Can we talk about fish poo for a minute?

[laurabb]

I think I'm a little neurotic about this betta, but here goes anyway.

How often do fish poo? He was going pretty regularly for the past week, about once a day. Now there's been nothing for 3-4 days, and believe me, I've looked. Did a PWC this am and vacuumed the flat marble substrate, and nothing was in the bucket of waste water. It's a 2.5 gallon tank, so I can vacuum pretty much the whole thing with each water change. Yesterday we fasted him, and we only feed him 2-3 biogold pellets a day. He doesn't look bloated, and is otherwise fine. Could he be constipated, and are there visible signs to constipation?

I know you're supposed to vary bettas' diets, but I won't be able to get frozen bloodworms or other frozen food for at least another week. I tried freeze-dried brine shrimp, and he spit them all out with a big "poo-ah!" and I swear he glared at me.

What do you all think?

 

[wataugachicken]

variety is good, but quality is better. if you can't switch the food up too often, just make sure whatever you're using is a good product for the fish. as far as constipation, a little green pea (frozen/thawed) with the skin removed is good for the fish - just plop it in there and if he eats it, that will remove any kind of blockage. you could also use a canned pea. some people say they worry about preservatives and salt, but there are preservatives in many kinds of fish foods and eating a teeny bit of salt isn't a problem when you live in a bowl of water.