A siphon that’s as tall as you are, a 44 gallon garbage bin on wheels as your bucket, him banging into the glass trying to eat your hair, being paranoid that the lid is closed and checking it 10x, him eating all the food before the catfishes can get to it, and knowing that any time you are in the fish room, you are being watched.
On a more serious note; a 200 gallon minimum, high quality food (Do not rely on live feeder fish), good water quality. Food should be worms, crickets, frozen fish or shrimp, and carnivore pellets. It’s not super difficult, just needs a big tank!
I have some stuff to add if that’s okay! I second everything that scales said but I would like to point out that these fish are surface feeders meaning they must be fed from the surface of the tank. When they pick food up from the bottom of the tank they develop what is known as drop-eye where their eye muscles are basically strained too much. They can also develop drop-eye if the tank is too tall and there is a lot of traffic at lower levels of the tank, or if the tank is clear or open on all sides (i.e. no blocked off tank wall). Just a few things I learned from caring for them at work. Making some kind of feeder pole that you can string the food onto seems to be the easiest way to go about properly feed them! Good luck! 🙂
I… have never heard of this! :0 Very interesting. Do you have any examples? His food is all floating, but he will eat algae discs as they sink or off the floor of the tank. They aren’t for him, obviously.
Yeah! I’m responsible for a freshwater holding tank at my work and I currently have an Asian Arowana with drop-eye in it. He was on exhibit several months ago but soon developed the condition from the reasons I listed above. Here is a picture of him:
As you can see, he basically looks like he’s constantly looking down. His color had also faded to a pinkish white. As of the last couple of months, his color has improved with some vet care though his drop-eye remains. I’m not entirely sure if there is a way to repair it other than preventative care.
I have no experience with Arowana, but I’ve also read that drop-eye can be caused by the fish watching its reflection at the bottom of the tank, which is why a thin substrate or non-reflective surface is important for them.
Reminder that your fish should not be on a one food diet, even if you feed pellets! At the very least, brands should be varied for every few feedings. Ideally, several types of foods should be fed (pellet, gel, live, frozen, freeze dried, etc)
GUYS
Best common frozen foods packs for bettas:
Glassworms
Like bloodworms but BETTER. More nutritious! Less water and less fiber. More proteins and good things! They’re midge larvae, a cousin of the mosquito (bloodworms are mosquito larvae). I buy these instead of bloodworms. A bloodworm pack is a waste of money! With the glassworms, buy these next ones instead!
Freshwater Multipack. Has 4 rows of different packs! A great variety! I cut them into fourths and mix them in a Tupperware, and feed at random. -Contains Freshwater Frenzy, Emerald Entrée (my bettas ended up not liking the mysis shrimp in this row, and it has more algae and greens than bettas need), Bloodworms, and a Spirulina Brine Shrimp row
Just recently discovered this pack and my fish really like it. They don’t go for the mush cloud this pack is, as readily as they go for worm-shaped things, but watercress, cyclops, and daphnia have been found as live bugs in my aquarium, and my fish love hunting them. It’s also really great for their diet.
For frozen food, thaw in tank water.
And just barely this week, our store got in Bug Bites. Sinking pellets for tropical fish, and then there’s some for cichlids, goldfish, and bottom feeders! First non-frozen food my wild bettas have eaten! Just something to add for my lazy days.
Oh man… I cant get one of my bettas to eat anything but blood worms. im definitely going to try these out though.
I’d like to add that wingless fruit flies are the easiest thing I’ve ever cultured, and my fish are obsessed with them. You just gut load them on spirulina and yeast (or if you’re lazy, order some fruit fly culture media from Josh’s Frogs), sprinkle them on the surface, and even my pickiest eaters go nuts for them.
Barring some debate over whether bloodworms are mosquito larvae or real worms, this is a great list of foods you can try! I’ve been trying to get my hands on a lot of these foods but have been unable to thus far. All great options for bettas, and even other insectivorous fish!
lovingdread 