I'm still new to the aquarium hobby, I've had my tank with Harlequin Rasbora's and Panda Cory's for about two months, and my Betta joined the tank about a month ago.
After a few days, my Betta noticed my Cory's eating, and since then he's constantly trying to steal their food.
For context: my Rasbora's and Betta both get the same food, really small floating pellets, which I feed them twice a day. The Cory's get this sinking wafer. It's pretty big, so I usually only give them half a wafer a day, since they're pretty slow eaters.
The problem now is, that as soon as I throw the half wafer in the water, my Betta "attacks" it (for lack of a better word) while it's still sinking, and he tries to rip pieces out of it. He'll keep doing this until he's bloated and looks like one more bite would actually kill him.
After that, I now always soak the wafer in aquarium water first, because it pretty much dubbels in size, so if my Betta eats it, it won't inflate in his stomach.
After that, I tried distracting him while I threw the wafer in, but now he doesn't look for the wafer, he follows the Cory's, because he knows they'll lead him to more food.
I tried breaking the wafer in smaller pieces, but now it's just easier for my Betta to eat it.
I tried pulverizing the wafer, but that was just a mess, and that time the Rasbora's also joined the theft, because the pieces were now small enough for them to eat as well.
I currently feed my Cory's at night, when the aquarium light and the light in the room have been off for at least an hour. I break the (half) wafer in a couple pieces (and soak the pieces in aquarium water), in the hope that, if my Betta does find the food in the dark, at least he won't find all of it.
The problems with this is that my Betta still wakes up when I throw the food in, because I use the light from my phone to be able to see enough to throw the food in, and my Betta has a Pavlovian response to the latch in the lid of the tank opening, and immediately starts searching for food. And, because it's dark and night, I can't actually watch my Cory's eat, so I'm never sure how much food my Cory's got (did they eat enough?), and how much my Betta stole (did he eat too much?).
This doesn't feel like a practical way to go about feeding my fish, but I literally don't know what else I can still try. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could still try?
(Also, my Betta doesn't attack the Cory's when he's stealing food, he's just a bit rude, but overall quite gentle about it, so at least I don't have to worry about that.)
After a few days, my Betta noticed my Cory's eating, and since then he's constantly trying to steal their food.
For context: my Rasbora's and Betta both get the same food, really small floating pellets, which I feed them twice a day. The Cory's get this sinking wafer. It's pretty big, so I usually only give them half a wafer a day, since they're pretty slow eaters.
The problem now is, that as soon as I throw the half wafer in the water, my Betta "attacks" it (for lack of a better word) while it's still sinking, and he tries to rip pieces out of it. He'll keep doing this until he's bloated and looks like one more bite would actually kill him.
After that, I now always soak the wafer in aquarium water first, because it pretty much dubbels in size, so if my Betta eats it, it won't inflate in his stomach.
After that, I tried distracting him while I threw the wafer in, but now he doesn't look for the wafer, he follows the Cory's, because he knows they'll lead him to more food.
I tried breaking the wafer in smaller pieces, but now it's just easier for my Betta to eat it.
I tried pulverizing the wafer, but that was just a mess, and that time the Rasbora's also joined the theft, because the pieces were now small enough for them to eat as well.
I currently feed my Cory's at night, when the aquarium light and the light in the room have been off for at least an hour. I break the (half) wafer in a couple pieces (and soak the pieces in aquarium water), in the hope that, if my Betta does find the food in the dark, at least he won't find all of it.
The problems with this is that my Betta still wakes up when I throw the food in, because I use the light from my phone to be able to see enough to throw the food in, and my Betta has a Pavlovian response to the latch in the lid of the tank opening, and immediately starts searching for food. And, because it's dark and night, I can't actually watch my Cory's eat, so I'm never sure how much food my Cory's got (did they eat enough?), and how much my Betta stole (did he eat too much?).
This doesn't feel like a practical way to go about feeding my fish, but I literally don't know what else I can still try. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could still try?
(Also, my Betta doesn't attack the Cory's when he's stealing food, he's just a bit rude, but overall quite gentle about it, so at least I don't have to worry about that.)
