Fat betta bad or good?

[MrParker]

ok i posted a thread here a logn time ago about my betta that had a swollen belly (not droopsy) and i couldnt for the life of me figure it out...i didnt feed him for about a week and it went away, i moved him into my room, nwo i can watch him when i'm on the computer. and he was acting fine, now i notice him always floating at the top and his belly is big again. If i touch the glass near him, he swims down, but it looks like hes having a hard time staying down as if he cant help but float. And then he'll open his kills and some bubbles will come out.
Is he holding a lot of air in him? is there a reason he might be doing this? the water is fresh, only a day old.

 

[revfred]

What and how often are you feeding him? Bettas are real "pigs" and will eat until they get sick. They also get contipated very easily. Give him a little peeled boiled pea.

 

[MrParker]

i feed him once a day, and then if a small gnat happens to fall in his water (because of the lamp near him) then he eats that too
haha
I just woke up this morning, and he looks fine and acting normal. He is sooo weird.

 

[twoluvcats]

bettas will get 'transient consitpation'...it can happen from swallowing a not completley chewed bit of food, or too much food that feeding. Then when they get constipated...the bloat presses against the swim bladder and they can't swim right until the pressure is aleviated.

Make sure you are only feeding him about 4 pellets per feeding...anymore and you are risking constipation.

Also, what kind of food are you feeding him. Bettas really do better with a variety. Tho Bio-Gold is a popular food, it also has a very high ash content and this causes consitpation as well...so bettas who are only fed bio-gold are almost chronically consitpated.

 

[MrParker]

lol good to know...but ive been feeding him freez dried blood worms is that bad? ive given him a small peice of the inside of a frozen pea before...i think he liked it, but it didn tmake a drastic difference in the belly.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

I always have my fish fast at least one day per week. It is a good practice. I should probably do it myself.

 

[twoluvcats]

freeze dried bloodworms are kinda like potato chips....the fish love them, but nutritionally they are kinda worthless...the should be fed as a treat, and not the main food for the betta.

The best food is live food, 2nd is frozen, and 3rd is a variety of pellet foods with some FD stuff thrown in as treats.

 

[Iggy]

Fat Bettas are all too common because of the way us humans feed them - too often and too much.

Fat Bettas make diagnosing dropsy a lot harder.

Fat Bettas are inactive, boring bettas, which often can suffer swim-bladder issues.

So... some precautions that should help keep FBS down (fat betta syndrome)

1. Feed less. As in, less. 2 or 3 pellets a day. I know they can eat 12 to 20 pellets a day, but that does not help them.

2. Feed them flake foods. Yes, flake if you can. Nutrafin STAPLE food, if you read the ingredients, has the best combination (fish meal before wheat meal) of ingredients that a betta can easily survive on for years. Even if it takes a week before your betta decides to eat flakes instead of pellets, its worth the effort.

3. Avoid bio-gold 'big pellets', they swell to about 4 times their original size and can bloat a betta in no time.

4. Skip 1 meal a week, like water-change days. Let their digestive system have a day to process old food before adding new food.

How can your tell of your betta is fat? If the skins pultrudes out past the two ventral (bottom dangly fins), you betta stomac is distended.

They are at your mercy, so feed them properly. My bettas are living much longer and happier lives now that I have adopted my new feeding habits.

 

[MrParker]

hahah ok i give him 2 days off from eating, his swelling goes down....i give him two pellets and an hour later hes fat again haha. how about if i feed him twice a week? and i have plenty of flake food i can feed him.

 

[Iggy]

If two pellets are making him fat... they must really swell-up! What brand of pellet are you feeding him anyway?

I would feed him daily, skipping only once per week, and feed him a high-quality flake that is protein (not wheat) based. Just look at the ingredients, it should say 'fish meal' as the first ingredient on the list.

 

[evilannabelle]

I feed my bettas Mon, Wed, & Fri....they get Tue, Thurs, & the weekend off...not too bad, and it helps keep their bowls clean!