Need to feed 50 hungry athletes....help!
13 years ago
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- 13 years ago
- 13 years ago
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betta acts hungry but won't eat
Comments (16)I wanted to post this on the net in as many places as I can, and I'm starting here, as this is one of the first places that "betta won't eat" turns up on google. My wife and I bought a betta about three weeks ago for our son, who just turned four. The fish was happy when we put him in his ten gallon filtered tank, with two guppies (both female) We were told that this was the max amount of fish to cycle a tank with. Within twenty four hours, the guppies died (aww... poor pippy longfinnies...) but the betta (Elvis) made it just fine. However, he wouldn't eat. We kept putting in food, and he wouldn't eat. After a week, I was beginning to wonder how long a betta could go without eating. After two weeks, I bought these betta pellets to put in the bottom of the tank which would fall apart, and the betta could nip at, at his leisure. He still didn't eat. These pellets turn to dust, and the dust wasn't even remotely disturbed. At two and a half weeks, I did a 10% water change, just to try to get rid of all the uneaten food in his tank. Also, at this point, I was giving him only one pellet a day, just so he would have SOMETHING to eat. But after the pellets became water logged and sank, I counted them. He was literally eating NOTHING. Or maybe just a quarter of a "betta bit" a night? At three weeks, I assumed that Elvis was going to die. He looked healthy, the acid, ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate, were all fine, he was totally active, but he absolutely WOULD NOT EAT! I looked up every fish disorder I could find, and it wasn't Tuberculosis, ich, fungus, parasites, dropsey, or anything else I could put a finger on. He looked like a perfectly healthy, remotely active (which I hear is somewhat common for a betta) somewhat depressed, betta. I even got him some blood worms to try. He watched me put them in, followed them to the bottom as they sank, and stared at them for a minute or two, before swimming away. Finally, (yesterday) I got him some friends. I wanted a good clean up crew for my betta, since I KNEW there was tons of uneaten food in his tank, and I was fighting the ammonia BIG TIME! I got him four loaches (these are supposed to be nearly neutral on the ammonia impact, since they eat uneaten food) as well as 15 ghost shrimp (I REALLY don't want to deal with algae at all) two "glofish" otherwise known as extremely altered zebra fish, (my son really likes the color pink right now, so we let him pick two fish, and he got the pink "glofish") and one german blue ram (I like cichlids, and this is the only one I've heard about getting along with bettas, about 50 percent of the time) So all of a sudden, Elvis got 4 loaches, 15 shrimp, 2 zebras, and a ram!!! If he wasn't eating because of loneliness, that was about to change! And guess what... IT DID! He still wouldn't eat, after my son fed all the fish. He did his typical *stare at the food until it gets water logged, then watch it sink to the bottom, then swim away* But then the ram, zebras, and loaches gobbled up all the food. It took about 12 hours before I discovered a ghost shrimp's eyes, and face, sticking out of Elvis' mouth! The creature hadn't eaten for three weeks, then he goes after the largest living thing in the tank! He couldn't get any air by swimming (his mouth was full of shrimp) so he stayed by the very top, gasping for breath every 20 seconds, trying to swallow the shrimp. It took him over 30 minutes to get that shrimp down, and then my male betta looked pregnant! And I'm pretty sure that now he thinks he's wild. Elvis wouldn't flare before... at all. Even when I put a mirror in front of him, he would just swim away like he was scared, then stay in a little cave that I made for him of slate. But that shrimp totally changes his attitude. He's chasing the german blue ram (a cichlid!) around the tank, and flaring at it like crazy! I'm actually a little worried for the ram, which I never thought would happen, since Elvis has been the (as my wife and son put it) "the most boring fish EVER" So a tad bit of advice for all you betta keepers out there who are doing everything right (one betta to start a ten gallon tank with filter, heater, three plants, and places to hide) your incredibly boring betta might just be... well... bored! Get him a buddy or two. My betta wouldn't even eat blood worms (which I hear are their favorite food) but after the extra fish, and eating that shrimp, I also found some mosquito larvae in a five gallon bucket in the yard. I scooped them out, filtered them several times, (got all the extra plant and dust matter out of the glass) when I plopped the netful of them in the tank, every fish in the aquarium went nuts! Even the (pregnant looking) Elvis! So, if you don't want to get him any tank mates, try some live food first. And remember, my scrawny little betta went 3 weeks in a filtered, heated tank which was going through it's initial cycle, without eating one little thing. And then, with friends, and live food, he went NUTS!...See MoreOT: need to know if I am suppose to feed the pond fish?
Comments (21)Lucy you are going to give yourself a nervous breakdown. Just leave the stuff wherever it is and quit moving it around before you hurt your back. Leave the big back door shut and just open the windows and front door unless it gets in the 30's. John had started feeding the fish a few days before we left because it had been so warm but they won't eat now until the water warms back up. If you see them swimming around looking for some you can throw in a pinch but otherwise they are good. I'm sorry you are stressing out so bad. It will be ok so quit worrying. Having a good time but worn out being on my feet all day for so many days in a row. I need a rest day instead of a run all over one. The sunset was really beautiful tonight. One side of the island is stormy every night but the other side it dry so we had to drive 2 hours to get some sun, lol. Back internet connection over here so can't get on much and can't get pics to download to photobucket. I'll mess with it more when I have time. Have only been at the house to sleep mostly. Lucy you can call me if you need to. Its a 5 hour time difference....See MoreFeeding the wormies..something different
Comments (23)Tommy, you might have BSF (Black Soldier Fly) larva. Some BSF larva in a worm bin is OK but if there are too many of them, the worms get distressed. BSF larva help break down matter for worms and these larvae work VERY fast compared to worms. This means increased composting process and depending on bin size, ventilation etc etc might overheat the worm bin, hence distressing them. Just keep an eye on them and adjust things accordingly. Did you buy the oyster shells? You could get egg shells for free from places serving breakfast. In summer, like now, I do my runs on Mondays because the cafe is busier on week-ends. In the process, I also get the trays the eggs came which make good bin bedding, very absorbent. I used to wash/rinse them in the past but don't do that anymore since last year. I put them in the sun to dry and once dry, roll a bottle over them and put them through a grain grinder. That's how I get my powdered egg shells. Got the grain grinder from amazon after I burnt 3 blenders. Too much egg shells will not hurt the worms or the bin condition. Egg shells will bind acid but unlike lime, if there is no acid to bind, it will not change the bin into alkaline. It will just sit there as egg shells. I have not used ground oyster shells but I guess it would be the same....See MoreNeed advice on feeding my goldfish as the temps drop.
Comments (8)I appreciate all the advice. It has been in the 60s and 50s here, and I'm feeding the goldfish less. If the water in the pool is in the 60's and it is early in the day I toss them a few flakes or a portion of a frozen food cube. On days when the temp is in the 50s, they do indeed seem to be uninterested in food. Now that I am closer to bringing my fish indoors for the winter, I have a new worry, and that is "my" frogs. A few used to hang out in and around the pool, but now there seems to be a single small green frog left. Will this frog know enough to go off and find water with mud to hibernate under once I dismantle the pool? Normally we have a brook about 50 feet from where the goldfish pool is, but because of the drought, it is dry. Should I capture and move my little green friend about an eighth of a mile down the road to a brook that still contains water, or is it better to let the frog find its own way?...See More- 13 years ago
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