Betta eating too much in community tank

[laurieb]

Hi folks!
I have a male crowntail betta in a community tank w/neons, guppies and cory cats. Everyone gets along great except Frank the betta is a hog and is eating too much food. He especially likes the shrimp pellets that I give the catfish. He's getting bloated and I am concerned. He doesn't have any swimming or floating issues or anything but his belly is bigger than it should be and I don't want him to suffer any ill effects from over eating.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do? I started to feed the catfish their pellets after lights out and that helps a little.
I'm feeding flakes, frozen brine shrimp as treats (not every day) and the shrimp pellets for the cories 2x a day.
I've thought of moving him to his own tank but he's happy where he is and I don't really want to move him other than a last resort.
Thanks!

 

[egrape]

hey there! unfortunately that is a big problem with keeping bettas in a community tank. they do make such a pretty addition though! the feeding with lights off is definitely a good idea, although what I had to do was actually physically catch the betta and prop the net in place off to the side to separate him during feeding time. it's a pain, but chronic overfeeding will cause a lot of damage to the betta over time. when he does get bloated, feed him shelled peas as a laxative. they work miracles.

 

[DragonGirl]

Maybe try separating him during feeding? Like a breeding box or something

 

[FoxRaid]

My betta was like this as well and how I went about feeding the smaller fish was I would crunch up their flake food stuff it in a straw by the smaller fish and let it fall out for them. The betta was a bit nervy to even go near the straw when I fed them. And my tetras and glofish recognized the straw during feeding time so they would go up to it right when the food dropped out. You could try feeding frozen brine shrimp as well for your catfish if they aren't getting much to eat. It can scatter and sink in the water so it gets pretty much everywhere for all of them to eat. Plus it's a tasty treat.

 

[FoxRaid]

Ah just noticed what you said about the brine shrimp haha ignore what I said about that topic before.

 

[laurieb]

Thanks for the ideas, guys! I think I'll try the straw method first since I think it will be hard to catch the betta with all the plants in the tank.