Betta eating ADF food

[CAPSLOCK]

My female betta thinks that the entire 2.5 gallon tank is her territory, and so all the food in there is hers. I normally feed my ADF with tweezers, until he doesn't want anymore. He gets freeze dried bloodworms and sinking froggy balls. The betta discovered that I'm feeding the frog, and she's learned that tweezers=food. She'll steal food from the frog, and she nips at the frog if he's trying to eat. She ignores him the rest of the time. She doesn't seem to pick food off the gravel, but I don't know if the frog finds food on the bottom, and I don't want it to rot in the water. I've never seen him searching along the bottom for things.

I've found that if I feed her flakes instead of betta balls it takes her longer to find them, so I have more time to feed the frog while she eats. But she always either gets done first or decides that the frog's food looks better. She's not afraid of my hands. I can physically push her away from the tweezers, but she is stubborn and quick.

Is there any way to get her to leave the frog alone during feeding? Or does anyone know a quick way to seperate them for a few minutes while I feed the frog? I could net her, but that doesn't seem real nice. And I don't want a divider in the tank.

 

[derajer]

Do you feed the frog while the light is on? You may consider switching to a frozen food, like bloodworms, and then feeding when it is dark. ADFs are not bottom feeders, if something tasty falls to the bottom they will eat it, but only if there is something that attract them to it.

Also, how often do you feed your ADF? They don't need to eat very often.

 

[FisheyLisa]

I have been having issues along your lines recently. I have 2 adf's that can fend for themselves, and one who is puny. He is feeble, doesn't eat very fast, and when the food is floating around him, all the other fish swarm, running him over, biting thinking he is food. Today I resorted to scooping him out in a shot glass (that is where I put their food while feeding) and dumped him into a cut off soda bottle with worms of his own.

I feel scooping the frog into a little container is better then a net. I also think taking the frog out is less stressful than removing the fish- in your case I mean. You might be able to do that with your betta too, use the suction of a solid container, like a jar to remove it. Mine knows what the jar means though, and hides.

You could just drop a divider down during feedings. If you can't observe for a long time, leave the divider in. My frogs at them all off the ground, once they figured there was food.

If your frog is a healthy size, then you should only need to feed it every other day/every couple of days. The puny one I feed daily because i think he is starved, but I normally feed every couple of days.

 

[Leopardess]

I have that issue with a betta. I just feed him what the frogs are eating (bloodworms) until he is full and goes away. Same thing with any of the frogs who are eating more than the smaller frogs.

Removing the frog/fish or putting them in a container is an overly stressful solution, IMO. Simply feeding the "hungry" individuals more should solve the problem. The likelihood of them overeating is very slim (must be nice to be an animal) If anything, a divider is the best solution (among the containers/removing ideas) but is not very practical at every feeding.

 

[preggoguppo]

feed your betta till hes totally full, then feed your frog, it will go the trick

 

[FisheyLisa]

when I feed my entire tank, aiming for the frogs, the betta and clown loach get soooooooo fat from eating that it looks like they are going to explode, literally. I htought my betta might die one night, with huge gut, all he could do was lay at the bottom of hte tank.

i thought they could die from over feeding (one big over feeding or a lifetime of mild over feeding shortening their lives). Have I been mislead? I am going through all this worrying when they can over eat and it's ok?

 

[derajer]

It is true that a lifetime of mild overfeeding of an animal (and humans) will shorten their lives. "Slightly Starved" creatures always live the longest.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

He's pretty small so I feed him daily or twice a day. His body's about 3/4 of an inch long. He hasn't gotten the constant fat gut that I've seen on ADFs in stores, so he isn't being overfed, and he always seems thin except for right after feeding. He eats like he's starved for a little while, then he refuses to eat more. He won't let me overfeed him, so I feed him often.

The betta, on the other hand, would love to let me overfeed her. She'll eat 5-6 of those little balls, and then whatever frog food she can get on top of that. I haven't figured out how much it would take for her not to eat any more... she'll eat anything that hits the surface of the water, no matter how much she's just had. Kind of kills the "eyes are as big as the stomach" arguement... I can try just with bloodworms and she if she does, in fact, have a limit that's semi within reason.

I have to take the cover off the tank to feed (my hand can't go through the plexi-glass ), so the light isn't on. Actually, I'm a plug short right now so it isn't even plugged in. I can try frozen food, and see if the frog recognizes it as food once it's on the bottom.

He was floating near the surface yesterday when I fed the betta, and he stole some of her food (just flakes that day). Serves the betta right. Maybe he'll consistantly figure that out, but I doubt it. It would just be too easy.