My Betta Eats Better Than I Do...

[The_Dude]

I bought my betta some sun dired baby shrimp. Well my mother sees this and she says, " Your Damn fish eats bettaer than we do!" I said to her, You want me to feed him shrimp every couple of days to vary his diet, or feed him 1/4 of a pea when he gets constipated again? That shut her up. But nonetheless, my mother thinks I spoil my betta, but do you blame me?

 

[zippa]

they deseve spoiling not sure what sun dried shrimp is like. presumes its shrimps dried in the sun. i feed mine flakes then every now and again blood worm and a pea (de-shelled)

 

[kewskills]

tell your mum to eat 1 type of food for ever, see if she likes it, a varied diet is needed the fish will be much healthier for it. keep it up.

 

[The_Dude]

I have finally convinced her to lighten up, because I love my lil' spoiled fishie!

 

[lilfishie]

i love spoiling them, although don't very often but now theres one more guy to spoil

 

[The_Dude]

true, true. I'm getting another tank for another betta one month from now.

 

[poopsydrew]

I bought my betta some sun dired baby shrimp. Well my mother sees this and she says, " Your Damn fish eats bettaer than we do!" I said to her, You want me to feed him shrimp every couple of days to vary his diet, or feed him 1/4 of a pea when he gets constipated again? That shut her up. But nonetheless, my mother thinks I spoil my betta, but do you blame me?

Its funny you say that, I have been problems feeding my betta as he seems to be quite the picky eater, I could always do frozen bloodworms but it stinks to have to thaw those out in a cup then put just enough in to get eaten and not sink to the bottom. Anyway, i too picked up some sun dried baby shrimp hoping he would like these...How is yours doing with them??

Drew

p.s. no i dont blame you for saying that to your mother, if anything you are just being a responsible pet owner.

 

[The_Dude]

The trick to getting them to eat is to get a little plant set called Betta Gardens. They come with a floating lilly pad with various ripple in the leaves. They create a small vacuum underwater that's just enough to suck the shrimp under them, which in turn, makes the shrimp appear to be alive, and the betta sees this movement in the water, goes for it, and gets a mouth full of nummy shrimp. After they get used to the traits of the shrimp, smell, taste, silouette, ect. They won't even need to see it move they'll smell it and go right for it. That's how I've got my betta to eat two different types of food a day.

I assure you that results are going to be satisfactory. Try it out.

 

[Phaedra]

Gah! You should see my collection of fish food! Not all for my Darby of course, but thus far I've got:

Hikari Betta Bio-Gold,
Frozen Bloodworms,
Formulated high-color flake food,
Reptomin pellets,
Shrimp pellets,
Freeze-dried Mini Krill
and
Freeze-dried Baby Shrimp!


I wonder if I should let Darby try the freeze dried stuff just for a change of palate....

 

[The_Dude]

Not all for the betta. I could tell the second you listed flakes. Mine Despises flakes. I tried to give him flake food once, and he flared at me and sulked in his little rainbow colored cave for an hour and would go there everytime I fed him for the next 3 days!

 

[Phaedra]

I've never tried the flake foods. Darby would probably eat a bottle cap if I put it in there though.

 

[The_Dude]

Point taken, I found it strange that mine wouldn't though. I mean, he eats the gnats that fall in! It's funny too.

 

[poopsydrew]

The trick to getting them to eat is to get a little plant set called Betta Gardens. They come with a floating lilly pad with various ripple in the leaves. They create a small vacuum underwater that's just enough to suck the shrimp under them, which in turn, makes the shrimp appear to be alive, and the betta sees this movement in the water, goes for it, and gets a mouth full of nummy shrimp. After they get used to the traits of the shrimp, smell, taste, silouette, ect. They won't even need to see it move they'll smell it and go right for it. That's how I've got my betta to eat two different types of food a day.

I assure you that results are going to be satisfactory. Try it out.

Dude,
Ironically enough again, i have one of those little fake floating lilly pads (which for some reason he sleeps on which is wierd cuz he is a lil bit out of water). When attempting to make the vacuum should i turn it upside down as to make a pocket of air underneath it? i was just a little confused about how to make the shrimp "move"... would it not work just dropping him in and kinda giving him a "push" across the water surface? sorry for the silly question but i am having trouble feeding him. thanks dude and everyone!

p.s. dont feel bad phaedra, i have a cabinet full of every kind of food there is too! I swear i might just open my own lfs

 

[poopsydrew]

The trick to getting them to eat is to get a little plant set called Betta Gardens. They come with a floating lilly pad with various ripple in the leaves. They create a small vacuum underwater that's just enough to suck the shrimp under them, which in turn, makes the shrimp appear to be alive, and the betta sees this movement in the water, goes for it, and gets a mouth full of nummy shrimp. After they get used to the traits of the shrimp, smell, taste, silouette, ect. They won't even need to see it move they'll smell it and go right for it. That's how I've got my betta to eat two different types of food a day.

I assure you that results are going to be satisfactory. Try it out.

Dude,
Ironically enough again, i have one of those little fake floating lilly pads (which for some reason he sleeps on which is wierd cuz he is a lil bit out of water). When attempting to make the vacuum should i turn it upside down as to make a pocket of air underneath it? i was just a little confused about how to make the shrimp "move"... would it not work just dropping him in and kinda giving him a "push" across the water surface? sorry for the silly question but i am having trouble feeding him. thanks dude and everyone!

p.s. dont feel bad phaedra, i have a cabinet full of every kind of food there is too! I swear i might just open my own lfs

 

[The_Dude]

I forgot to mention to place the food on the surface of the water next to the Lilly pad. The surface tension is slightly bent and potential energy becomes kinetic energy. The shrimp moves quickly enough to grasp the attention of the betta but not enough to actually scare it. Yes, fast movements can and will scare a betta. That's the secret to the trick.