Betta feeding
I just bought a male betta for my daughter. The people at PetSmart told me that I should only feed it one or two "grains" of the betta food every two or three days, since bettas have a problem with obesity. The food itself says to feed every day. My daughter is already horribly attached to her fish, and I would hate myself if something happened to it.
Can anyone with betta experience/knowledge give me a little insight? Thank you!
Answers:A betta's stomach is about as big as his eyeball. You can give him 1-2 little grains of betta food daily or every other day. He'll eat as much as you feed him, though, so if you overfeed, he will A) get chubby and B) excess nutrients will pass through him and foul the water.
A few things you should know. If you really want to keep your betta as healthy and happy as possible for as long as possible, you should get him at least a 5 gallon tank with a filter and heater with thermostat. He will be healthiest in water that stays stable at a temp somewhere between 78 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Get into a habit of regular partial water changes - 20-30% every week, using a gravel vac to clean a portion of the tank's gravel each time and be sure to remember to condition the new water and have it the same temp as the water in the tank, as drastic temperature changes stress the fish, and make him more susceptible to disease.
A tank is superior to a bowl for a lot of reasons. First, it's impossible to keep the water in a bowl at a stable temp. There are no small tank or bowl heaters with thermostats. Just heaters that will raise the temp 1-2 degrees from ambient, which means if your house is 70 degrees, the betta will be 72, and if your house goes up to 80 on a hot day, the betta will be 82. Not so good. Also, bowls and smaller tanks don't really cycle. That is, they don't develop the biological filter, the bacteria colonies that keep wastes from building up and making the water toxic. You have to change too much of the water for a true cycle. That means wastes build up rapidly and the water can get pretty toxic long before it looks bad. So definitely, at least a 5 gallon tank is the minimum a betta needs for a healthy life.