Overfeeding my betta?

[bluepixie]

I'm extremely new to fishkeeping; I just got my first 2 fish ever; (betta fish from petco) sunday as sort of an impulse buy; one female, one baby male. I have one set up in a 10 gallon tank by herself. I was planning on dividing it for the male (baby betta) and the female but the divider I got was flimsy and I wouldn't trust it so I returned it and baby boy is staying in his cup with daily water change til I can go back and get him his own tank tomorrow. Also the female loves the 10 gallon all to herself, she is extremely active in there, always swimming all over the tank and with loads of energy checking everything out. Reading some info it seems 3 pellets per day is pretty standard for a betta. OR all they can eat in 2 minutes.

I feed her...alot more than 3 pellets a day..I try to see what she'll eat in what I can guess to be 2 minutes, but usually shorter as I don't want to kill her. I feed her around 5 pellets or fruit flies per feeding about twice a day and she'd eat more I'm sure if I let her; she's a voracious eater and the definitely the most active betta I've seen. She dosn't look bloated and I imagine from all the activity she metabolizes it quicker. Is this way too much? Should I limit it more?

 

[OrionGirl]

That is WAY more than she needs. Young fish will eat more than adults, but in an uncycled tank, you run the risk of a massive ammonia spike. Once per day will be fine...and get a test kit so you can watch the ammonia and nitrites as the tanks cycle.

 

[bluepixie]

Hello there I lowered her feeding intake; planning on 3 per feeding 2x a day. I monitor the ammonia and nitrites every couple days..her tank still reads the same today as the tap as far as ammonia and nitrites goes (ammonia .25, nitrites 0) (better since ph is now 7.8 instead of 8.1-8.4 of my tap probably thanks to her coconut hut)-she does not waste a speck and it's a good amount of water for a single fish her size would probably take awhile for anything crazy! I'm planning on 25% water changes 2x a week til the tanks are cycled? The boy is getting his 10 gallon today and I will be adding api quickstart saturday when I get it in so hopefully cycling will be a little faster. They're also getting live plants next week so hopefully much nicer water conditions soon.

 

[Rbishop]

Don't worry about the pH. The closer to tap the better.

Once a day feeding is all you need, even at just 1-2 pellets.

Liquid test kit?

I'd do daily of 25% WC for the first 2-3 weeks, even at your light loading.

 

[bluepixie]

Interesting...advice I've been getting from here and another forum have been drastically different. O_O Since the numbers arn't going up atm I don't think daily would be best; it might take longer to cycle if I did that. 2x a week is to start if numbers go up too much will increase. Getting seachem stability saturday and plants next week, should help. Yes, liquid I have api master kit...got it for my 75 gallon, not starting that for a bit though. PH Is important in my opinion; straight from the tap (sitting a day) it's at 8.1-8.2...the plants and moss I'm interested in and betta prefer around 7 so that's my goal

 

[OrionGirl]

Stability and quickstart don't do anything to help the cycle. Really.

If ammonia is detectable, the bacteria colony is still not large enough to consume it all. The bacteria reproduction rate is not based on available food, so having detectable levels just mean you are burning the fishes gills.

Fish can't detect pH. Nor can plants. A pH that is stable is beneficial, one that swings widely and rapidly is not.

But hey, you listen to whoever you want. I have no stake in it.

 

[Rbishop]

It won't take longer to cycle if you are doing daily water changes. Even if your test kit indicated zero ammonia or nitrites or nitrates, there is some of each there. Kits are just indicators of a RANGE...they aren't like sophisticated lab equipment at all.

pH isn't important...just saying. Your tap sample testing should be done after the sample has set out overnight in a shallow dish to gas off.

But, it's your tank....

 

[FreshyFresh]

Interesting...advice I've been getting from here and another forum have been drastically different. O_O Since the numbers arn't going up atm I don't think daily would be best; it might take longer to cycle if I did that. 2x a week is to start if numbers go up too much will increase. Getting seachem stability saturday and plants next week, should help. Yes, liquid I have api master kit...got it for my 75 gallon, not starting that for a bit though. PH Is important in my opinion; straight from the tap (sitting a day) it's at 8.1-8.2...the plants and moss I'm interested in and betta prefer around 7 so that's my goal

It doesn't really matter what you, me or the other forum you frequent thinks, what matters is what your liquid test kit tells you in terms of when you should change water and how much water to change.

Establishing a nitrogen cycle is going to be a long process with one fish in a 10g tank. Could you get away with 2 small weekly water changes? Could be. If you can get your hands on a sock of gravel from a healthy, established tank, this would speed things along greatly. Using a well established filter in your 10g would be an instant cycle.

You also need to keep in mind that, yes we primarily do water changes to reduce nitrates in our tank water, but we also do it to replace or keep the mineral, etc content in the tank water consistent.

You can try to run your tank water pH at something other than tap water pH, but I wish you good luck with that endeavor. It's a fact that fish, plants, etc will happily adapt to your tap water pH. Pretty much anything you buy from a store will have adapted to the tap water they were bred and raised at. Unless it a special breeding project you're after, or some super sensitive type of non captive fish you're keeping, you're wasting your efforts and resources trying to manipulate your tap water's pH.

 

[bluepixie]

Hey there, there's really minimal effort in changing ph, I just threw in a coconut shell for a hiding spot and it's been staying at a nice lower ph of about 7.5. All my tanks are going to have driftwood and coconut shells not just for ph but more for planting on them. Straight from the tap my water is 8.4 which is out of optimal range for most everything I want.. After a day of course it settles a bit (8.1-8.2) so that's a more accurate reading of it. It won't be swininging wildly as with all live planted tanks I plan to just plan to do small water changes every week when things get cycled.

Some of the fish and plants I'm getting are both sensitive and expensive preferring more acidic water than what comes from the tap and I am actually looking to propagate alot of the plants as fast as possible so ph more likely than not will need to be actually closer to their suggested range for atleast a few to grow in abundance. I read coconut shell does a good job and keeping it constant and lower long term so this is why I tried this first. Studies more show ph is important to long term health..while it may not be significantly high to some at above 8, I do want to atleast attempt to have my water optimal.

Ammonia is no higher than the tap still so I won't be burning the fishes gills, I'd change the water more often if 2x a week was putting ammonia is in dangerous levels; was just an initial plan because of the bacteria starter i'll be adding, plants which will help filtration, and single small fish relative to tank...I test the water pretty often; I'm not stuck firm on twice a week that's just what I'm starting with as tests are reading the same as tap for now....though it's only been 5 days so we shall see. I do appreciate any and all opinions or statement of facts.

Unfortunately I don't have access to used media; was hoping the bacteria starters will introduce some friendly bacteria. I got seachem stability. Has good reviews; alot of hits some misses. Crossing my fingers it does what it says it will.

thanks all

 

[dougall]

Lowering pH is pretty simple... just inject CO2., keep injecting until your desired pH is reached, and then inject as necessary.

Get a controller to handle this, and you can keep it pretty steady

Of course fish will die from the amount of CO2 and lack of oxygen in the water.. but you'll have your pH.

The point is that it is not the pH that is important, it's just easy to measure, kind of like Nitrates when it comes to water changes.

Changing water is primarily to get the water as close to the source water as possible. so lowering nitrates, TDS, DOC, whatever... you won't be able to test for everything. changing pH based on what is in the aquarium, like Coconut, indian almond, alder, general wood or leaves or whatever, will work, changing water will move the pH and everything back towards what is in the tap, then the contents of the aquarium will change the water again based on its contents. The alternative would be to treat the water before putting it into the aquarium to get it to the right parameters... this is where the problem is.. there's gonna be the one time that you forget to do anything.. and the swing causes the problem.

This is the internet, you are an adult and can believe whoever and wherever you want.. everyone can only offer help and opinions.


Personally I wouldn't be ordering sensitive or expensive fish before having an established and cycled aquarium (fishless or fish in cycling) without knowing I could maintain the proper environment for them to thrive. but to each his or her own.