Betta eats my Bottom feeders food...

[Newbie283]

Hi guys,

My new 10 gallon planted community tank is doing great...for the most part. It consists of one male betta 4 panda corys 3 Amanos and a nerite. My little ecosystem is actually going along great socially, perhaps too well because my betta has joined my school of corys. He follows them around the substrate weaving and squeezing himself around plants because he knows they're gunna lead him to food. Which brings me to the issue that my betta pigs out on their hikari sinking wafers every time I feed them on top of his pellets in the morning. He lets them eat too hes just a pig about it. I didn't notice how much he's been scavaging until this morning. He literally stays with the corys ALL DAY. Now he's pretty bloated and I need creative solutions on out to fast him and feed the pandas in the future without him being able to eat the wafers too. I don't want to have to put him in a breeder box every time the pandas eat and a divider won't work because of the plants and DW. My only thought is to catch him with a cup and put him in the breeder box for the next 3 days during feeding (hopefully that clears him up) and then try to finely pulverize the wafers mix them with tank water and spread it over the substrate for the pandas. I'm sure he'll still be able to eat that so I'll stop feeding the pellets to see how much he eats scavenging like he's been. Does anyone else have experience feeding bettas with bottom feeders? Or treating bloating and constipation in bettas? I was going to start with 3 day fasting then a pea

Here's some pictures of the tank and ones of my betta hanging out with my pandas for anyone who's interested!

https://ibb.co/gwm3ox
https://ibb.co/gzrEvc
https://ibb.co/dLzpTx
https://ibb.co/f6XMac
https://ibb.co/ctsyMH
https://ibb.co/nwLJMH

 

[Newbie283]

More importantly here's a picture of his bloating
https://ibb.co/g0oBac

 

[NickAu]

Betta eats my Bottom feeders food...

And there is nothing you can do about it short of removing the tank mates, Even feeding when the lights are off wont help, He has discovered those pellets taste yummy, sorry.

 

[Newbie283]

I figured. He's such a pig he doesn't pay any attention to the Amanos and he hangs out with the pandas only to find food. Good thing is I'm 90% sure I found some betta poop when I peeked in the tank a minute ago so bloated yes constipated no. He will just have to brave the breeder box for a half hour for 3 days and then I will try feeding everyone ground up wafer with tank water dispensed with a pipette

 

[NickAu]

That could work.

 

[FroFro]

I bury the pellets and wafers for my corydora before lights off so they can "dig up" the pellets. Not too deep, just a gentle poke until its lightly under the sand. My angels have no clue. Never thought of grinding up the pellet food though, let us know how that works out.

 

[Newbie283]

I bury the pellets and wafers for my corydora before lights off so they can "dig up" the pellets. Not too deep, just a gentle poke until its lightly under the sand. My angels have no clue. Never thought of grinding up the pellet food though, let us know how that works out.

An update:

Unfortunately the plastic breeder box was too big with the driftwood in my tank. I bought a net box on Amazon that will be here tomorrow. Until then I just put komodo in a betta cup and float it in the tank. This morning was the first time I tried feeding the crushed wafers, which worked wonderfully. I ground two up and mixed a few drops of tank water in to make a thin paste. I scraped it up and just pinched it between my fingers and then sprinkled it around the substrate. I tried with a pipette too although I had to cut the end because it was too skinny to actually suck the wafer bits up. I shut the tank lights off and after 20 minutes my little panda piggies had snarfed up most of the wafer debris. The leftovers were too small for komodo to know it was food but my pandas were still able to pick around for another half hour. I believe this method is actually more beneficial for the corys than just dropping the wafers in. It stimulates their natural instinct to scavenge and all 4 can eat at once. They get to move about the tank and sniff around like they should! Another positive update is komodos bloating went down a bit since last night. I don't believe he was constipated he just overage. After 2 more days of fasting I will try letting him in on the wafer feeding but something tells me he'll still find and eat too much even with it being crushed. If all else fails he will have to be contained to his breeder box during feeding time. I will feed everyone at the same time. Feeding him pellets while he's in the box might teach him the box is a good thing! More updates later.