My sister has a female crowntail betta and it is in a 1/2 gallon tank with marbles and a artificial plant. When she bought it it was tiny. Now it's gotten bigger but it's belly is huge! When we got her it was normal (we couldn't tell real good because she was tiny). So is she pregnant or what? My sister overfeeds her so she's fat but it looks like her stomachs going to explode! She feeds it 8 pellets in the morning and 8 at night which everyone tells her is too much. She goes to her friends house often and we don't feed it when she's gone so she can digest all those pellets if it eats them all! So is it from being overfed and being fat or pregnant? It doesn't look natural like it's just fat because it's skinny but it's belly is an unnatural size. Thanks and we've had her for I think like 3 weeks.
Please answer strange fish
- Thread starter MarkA123
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LostLoach
Aquarium Advice Activist
yes this is overfeeding!! nothing els i highly recommend decreasing that and having a talk to your sister because the fish will die very soon if she keeps that up..i feed mine 1 pellet a day and iv had it for 1 1/2 years
LostLoach
Aquarium Advice Activist
yah thats actually where her stomach is
I've tried talking to her telling her fish don't have taste buds or whatever tells them when to stop eating they just eat everything they see as food. She won't stop my mom said she isn't getting another fish if she can't feed it like 4 pellets per day. I feed mine 1 flake and 1 pellet twice a day every other day. She says it was born fat it's not the food! Lol! And I just researched it found out they lay eggs not get pregnant. Thanks I'll try to convince her to stop.
adeebm
Aquarium Advice FINatic
If it's stomach looks like it's gonna explode, it could be bloated and that can be very serious. I would feed no more than 2-3 small pellets a day. If the betta gets constipated it can die. Someone dumped food in my betta tank once and it got constipated for a week. It's pretty serious. In the wild, bettas are opportunistic, meaning they will eat as much as they can because they don't know when their next meal will be. So they will stuff or even kill themselves from overeating. Btw, 1/2 gallon is waaay to small for a betta. They need ATLEAST 2 gallons, preferably more. She may not last much longer in those conditions.
--Adeeb
--Adeeb
DragonFish71
Great white snark
Not to mention that pellets and freeze dried foods should be soaked to soften up before feeding. This will also cause bloating.
As will constipation. Obviously the fish is being over feed, so it might be having issues trying to poop out all the food. A boiled, cooled, de-shelled and cut into tiny pieces of green pea can help with that.
Personally, I would take away the fish until your sister can learn proper care for it. She isn't just over feeding, she's grossly over feeding.
As will constipation. Obviously the fish is being over feed, so it might be having issues trying to poop out all the food. A boiled, cooled, de-shelled and cut into tiny pieces of green pea can help with that.
Personally, I would take away the fish until your sister can learn proper care for it. She isn't just over feeding, she's grossly over feeding.
She used to have 2 gallon glass bowl with rocks and live plants and a heater and filter but my sister said she doesnt like glass she likes plastic so she went and got something called a betta bowl kit that has marbles and a artificial plant saying the other tank was too big and 1/2 gallons is the perfect size! Lol the people at petco told her it would do fine in that kit but I told her yes it's true it would survive but not be happy she disagreed. I'm trying to get her to put in in my tank or put it in it's 2 gal in someone elses room besides hers. Oh and also is it possible for a 1/2 gallon bowl with marbles to cycle??? Because she takes all the decor put and soaks it in hott water and takes it all apart. I was wondering if this is good or bad because it's such a small bowl?
Aquarium1
Aquarium Advice Addict
Doing that would kill all the bacteria which means the betta could be suffering ammonia poisoning for weeks after every time she does it. And 1/2g is not the perfect size, it's too small a size. I don't see how you could have too big a tank unless you didn't have the room which I'm doubting. The bigger the better. Can you try to get her to give 2 pellets twice a day? That would still be 4 pellets but just spread out so it can digest them. Also good advice given above 
I talked to my mom and my mom now has the food in her room and my sister is allowed to feed 1 pellet twice a day. I'm working on trying to get it back in the 2 gal heated filtered tank. And her to stop taking It all apart and soaking it in hot water. And no it was not the space she just says it was too big for a betta they like smaller tanks. And they don't like anything in them like heater filter etc. And my mom soaks the pellets before so her diet is better.
Aquarium1
Aquarium Advice Addict
Lol why would something like to be cramped up in a small dirty container with a fluctuating temperature? It would probably be impossible to talk her into putting it into a 10g tank haha, although that would probably be the best tank size for him. All fish, including bettas, need room to swim.
Lol my female veiltail betta is in a 28 gallon heated and filtered aquarium and she's always trying get me to put it in a 1/2 gallon tank she says shell buy me!
dkpate
Aquarium Advice Addict
Bettas stomachs are only as big as their eye, and when you soak a pellet, you will see that they get WAYYY bigger than it's eye. Imagine how you feel when you eat too much, not so good.
If she insists on keeping it in that 1/2 gallon dish, she needs to change 50% of the water every single day. Not only is the betta sick from overeating, but also ammonia burns. Ask her if she would like to live in a closet, it's about the same.
Not having a heated tank (tank is not 78-82*) will cause fin rot on bettas.
I am glad your mom took the food away! I have 4 heathly bettas, and they get fed 3 pellets, twice a day 4 days a week, and 3 pellets once a day, two days a week. I feed boiled, shelled peas and 3 frozen bloodworms once a week, peas as a laxative, and the bloodworms as a treat.
If she insists on keeping it in that 1/2 gallon dish, she needs to change 50% of the water every single day. Not only is the betta sick from overeating, but also ammonia burns. Ask her if she would like to live in a closet, it's about the same.
Not having a heated tank (tank is not 78-82*) will cause fin rot on bettas.
I am glad your mom took the food away! I have 4 heathly bettas, and they get fed 3 pellets, twice a day 4 days a week, and 3 pellets once a day, two days a week. I feed boiled, shelled peas and 3 frozen bloodworms once a week, peas as a laxative, and the bloodworms as a treat.
Ok so what were you saying about the fin rot and the temperature? Wha is there preferred temputure I was told 76 is this correct my tank is on a steady 75.9. It goes from 70-86 what should I put mine on?
Bettas stomachs are only as big as their eye, and when you soak a pellet, you will see that they get WAYYY bigger than it's eye. Imagine how you feel when you eat too much, not so good.
If she insists on keeping it in that 1/2 gallon dish, she needs to change 50% of the water every single day. Not only is the betta sick from overeating, but also ammonia burns. Ask her if she would like to live in a closet, it's about the same.
Not having a heated tank (tank is not 78-82*) will cause fin rot on bettas.
I am glad your mom took the food away! I have 4 heathly bettas, and they get fed 3 pellets, twice a day 4 days a week, and 3 pellets once a day, two days a week. I feed boiled, shelled peas and 3 frozen bloodworms once a week, peas as a laxative, and the bloodworms as a treat.
dkpate
Aquarium Advice Addict
I keep all mine at 80*.
Ok I changed mine from 76 to 78 because I got some albino Cory catfish and that's what the aquatic specialist suggested just around the range of 76-80 would be fine.
I keep all mine at 80*.
dkpate
Aquarium Advice Addict
Sounds good.
Has your sister started listening to you yet?
Has your sister started listening to you yet?
No lol but my parents have they're making her put it bam in the heated 2 gal and only feed it 2 pellets every other day. They still think that 100 percent water changes are better than partial though.
Sounds good.
Has your sister started listening to you yet?
musicman
Aquarium Advice Activist
The heated tank should speed up the betta's metabolism. Hopefully a water temperature closer a natural setting ~80F can help reverse the harm caused by the overfeeding. I breed bettas, and at room temperature 68 - 72F my bettas need about 2/3 of the food they would need at 80F.
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maxima423
Aquarium Advice Addict
how old is your sister??? she should not be taking care of that betta at ALL
