hungry hungry hippo! er, betta!

[dubleshortlatte]

I have a 3-4 month old SD betta that I absolutely love...he's in a 5 gal with 4 ghost shrimp and some live plants. I usually feed him about 6-8 pellets, but even after I've distracted him with his own food and let him digest and realize he's got food in his tummy, i put in a flake or two for hte shrimp and he gobbles it up. Most bettas I know spit out flakes right away, but he just keeps on eating......should I increase his food intake or what? 8 pellets seems like a max I'm not willing to surpass...

 

[An t-iasg]

I would say that 6-8 pellets is a lot, unless he's a big betta. I would cut that back to 4-6 pellets a day, especially since he sneaks some flakes. If he's going to continue to eat the flakes, then cut back on the pellets.

You could try to cut a tank divider to fit in the tank - hold it in place to keep the betta away while you give the shrimp its flakes. This may only work if you can get the shrimp to eat right away.

I had a ghost shrimp with a betta once. The betta didn't kill it, but the betta was so extremely curious about the shrimp that he wouldn't leave it alone. I dropped an algae wafer behind the sponge filter for the shrimp, thinking he could eat in peace. The betta squeezed himself back there too! So I know how hard it can be to keep the betta away from the shrimp food. If you can't physically separate them at feeding time, just allow some of the flakes into the betta's food portion and cut back the pellets.

 

[nbirdsong]

I have a Beta in a 10 gallon with 3 Zebra Danios, 2 Ottos, and 3 Ghost shrimp. They all seem to get along fine, mostly ignoring each other. The Beta just eats whatever I drop in. I don't have Beta-specific food, I just drop in regular flakes for everyone.

Has anyone ever had experience with this? feeding a Beta regular fish food? I also have some freeze-dried bloodworms that I drop in on occasion (which the Danios are more than happy to help the Beta eat).

 

[QTOFFER]

On a related topic, bettas are prone to constipation - especially if they overeat. You should feed the betta some partially cooked, shelled, and crushed pea once a week instead of pellets. The peas act as a natural laxative and most bettas I've had seem to like it.

 

[Guest]

you could also buy some sinking food for the shrimp... like sinking tablets or wafers.