Can she survive on ONLY peas?

[BettaMomma]

Liza won't eat anything but peas.
Her fins are growing back in nicely.
She's getting daily water changes and seems completely happy in her little 1/2 gallon paradise.

Can she survive and be healthy eating nothing but peas?
I've tried pellets, daphnia AND bloodworms. She swims up to them, looks at them and swims away.
She really goes for the peas, tho...

 

[Skylar]

I think Liza went vegetarian. How many peas do you give her a day? 2-3?
If you give her like..2 or 3 a day, slowly wean her off the peas by giving 2 and a half or one a half with a few bloodworms. Or let her fast for 2 days and try her with some bloodworms or pellets then. She might be hungry enough to eat them and then lose her taste for peas.

skylar

 

[Kiarra]

Nope. Sorry. Bettas are carnivores. They require large amounts of protein in their diets.

Have you tried live brine shrimp? Blackworms? Flakes? Pellets? Every possible thing you can think of?

 

[Dorkhedeos]

gut feed the peas with protein

 

[Kiarra]

Wouldn't that be nice?

Actually, that made me think of a rather unorthodox Betta food. Crickets. Maybe you could try feeding her a small cricket? My Bettas love them.

 

[BettaMomma]

She went 12 days without eating ANYTHING. And that was after I bought her. Who knows how long she had gone before I got her, because she came from WalMart and they only feed pellets there.
I finally decided to give peas a try on day 12.
In that 12 day time period, I tried pellets, blood worms and daphnia. She swam up to the stuff, looked at it and swam away.
When I dropped in the pea, she went NUTS. She grabs it and shakes it all over the place and she LOVES it.

I suppose I can try some flakes...
I don't want to start on the live foods if I can at all help it because of the warnings I've read about bacteria coming in on the food. BUT - I guess if all else fails.

JEEZ.

 

[Kiarra]

Many sympathies. Keep us posted on her.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, the picky little thing better start eating pretty soon.
The other girls I got at the same time as her have now almost doubled in size. She's about exactly the same size as when I got her.

 

[Joby]

I wonder if its possible to crush a pellet then mash a pea and make a sort of betta cake with added protein She might not notice the pellet in there and at least she's still getting some goodness with the pea

I use frozen foods regularly and am confident that there is no risk to the fish. Mine love artemia and bloodworms. It might be worth a try as she would enjoy tearing the meat like she does the pea

Hope she eats soon

 

[rollntider]

i am not sure how you feed her, but maybe get some of the squished pea stuff, and coat a bio gold ball in it and she if she will eat it... worth a shot.

 

[Raechal]

OMG she is JUST like Pea Princess. I fed her a pea everyday for about a week and then I stopped and she stopped eating for a few days. I then bought some tubifex worms and picked off a little piece and threw it in her tank and she ate it. Now she is eating small betta pellets, flakes, freeze-dried and frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, and peas. I am finally starting to see her grow a little.

Hope she comes around and starts eating.

 

[BettaMomma]

Good ideas - i'll try them.
I think she'll shake the pellet right out of the pea pieces tho.
she's so teeny tiny and her mouth is so small that even if i chop up a pea it's such a teensy size, and even then she picks it up and it looks like it's the equivalent to a dog with a bowling ball in its mouth.
It's actually kinda funny, but it's not.
I'll keep trying!!!
Thanks

 

[Raechal]

Good ideas - i'll try them.
I think she'll shake the pellet right out of the pea pieces tho.
she's so teeny tiny and her mouth is so small that even if i chop up a pea it's such a teensy size, and even then she picks it up and it looks like it's the equivalent to a dog with a bowling ball in its mouth.
It's actually kinda funny, but it's not.
I'll keep trying!!!
Thanks

I think part of my problem was that I was breaking up her food into tiny pieces since her mouth was so small, but I added a bigger chunk of tubifex worms and she ripped into it, drug it underwater and swallowed it whole.

 

[BettaMomma]

Hmmmm - interesting..
I'll try this too!

 

[Raechal]

Hmmmm - interesting..
I'll try this too!

K, hope she does better!