Food Reccommendations, And Clean Up Crew For Betta?

[nessar]

I have 2 questions really. First of all my betta has problems eating his Hikari Betta Bio Gold, as he puts the pellets in his mouth, then spits them out, then puts them all in at once, then acts like hes choking and eventually spits them out, puts them in again... and this goes on a while. He is fine with tropical flakes but I'd rather give him a specific betta food. Does anyone elses betta do this? And would you reccommend a different food, maybe flakes or even smaller pellets?

Secondly, he is a very messy eater and because of the biorb not having real gravel (it has the biorb ceramic substrate) you cant hoover the substrate properly, and if you try you end up scratching up the tank. So I really need something to reduce the amount of waste. I've tried apple snails but they dont manage the curve of the tank well and struggle getting to the top. I asked P@H about ghost shrimp but they said it was risky with a betta as he didnt have much room in the tank to get away from them, apparently sometimes they will attack their fins? I dont want to stress him out. But thought I'd check that as, well, they're P@H. What about other shrimp, or other clean up crew?

 

[bettanoob]

Try crushing or soaking the pellets first and feeding him less and feed more often if u think he is not getting enough.

I have apple snails and coryadora at the min and I will get some shrimps also to help if you have space in your orb for more fish I would recommend a bottom feeded but not Corey's as they like sandy bottom Mabe some khuli loach they should be ok as long as your substrate is not sharp

 

[micko]

Khuli's also like a sand/sand-gravel mix.

As for a "clean up crew" I think the best one is yourself. Removed the substrate if you can and replace with something workable.
Betta's, depending on their personality, can kill shrimp.
I'd stick with what your doing but feed less, I've never used the pellet your talking about but have seen it. Maybe it his way of eating.

 

[Louiseness]

There is nothing wrong with feeding a betta flake food, it won't hurt them. Or try a smaller floating food like tetra prima granules or similar.

I wouldn't recommend removing your substrate acts as the bio media in a biorb. You won't be able to have cories on the biorb susbtrate, but shrimp might be worth a try if you're willing to risk them becoming food. I;d jsut recommend using a floating food that he can eat, it's just easier all round.

 

[nessar]

Thanks, I cant change the substrate as it acts as the filter media, and also anything smaller would get sucked into the filter. I did try a pitbull plec but betta cut all his fins up on the bogwood and got very stressed.

I dont mind trying shrmip, I can remove them and put in my other tank if need be, but are they safe to keep with him? I mean safe for him, I wouldnt want them attacking him, he does like to rest on the ground a lot, or in his cave.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

They have betta food in flake form FYI. That is what I feed mine as they didn't like the pellets. How big is your tank? If it is big enough you could go a for a school of pygmy cories or other small cories. My betta never paid my cories no mind.

 

[Louiseness]

Thanks, I cant change the substrate as it acts as the filter media, and also anything smaller would get sucked into the filter. I did try a pitbull plec but betta cut all his fins up on the bogwood and got very stressed.

I dont mind trying shrmip, I can remove them and put in my other tank if need be, but are they safe to keep with him? I mean safe for him, I wouldnt want them attacking him, he does like to rest on the ground a lot, or in his cave.

My betta rests on his sand and I've seen cherry shrimps climb on his head before As long as you choose a species of shrimp that don't have big pincers/claws they should be fine. He is MUCH more likely to eat them than them eat him.

 

[micko]

Really? What sort of substrate is that?

 

[Louiseness]

Really? What sort of substrate is that?

It's ceramic 'rocks', works the same way as an old-fasioned undergravel filter.

 

[pablothebetta]

I've just upgraded my biorb, I was fed up with waste becoming trapped in the ceramic media and I generally didn't find it a very good tank for my betta. Something you might like to try is to completely gut out your tank. Clean the ceramic media and give the whole tank a good clean through. I personally would drain the tank to do this, as I'd take out the ceramic media and wash it in the water I took out, so you'd need somewhere to put your fish. Once all has been thoughraly cleaned, try putting some of those BiOrb pebbles (Feng Shui are they called?) over the ceramic media. I'd hope that it'd help to prevent things being trapped down there. I don't know about you, but I always found my bettas fins were pretty much destroyed by the rough ceramic media, so the smooth pebbles might combat this too. It would take up more water space though, so depending on the size of your biorb and how many you want, it might not be the best option.

As for the food, I feed mine on the Hikari food and he takes it well. I'd try some different foods, as flakes tend to sink eventually and go into the ceramic media. There are some other specific betta foods out there, a quick google search will reveal some (go on shopping). Most bettas like live food too once in a while, so whether live, frozen or freeze-dried, some 'live' foods such as bloodworms might be worth a try as well.

 

[pablothebetta]

As for a clean-up crew, I might just leave it to you at the moment. If you've got some plants or other decor in there providing a decent amount of cover, a couple of cherry shrimp might work alright, providing your betta doesn't pick on them for their small size (couple of cm) or relatively bright colour (opposed to others such as the ghosts). Whereas the ghosts might get to around 4-5cm (not entirely sure the exact size), the cherries will stay at around 2-3cm at the most. I'd guess mine were at about 2cm at the moment. With the shape of the tank, I don't think snails would be the best choice, and breeding is always a possibility which isn't going to be very beneficial to you. If you were to go for a snail, go for a nerite, as they don't grow too large and (please correct me if I'm wrong), I am lead to believe they don't breed in freshwater setups. Again, though, with the curve of the orb, it might struggle a little.

 

[ShaedM]

mine loves those pellets, feed him too many flakes and his belly will just swell, so i don't feed him flakes anymore. Just 2 pellets a day. As for clean up crew..you're taking a risk with cory cats, i put 2 in my tank and he killed one, i saved the other. Get him live food like daphnia, he eats what he wants, it's good for him, and it doesn't rot/go off.

 

[LadyDragon]

Okay some people love them, and some people LOATHE them with a bloody passion... But Maylasian Trumpet Snails are a fantastic "clean up crew".
They burrow in substrate, including ceramic gravel
They eat the sludge that dirties a tank
Their burrowing also prevents stagnant (anaerobic) areas in the substrate that can cause ammonia spikes
They let you know how healthy your tank is (in a couple ways)

Of course if you are seriously over feeding... Then they will multiply to plague-like dimensions almost overnight! So they CAN be kinda pesky (hence some People can't stand them... Because the little suckers are darn near bullet proof, they can get out of hand... But if your tank is healthy and you are feeding properly, then they don't turn into a nightmare.... But like anything it can take a little time -and trial and error- to figure out how to find a happy balance.

 

[nessar]

Thanks again for the ideas, keep them coming!

The biorb is 30litres, the medium size. I have a couple of pebbles in there but they are annoying because I have to remove them every water change so I can get to the ceramic media, but will add a few more on your advice. I dont think I'd feel happy having cories in there, as because of the tank shape the actual ground area of the tank is small, and I've heard they are quite active. And there's no way I'd put MTS in there, because I have hundreds in my other tank and they are so hard to get rid of. They're always going to be a problem in that tank as I have to leave food out for my apple snails and shrimp, but I dont want to introduce the problem to my biorb.

I have a couple of silk plants, a coconut and a house thing in there, so not that much cover but I could get more plants. So cherry shrimp or similar are an option, I just hope they wouldnt hurt him if he was ill ....


Does anyone know any pellets that are smaller than the hikari ones?

And my bettas belly swells up too, is this bad? I assumed he was a little constipated so I give him a starve day when this happens, usually once or twice a week. He gets this on both the pellets and the flakes.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

I would go with the snails personally. With the bio-orb it just doesnt really have the footprint for bottom dwelling fish.