pic of my office mate for attention, exactly how he greets me every time I look back at him.
Soooo. I thought I'd start a discussion on this, but first I need to preface this with: I am not intentionally feeding this guy bladder snails, nor am I suggesting doing so.
Ok, now on to the question.
Has anyone had a betta that eats so many bladder snails that it has become his primary diet? I have a policy that I don't feed this guy if he is actively passing his last meal. Lately, that is every time I check him to give him a meal. He'll get one or two meals a week of brine shrimp or mysis and then the rest are bladder snails or snail eggs he's foraging. He also digs in my substrate often, so I don't know if he may be eating stuff there, too.
Should I be feeding him anyway? Is there a supplement I should give him? Would you just consider this his natural existence and feed as necessary? I have some experience with fish, but this is the first I've had that is actively feeding himself. As of August he had been in my care for a year. This guy lives in a 30 gallon fully planted tank with fluval stratum and driftwood. All natural. So what are other people's experiences?
https://i.redd.it/hpefbn64et5g1.jpeg
Posted by bonsai_citrus_ig
3 Comments
Very cool and lucky, I only have 1 betta who will go for snail, but then its mostly the egg clusters and rarely.
I’d just check every couple days, get his attention and give him a small meal. Depending on his interest, continue or stop and wait for next.
You could also build this out as a community tank. Then he can feed him incidentally when feeding the others. 30 is a palace for him, he is lucky to have you
Yep, I do. He’s a glutton. I was feeding him 2x a day until recently. He’s old now so he mostly lays around. I’ve noticed more snails in the tank also. But until this past summer there was never a snail in his tank, not that I saw anyway. Still the amount that end up hatching don’t bother me.
Just monitor his size if you see him getting too big or too agressive with the snails then maybe feed less often betta fish can overfeed themselves
https://preview.redd.it/8tl9pnb8st5g1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=40e573cdb904dfd278e39ee64816af86d462691a
This is Hades he eats baby snails and shrimp