I swtiched to frozen Brine shrimp for my betta..?

Question

I split a frozen cube in half and drop it into the tank. It floats for a few seconds, then sinks. My betta eats some of it, but most of it drops down, is not eaten and messes the tank. After a few days of this, the tank is smelling something fierce. I started out with pellets and he hated them. He kept spitting them out. I thought that maybe they were too big for him, so I split them in half. Still he'd only touch them if he *really* hungry.

So, just wondering if you know of a better way to feed him the frozen brine without messing up the tank too much. And, how much should I be feedig him and how times per day. How often should I be cleaning the fish tank when feeding this messy brine?

Thanks.

And here I thought that he wasn't getting enough food! I went by what the girl at the pet store told me -- half a cube everyday. I should've gone online looked into it myself. Poor guy was getting too much in his tank.

Thanks for the help.

Answer 1

You were wise to stop feeding your betta pellets. Betta really don't like the pelleted food but will eat them if that's all that is offered. It's important to remove any uneaten food from your bettas tank as the leftovers will rot and make the water toxic with ammonia.

The best staple food for betta food are blood worms. These are the larvae of mosquito and is what betta fish eat in their native Thai rice paddies. Live blood worms are favored by bettas, but freeze dried ones will do. Get the kind in the shaker can and feed 2 - 5 per feeding and feed once in the morning and once again in the evening.

You should only feed brine shrimp in moderation as this food has a laxative effect.

Answer 2

You are over feeding. The betta's stomach is as large as one of his eyes. He only needs 4 or 5 brine shrimp every other day, not half a cube. Solution is to change the water and get all the left over shrimp out of the tank. The best way to feed frozen brine shrimp is to place the cube in a cup until it dissolves, then fish out a few with a toothpick and then let them off of the toothpick one at a time in the tank. The betta will soon learn to eat the shrimp right off the end of the tooth pick. Did you not notice that half a cube a frozen brine shrimp is bigger than the fish?

Answer 3

One brine shrimp cube (at least the ones I am familiar with) would feed a betta for a couple of weeks. You should only cut off a very small piece for a feeding and take out anything he doesn't eat after a couple of minutes. Leaving food in the tank will cause it to get really messy and dangerous, which you have already noticed.

You should only be feeding brine shrimp once a week anyway, because this is a very rich food and will cause constipation (which can be fatal in fish). Alternate your betta on flakes and pellets throughout the week and give him a "treat" of brine shrimp or blood worms once a week. If your betta spits out pellets, they may be too hard for him. Try soaking them in warm water before putting them in his tank. I have to do this with my betta because he gets mad if the pellets are too hard (he flares at them, no joke). Bettas only need to be fed once per day and only a small amount of food (1-2 pellets, 2-3 flakes).

Another thing you should do is feed your betta pieces of a thawed pea every 1-2 weeks to help keep him regular. Soak a frozen pea in warm water, take the skin off, cut the pea into tiny pieces, feed a couple pieces to the fish. I have heard you can also feed bettas pieces of spinach or cuccumbers for the same effect, but I have always been afraid the chemicals on fresh produce may be harmful to my fish.

Answer 4

I fed my Betta 4 or 5 pellets 3 times a day, if I fed more it would all sink and he wouldn't eat it anyway. Try defrosting the cube before you drop it in the tank and I'd only give him a few @ a time so he has a chance to eat them before they sink. Then you shouldn't have the "messy" tank problem. My Betta always took to the pellets, but I guess they're all different.

Also, make sure he's kept @ the proper temp (between 76-85 degrees) and has a proper tank (I always recommend no smaller than a 1 gallon tank) if not, they can become listless and not want to eat.

Answer 5

I would only feed him what he can eat in a few minutes, once per day. You might try shaving off a small portion of the Brine, as he won't need anything close to half a cube. I dissolve a frozen cube in a small container filled with water, and feed my fish what they need for the day. Whatever is leftover I cover up and refrigerate for the next day. You may want to net out the leftovers to keep your water clean. I hope that helps.

Regards

Answer 6

You are over feeding him. Look at his size, he only needs a few pin heads of food every few days. The number one cause of fish death is over feeding.

I feed a variety of food to my fish but do use Wardley Betta food for my fish too.

They are pin head size pellets and I feed 3 per fish. this eliminates the waste on the bottom of the tank too. The fish never get more than they can eat. If you worry they are not getting enough. Feed they in the am and pm. A small amount at each feeding.

Keep feeding the shrimp but in very small amounts.

Answer 7

For God's sake clean the tank,no wonder the poor thing won't eat. How would your appetite be if you had to live in a tiny room full of crap and garbage. Once you get the water clean then stop overfeeding.