Reluctant eater

[teresa]

Does anyone else have this problem?

I have 1 boy, Cliph, who does not like to eat when anyone is watching him.
My 3 other boys rush to the surface and would probably bite me if I take to long in feeding them but the one will not come to the surface, and I have to drop the food in and walk away for him to eat.
Unfortunately that means that he doesn't eat it all and what he leaves falls to the bottom and dirties his tank so I have to clean his tank every few days instead of just once a week.
Since he is in a 5.5gal with a filter, it seems a little rediculous that I should have to do that but I don't want any ammonia problems.

Anyway, since I have now said more then probably needs to be, as usual, lol, does anyone have any ideas for getting him to eat quicker so there isn't as much waste and mess, and maybe how to help him over his shyness, bonding with him is hard when he just hids alot.

[Pi]

I don't know that I have any ideas, but I'm curious- what are you feeding him/them?

JoAnna

[teresa]

I feed a varied diet. I feed the same food for about 4 days, give a bloodworm treat, then feed another for 4 days and so on. The foods I use are:

Aqaurian Floating Betta Pellets

Nutrafin Basix Betta Pellets

TetraMin Tropical Granules

And of course FD bloodworms.

[Pi]

Have you tried frozen foods at all? My boys are good eaters in general, but they still react to frozen foods in a completely different way from their FD food. When I started using frozen bloodworms as a treat they began doing the infamous 'feed me' dance.

Although if his problem isn't just picky eating, then I don't know that would be of any use ... I hope someone has an answer for you.

JoAnna

[twoluvcats]

Teresa, some guys are just shy...you've only had him for a couple weeks, right? That's a lot of changes for some bettas to handle...its just going to take some time for him to realize that 'everything' is not a threat. He's also in the biggest tank he's prob EVER been in, yet another reason to be scared of everything.

Keep watching him...his non-eating 'could' be a sign of illness, but most likley you just have a shy guy and he'll get better as time goes on.

[freshyyf]

My bettas, 2 males and 3 females, are totally opposite. They eat everything like pig! I will suggest you to try brine shrimp for treat. But just once in a week is enough as some people claim that it is not natural to give them brine stuff. Everytime I feed them live brine shrimp, they jumped to the stick I used to feed them, no kidding.

Keep us posted and let us know how is it getting on.

[briggs]

Probably better, since this is about 3-4 weeks old.