Cooking Peas & Giving As Treats/for Digestion

[little_mermaid]

Tonight I cooked two peas for both my Betta gals. I am not sure if I cooked them right/long enough. When they seemed about right I dropped one into Dolly's tank and one into Patsy's bowl...both peas immediately sank to the bottom. I then went back to Dolly's tank and broke the pea apart and she saw me do that and went after the split pea, but it still sank to the bottom and Dolly didn't know what to do with it. Are the peas not cooked well enough? I was thinking that they would float? Or are my Bettas just not interested?

 

[Syphoniera]

Hi, little_mermaid,
if you just dropped in pea halves, they are likely too big to eat, and if the fish haven't had them before, they may not recognise them as food.

I feed (uncooked, thawed frozen and hand-squashed) peas weekly and always nip off little pieces with my thumbnail and flick it (hopefully) in the tank (although sometimes the bits head for the ceiling...)
But if you aim for pieces about the size of your bettas eye, they'll be bite-sized for them and they should, with any luck, make a dive for them as they're going down.
Although it can take fish a while to accept new foods, none of my 6 bettas have ever refused peas, as long as they see them coming and if they're in small enough pieces.
Good for you doing the pea-feed, though.
That should head off a lot of potential problems at the pass, so to speak.

 

[little_mermaid]

Hi, little_mermaid,
if you just dropped in pea halves, they are likely too big to eat, and if the fish haven't had them before, they may not recognise them as food.

I feed (uncooked, thawed frozen and hand-squashed) peas weekly and always nip off little pieces with my thumbnail and flick it (hopefully) in the tank (although sometimes the bits head for the ceiling...)

But if you aim for pieces about the size of your bettas eye, they'll be bite-sized for them and they should, with any luck, make a dive for them as they're going down.
Although it can take fish a while to accept new foods, none of my 6 bettas have ever refused peas, as long as they see them coming and if they're in small enough pieces.
Good for you doing the pea-feed, though.
That should head off a lot of potential problems at the pass, so to speak.

Thanks so much for responding!

I'll give it a second try with the smaller pea bits...that makes more sense *slaps my head*

Do you cook yours on the stove or the microwave? And for how long?

 

[Syphoniera]

Some people cook them, I don't.
I just thaw frozen peas, squash them and nip bits off.
So the little bits are even more important in that case.
If you want to cook them lightly, since cooked-to-mushy ones will mess ujp your tank, you could even pour a little boiling water over them in a little bowl and just let them sit in that for a bit.
And of course they have to be cooled...

 

[little_mermaid]

Some people cook them, I don't.
I just thaw frozen peas, squash them and nip bits off.
So the little bits are even more important in that case.
If you want to cook them lightly, since cooked-to-mushy ones will mess ujp your tank, you could even pour a little boiling water over them in a little bowl and just let them sit in that for a bit.
And of course they have to be cooled...

Okay that sounds good ...and yeah, they definitely have to be cooled! Don't won't to burn their little fishie mouths!

Thanks again!