How to stop my Betta from being a glutton?

[primsloaches16]

Hey yall! After my stocking thread, I'm sure y'all are aware of my currently way overstocked tank which I'm getting prepped for fixin'! One of the inhabitants is my lovely betta, Honey. (Name not so fitting, shes a "wild" colored female betta with some pretty blue and red on her fins, when I got her she was stress colored and light brown, hence Honey)

She does well with her buddies, and doesn't show any serious aggression (Other than her and my one-eyed male cherry barb Tiger flaring at each other, both take space afterwards XD) Her only significant problem is well... shes a food hogger. And I don't just mean that lightly, Algae Wafers? Flakes? Blood worms? Omnivore pellets? Blanched Zucchini? LITERALLY all of them she will eat, and far too much. I sometimes have to spread out food just so that everyone can eat, she will over-gorge herself to the point of being UNABLE to eat any more, and then she'll still grab it, and spit it out afterwards. As dumbly charming as it is, I don't want her to harm herself with her appetite, and I can't really think of a solution other than moving her to a smaller container during feeding for her and the rest of the tank inhabitants, and even then, I can't set up another tank for a bit and she will still pursue food after its completely dark.

Do any of y'all have fat bettas as well? Any tips for lowering feeding/food drive? XD considering getting her a fry box for feeding times, that's how much I need it! Much thanks, -Caroline and Fat Honey

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My Betta eats cucumbers from time to time, lol.

What brand of food do you feed her? (She May be hungry, that’s why she is trying to eat more and more)

 

[Essjay]

Bettas are well know for stuffing themselves till they almost burst. The only realistic option is a separate tank, when you can manage it.

 

[primsloaches16]

There's a lot of different foods she eats, here's the list: (I go way overboard with food variety XD)

• Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers
• Hikari Sinking Wafers
• Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp
• Hikari Shrimp Cuisine Pellets
• Hikari Vibra Bites
• Imagitarium Betta Pellets
• Aqueon Bottom Feeder Tablets
• Aqueon Omnivore Shrimp Tablets
• Repashy Bottom Scratcher Gel Food
• Fluval Bug Bites
• Frozen and Dried Bloodworms
• Occasional Blanched Zucchini
• (Foods I have but don't feed at the moment, just misc. flakes that I got from tank kits are Aqueon Tropical Flakes, TetraMin Tropical Flakes, GloFish Betta flakes)

 

[Essjay]

Bettas will eat anything and everything. When I foolishly had frogs in with my betta (before I knew it was a really bad idea) the betta would eat the special frog & tadpole food as well as his own food. There is no way to stop a betta eating what he or she wants to eat short of physical separation. But I mean permanent separation, not moving a fish to a box for feeding time only. Continually netting a fish is very stressful.

 

[primsloaches16]

Bettas will eat anything and everything. When I foolishly had frogs in with my betta (before I knew it was a really bad idea) the betta would eat the special frog & tadpole food as well as his own food. There is no way to stop a betta eating what he or she wants to eat short of physical separation. But I mean permanent separation, not moving a fish to a box for feeding time only. Continually netting a fish is very stressful.

That's what I figured, I don't want to stress her out by netting constantly. My mom won't let me set up one of my spare tanks for her, but I might attempt it anyways if her overfeeding continues. Thank y'all for the advice! It's much appreciated

 

[FishFinatic77]

I would definitely try to set up a spare tank for her. If she eats too much, she could get seriously bloated. If you set it up behind your mom's back, she can't really say no.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

There's a lot of different foods she eats, here's the list: (I go way overboard with food variety XD)

• Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers
• Hikari Sinking Wafers
• Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp
• Hikari Shrimp Cuisine Pellets
• Hikari Vibra Bites
• Imagitarium Betta Pellets
• Aqueon Bottom Feeder Tablets
• Aqueon Omnivore Shrimp Tablets
• Repashy Bottom Scratcher Gel Food
• Fluval Bug Bites
• Frozen and Dried Bloodworms
• Occasional Blanched Zucchini
• (Foods I have but don't feed at the moment, just misc. flakes that I got from tank kits are Aqueon Tropical Flakes, TetraMin Tropical Flakes, GloFish Betta flakes)

While I completely understand to urge to have a ton of different food options, and variety for fish is a very good thing and healthy for them - just a reminder that prepared foods do go stale after being open for a while. So if you've got food hanging around that came with a kit and is more than 1-3 months old, probably time to throw it out.

Now I still have 3-4 varieties of packet foods like Hikari First Bites, Bug Bites, algae wafers, and a quality flake - along with variety packs of frozen foods and the odd veggie night; I try to limit buying more packet food until I've used up some of the previous ones. If there's any doubt, then throw it out. I'd rather waste some by throwing it out than risk feeding food that has gone stale or gone off, especially since many contain fish oils that would go rancid when they've gone off.

 

[Essjay]

When buying a new pack of flakes/pellets/etc divide the tub into small portions, put them in ziplock bags then in the freezer until needed. That's a tip from Colin_T.

 

[vanalisa]

I've had enthusiastic feeders and I ended up putting too much food in trying to compensate because I was worried the others weren't getting any.
I ended up having to do extra water changes/lite gravel work to keep the extra food out of the tank. Just a heads-up!

 

[primsloaches16]

Thank yall all so much for yalls advice! My food is only a month old, so I'll definitely freeze the amounts I'm not using! And, for an update, I moved her to a 20 gal so I can monitor her feeding more, I really appreciate yalls help!!

 

[primsloaches16]

Thank yall all so much for yalls advice! My food is only a month or two old, so I'll definitely freeze the amounts I'm not using! And, for an update, I moved her to a 20 gal so I can monitor her feeding more, I really appreciate yalls help!!

And I'm definitely gonna throw the kit foods away, they're no good anyway XD