Hey guys. I spoil my Betta outrageously. I may have gone too far.
I always catch a few mosquito larvae to feed to him when I can, but this time I caught far more than I realised. Now he has gorged on them all, at least 15 or something, without stopping. I started catching some out with the net, but he is too used to me and kept on eating them. Now he is so fat he looks pregnant. He is still swimming around and being active and everything, but I am worried, because worrying about my fish is what I do best . I saved him from a pet store, where he had jumped into the 'test tube' next door and proceeded to fight with his neighbour. He had no tail and fin rot when I brought him home, but his tail is growing back so quickly it is amazing.
What should I do? Fast him for a couple of days? Normally he gets around eight pellets per day, usually being fed twice, but lots of little feeds of 1-2 pellets if I am home studying.
In case you are wondering, I keep him in a heated 20-something liter tank with a 200l/hr filter, lots of plants and a couple of ornaments. He normally eats high-quality wardley betta pellets, and mosquito larvae are only a supplement/treat depending on how available they are. I also rinse my mosquito larvae really well before feeding.
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Thanks guys.
Fast him for a day because that is actually necessary for that to be done every once a week so the fish can digest its food. Although at least cut his food amount to be 6-7 pellets twice a day because their stomachs are the size of an eyeball. It's a good thing you have a 20 gallon tank but you didn't have to go that high. A 5 gallon tank would have been pretty good with a few decorations. Mosquito larvae really shouldn't be fed to your betta that much because it's just meant to be a treat. Brine shrimp would be a better option so you can vary your betta's diet instead of mosquito larvae. Your betta will be fine ... no worries just as long you don 't overfeed it again.
It wasn't great to feed him that much at once, but he should be just fine. with a few days of fasting.
Fish don't actually eat till they burst. They eat till they are full, and a maybe a little more. The problem is when they over stuff themselves with dry pellets or flakes. Because that stuff starts to expand in their stomach, and then they really can get sick.
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I am concerned that you are feeding him too many pellets. Fish are opportunistic eaters, the will eat as much as they can every time they get the chance. It is good to split up feedings, but he will blindly fill his stomach every time you feed him. 8 pellets a day could eventually cause swim bladder, and other issues. 4-5 6 days a week would be better for him
Betta's are carnivores, Pellets are not ideal food for them, ideally, pellets would be the treat, and a variety of meaty foods, including larvae, blood worms, and brine shrimp would be fed 4-5 days a week
He likely wont eat peas as bettas are carnivores.
He'll be fine. Just don't feed him for a couple of days.
1 pellet per day.
Also feed him a pea as it will help him. He'll be fine, I have over fed my fish plenty of times. My male bettas, my female bettas ... Most of my bettas have a stomach. Which I think is better then them starving [but then I get lectured about "its bad" etc]
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Ha, he'll be fine. Anyways with him swimming and being active he'll be thin in no time.
Also: I know how you feel, when I can [in the summer] I dig up ant hills and grab the eggs. I feed the eggs to my bettas who enjoy them a lot. Just another little thing for you to try. And never try feeding them ladybugs. They don't like them:)
I'm sure he'll be fine, just keep an eye on him. Worse case scenario is he'll get constipated (which is really easy for them to do) so to prevent that from happening you can feed him a little bit of a Pea. I usually keep a bag of frozen peas in the freezer to give to my betta, it's good fiber and keeps his system working correctly. A tiny little bit about once a week is good for them.:)
8 pellets a day is a lot! keep in mind his stomach is the size of his eye. 4-6 pellets is usually a good amount so you might want to cut back a little. especially since wardley pellets are kind of big (I had to stop using wardley because the pellets were too big for some of my bettas to eat).
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
for now, I'd recommend fasting him for 3 days. if he is still bloated by then, put a teaspoon (5ml) of epsom salt in his tank.
