Betta Vomit?

[Mayonnaise]

I was holding a mirror up to my betta... it was recomended by a member here as a way to aleviate bordome... and he did hs little flare thing... but... then he darted to the other side of the tank, and I wasn't watching so I asume it came out of his mouth, as I don't see any hole on him ayplace else big enough for it... he expelled a red mass about the size of a grain of rice... I fished it out with a net, and it shrunk, I guess it just looked bigger in the water, and it looks to me to be partial digested betamin flake food, which I fed him about 3 hours ago. It's his regular breakfast food... he's never had trouble with it before... in the few weeks I've had him, I took away the mirror and he's acting the same as always... but it disturbed me...

Are Betta supposed to Vomit?

8^S

 

[Menagerie]

Wow, I never heard of that one before!
My fish spit out there food all the time, but usually during feeding. Hopefully a betta expert can enlighten us.

 

[fish_doc]

Could it have been stirred up from the bottom of the tank?

 

[Mayonnaise]

No. I have Gravel in the bottom of the tank... and I was looking below him... that's why I didn't see where it came from.

He's acting all normaly... so I dunno what's going on... I'm not sure if I should feed him tonight if he's got a stomach upset though...

8^S

 

[Menagerie]

My guess is your betta is fine. Since you don't know for sure if it was an uneaten piece of food from the bottom of the tank, or from the betta, go ahead and feed him a little bit. If you have peas available, cook it in the microwave for a few seconds, peel it and give him half. If there is a gastrointestinal problem, the pea will help.

 

[sofia]

I doubt that came from your betta. Probably something just floating in the tank that you didn't notice before.

 

[krap101]

i think they do this to break up their food.

 

[Christmasfish]

Actually it may have been a piece of food caught in the gill frill...this can happen to greedy eaters.
If a betta eats too fast, sometimes a speck will wash straight through his gills. And once the piece reaches that point, it starts to swell and stick. ^_^
It is not common , but I have seen a few betta do it.... 2 here do.

 

[An t-iasg]

If a betta eats too fast, sometimes a speck will wash straight through his gills.

I've seen bettas eat worms (red ones that curl into a ball...tubifex??) so fast that one end of the worm was poking thru the gills! 8O The worm stayed like that for about 10 minutes, then broke free. The betta ate it again, and this time it went down all the way! Wonder if that hurt!!

These weren't my bettas, but the ones in the hatchery. So the betta "vomit" could have been something just breaking free from the gills.

 

[Mayonnaise]

Thanks!!! He s a fast eater, and he was flaring his gills at the time... so it does seem like that's a verry viable possiblity.

8^)

 

[CiRXSi]

I've seen that happen with one of mine before. It was the same circumstance too. He was recently fed (a couple hours before) and he got all worked up about something (I don't remember what it was), and that exact same thing happened. He'll be fine.