Feeding, Uneaten Food, And Plants

[Caligo]

Ok, I have been having to feed my betta one granule at a time because they only float on the surface of the water for a few seconds. Once they start sinking, he just watches them fall. So when he doesn't see one or refuses one (picky eater), it ends up on the bottom of the bowl. Is there a better way to feed him so that this doesn't happen? Also, is there some other interesting sort of fish or creature that I could put in there with him that will eat the food he refuses? Thanks!

Also, I moved him to a bigger bowl and he seems to like it. I've got a nice rock in there with a few caves that he explores occasionally, but he seems to prefer perching himself on top of the rock. I had a few plants, but they were plastic and too rigid for him to swim through. I'm going to see if I can find something softer because he did enjoy sitting in the middle of the plants...I just didn't want him getting stuck. Any recommendations?

 

[RandomWiktor]

The term bowl suggests that you really couldn't keep anything in there but a betta while still maintaining good water quality and doing what is right by the fish. I suppose if the bowl is larger than a gallon, you could MAYBE keep a shrimp, but bettas seem to turn them into a very expensive snack more often than not. A snail would probably produce too much waste; most snails seem to dirty even 5g tanks pretty fast. So, unless you intend on moving the betta to a significantly larger tank and adding a small school of bottom-feeders or a few snails, he'd do best alone.
The best policy regarding uneaten food is to suction it out before it gets gross - a *clean* turkey baster or a large-gauge syringe (with needle removed, of course) does this well without removing too much water or requiring a water change. You could use a siphon, but that might remove more water than you want, esp. if he is in a bowl.
Regarding plants, plastic plants are definately too hard, so its good that you removed him. Silk plants are great because you can remove them with each WC if they need cleaning, and they can be used over and over again. They also do not decay and degrade water quality, a common problem with live plants in bowls since there is no filtration.

 

[Caligo]

Thanks for the fast response. I hadn't thought about using a turkey baster or syringe, that should work perfectly. I would rather put him into a tank but he would be hidden away because we don't have any electrical outlets in places where you can see him. He'd end up tucked away on a shelf.

I'll check out some silk plants. I was definitely going to go with something fake, it's just too much hassle for me to deal with live plants and a fish (even with a filtered tank, and I'm just using a bowl).