their stomach to see how big it looks as I feed. I may decide to cut the number of pellets or bloodworms if their stomach looks too big, or sometimes I will give another small daphnia at night if their stomach looks flat. I don't increase the number of pellets given -- that would be too much.

Here are some pics to judge the roundness of their stomach.
http://www.bettatalk.com/food.htm

In time you'll learn to judge for yourself how much food to give, and how much each betta can eat before it's too much. My two bettas eat somewhat differently, and I've learned to adjust the food to their needs instead of just tossing in the same amount of food for each one. Hope this makes sense and helps!
 
useful article ! BTW Nigel started eating yesterday ! :) he is eating the 3 pellets I feed him , I can't see the bloodworm I dropped in yesterday either !

Very very nice , my wife and me are already in love with him :p
 
An t-iasg said:
Yay! :D

It's very easy to fall in love with a betta, as you're finding out! It sounds like he has a great home!

Thanks for all your help ! Would have been impossible without this forum.
Many thanks from me and Nigel :)
 
Also how much light do bettas need, I don't have any live plants in there. How many hours should I keep my light on .I have observed that Nigel is very active when the light is on. So when I left home today for work I put on a light in the room where the tank is, and turned the tank light off. Don't want to raise hte temperature of the tank by having the light on for a long time.

Please advice
 
Bettas don't need that much light. They prefer somewhat dimmer light, from what I've read. My tanks don't have built-in lights. They are right under my kitchen cabinets, and halogen lights are mounted under the cabinets, right over the tanks. I only turn these under-cabinet lights on for feeding, if I want to watch the bettas, or if I take a picture. I made the mistake of letting these lights on too long, and I had a horrible cyano bloom. The room light is more than enough for the bettas, and I have some java moss in the tanks. I would estimate that the halogen lights are only on for about 15 minutes a day.

I would say that what you're doing is good -- just let the room light be the main light, and turn the tank light on for feeding (if necessary to make it easier to see the tiny pellets) or viewing. From what I remember of my Eclipse 3 tank, the light was kind of hot when left on for long periods.
 
An t-iasg said:
awww...thank you very much! I hope Nigel has a long and happy life with you!
He already started recognising me and his feeding time ..As sson as he sees me open the top of the aquarium, he rushes to the top and hungrily finishes his chow and then looks at me and goes to the top again , as if demanding more :)
 
:) Bettas are irresistable, and it's always fun to discover their personality! See if you can get him to follow your finger. Drop a pellet a little bit away, and get his attention with your finger. Move your finger to the food, and see if he'll follow your finger to the food.

My one betta, Benny, is a sweetie, and the other one, Kenny, is nuts! He sees his reflection in the heater or thermometer and flies all over the tank, flaring for 5 minutes, before he settles down!
 
An t-iasg said:
He sees his reflection in the heater or thermometer and flies all over the tank, flaring for 5 minutes, before he settles down!
Nigel does that too ,,he sees his reflection in the aquarium wall and wants to attack "himself" :):)
Why oh why did I never have a betta before ??!? :roll:
 
I don't quite understand it either! Kenny (the "psycho" betta) will see himself, flare, swim around real fast, stop, flare...repeat for about 5 minutes. He frayed his tail a bit the last time (bad fishy :evil: ) I've had him since January. You'd think he would be used to things by now!

Why oh why did I never have a betta before ??!?

Well, now that you have one...Nigel has you wrapped around his little fin...resistance is futile! :lol:

P.S. I saw a 1999 (or close) black Eclipse today. Sharp car!!
 
An t-iasg said:
Well, now that you have one...Nigel has you wrapped around his little fin...resistance is futile! :lol:

Hehehe ..yes he has ...And now he is showing how smartass he is ! I "fasted" him on Saturday and gave him just half a pea on Sunday. He looked at the pea and laughed at me :) he won't eat it , so finally i fed him 3 pellets Sunday evening thinking it was sometime since he had his last meal. He ate the 3 pellets and then went ahead and ate the pea later on too !! :twisted:
I added some java moss for him too and he is so curious that all weekend long he was poking at the moss to see what it is and how it is :) .the java moss is not looking very good right now to human eye, as it is just a clump sitting on a rock , but he seems to love it :)

An t-iasg said:
P.S. I saw a 1999 (or close) black Eclipse today. Sharp car!!
geez , thanks ! I have it for almost 5 years now and can't get enough of it :) and now that is summer time, its time to wax the baby :)
 
When I added java moss, one betta (Benny) kept nipping at it, but he doesn't do that now. He still sits on the gravel a lot (which I'd rather he didn't do, because his one fin is a little frayed from doing that). The other betta (Kenny) guards his java moss like a pit bull! :lol: I'll post some pics in a few days of them in their java moss "hammocks". I have to run them thru Photoshop first. I will admit also that at first, I didn't like the looks of the moss, and also it had an odor to it when it was new, but the bettas like it so much, so it will stay.

I've had my new Eclipse for 6 weeks now and haven't washed it yet :oops: I have to; there's pollen all over it! I got some of that NuFinish in the orange bottle.

swanandmokashi said:
I have it for almost 5 years now and can't get enough of it

The Eclipse that I traded for this new one was a 1992! 8O I loved that car too. I plan on keeping this one for a long time too! My husband's Mitsubishi Mirage had a little over 200,000 miles when he traded it for a Galant. Mitsu's are great cars!
 
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