Help With Betta Tank

[Kanake]

Haven't posted in this section before but need some advice.
I have a 10gal US tank with 1 male betta. He lives alone. The fish belongs to my daugther. She has had him sence May of last year. She has been feeding him 3 pellets 2 times a day. I say she is feeding to much and this is causing clouding of the water and a slime on everything. I have checked the stats and thay are fine and the temp is about 76 F. Her room is dark most of the time and she turns the tank light on in the morrning and off at night. I also change 20 % of his water every week. She bought a Betta book that says to feed 3 times a day and have just got her to bump it down to 2. I would like to bump it down to 3 pellets every other day but she thinks it will die. Can I get some of you to give your two cents to ease her mind.
Thanks
Kanake

 

[sukie]

Hey Kanake!
Welcome to the Betta section!!

This is what you can tell your daughter. .

A pellet is the size of the betta's belly. . . so, seeing that she's feeding 6 pellets/daily is clouding up the water then you can decrease the limit. Maybe 2 in the morning & 2 at night. . .

But is the betta eating every pellet?? If so, then I don't think it's causing the slime ya know. . .

Plus who's the maker of the food?? I use Hikari and (imo) think they're the best - but my lil' guys eat up every last one I drop in. . . (lil' piggys! )

Those are my two cents

 

[happyannie]

What kind of conditioners are you using in the water? I used to mix a couple and they clouded it up with no harm to the fish. It's hard not to feed these guys all the time as they demand it and they are just soooo......

 

[Kanake]

Thanks for the answers. I use NovAqua in all my tanks and have no problems with it. And I know he flairs and flerts with her in the mornings wile she gets ready for work.
Kanake

 

[happyannie]

That was the conditioner that if I mixed it with Stress Coat clouded the water. I couldn't think of the name in my previous post. I put some in another tank I've just set up recently and had the same experience with it so started using another. I'm using Stress Coat with this one as he got nipped up at the LFS and I want a soothing mix for him.