Post by Pi on May 15, 2005 17:29:42 GMT -5
Due to a weird nitrite thing (hopefully under control) both of my bettas had to be abruptly moved from their divided 10 gal. home.
I only had one hospital tank running, so I put one of them in a two gal. but my betta Pi went into my 29 gal. community. Right now I only have two other fish in the tank (bolivian rams). Pi doing fantastic in there. I have never seen him so active and colorful.
There is only one problem: Pi is a pig. The rams generally stay at the bottom 1/3 of the tank. Pi is all over the place, but knows to come to the top when the lid is off for food. I was feeding a combination of frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I put some in, and watched as Pi ate all of them before any made it down to where the rams are staying.
Arg. So I thought I was clever. I put one bloodworm on a toothpick, and gave it to Pi on one side of the tank, while dropping the food for the other fish on the other side- so it would sink before he could get to it. Well, it half worked. The food made it a lot closer to the bottom of the tank, and the rams were able to eat much of it. But Pi, swimming faster than I have ever seen him before polished off the rest.
I don't know exactly how much food Pi got that day, but there is no doubt it was way too much. Below his ventral fins, I can see a pooch (a betta beer-belly). I gave him a tiny piece of pea, in hopes that it will help him pass it...
Today I am skipping feeding. The rams have been well-fed previously and they will be fine with a one day fast. However, what am I going to do the rest of the time? I don't think I can take Pi out of the tank twice a day while I feed the other fish, it would be very stressful (not to mention, trying to net a fish with 29 gal. worth of swimming room and lots of rocks and plants to hide in).
Has anyone had this problem before? What did you do?
JoAnna
I only had one hospital tank running, so I put one of them in a two gal. but my betta Pi went into my 29 gal. community. Right now I only have two other fish in the tank (bolivian rams). Pi doing fantastic in there. I have never seen him so active and colorful.
There is only one problem: Pi is a pig. The rams generally stay at the bottom 1/3 of the tank. Pi is all over the place, but knows to come to the top when the lid is off for food. I was feeding a combination of frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. I put some in, and watched as Pi ate all of them before any made it down to where the rams are staying.
Arg. So I thought I was clever. I put one bloodworm on a toothpick, and gave it to Pi on one side of the tank, while dropping the food for the other fish on the other side- so it would sink before he could get to it. Well, it half worked. The food made it a lot closer to the bottom of the tank, and the rams were able to eat much of it. But Pi, swimming faster than I have ever seen him before polished off the rest.
I don't know exactly how much food Pi got that day, but there is no doubt it was way too much. Below his ventral fins, I can see a pooch (a betta beer-belly). I gave him a tiny piece of pea, in hopes that it will help him pass it...
Today I am skipping feeding. The rams have been well-fed previously and they will be fine with a one day fast. However, what am I going to do the rest of the time? I don't think I can take Pi out of the tank twice a day while I feed the other fish, it would be very stressful (not to mention, trying to net a fish with 29 gal. worth of swimming room and lots of rocks and plants to hide in).
Has anyone had this problem before? What did you do?
JoAnna
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