Marine Bettas... Feeding, growth, and overall health.

[MCCOOL]

Hello all,

I'd like to hear from anyone with Marine Betta experience, on growth rates and diet.

I've had mine for about 2.5 years now and she is a great fish. She was about 4" when I bought her, and she's now roughly 4.5", is this normal? I've seen specimens at the LFS that are easily double her size. I don't mind at all if she stays at her current size(truthfully, I'd prefer it) I just want to make sure she isn't malnourished or anything.

I notice some people feed theirs big chunks of meat, like you would other large predators. Mine on the other hand, eats 1mm NLS pellets 3 times a day as her staple diet, with at least 1 feeding of frozen food a day (mysis, brine, homemade mix). She also loves flakes, and IO gel food. Am I doing her a disservice by feeding her like this?

She is very fat and seems happy, and she isn't shy at all, spending a good portion of her day out in the open with the other fish(anthias, wrasses, firefish).

Sorry for the novel, here are some pics to make up for it

Here she is, picking NLS pellets off the substrate

This isn't the best picture, but shows her girth nicely.

 

[DoubleM 10]

well i have had one for about 6 months.

mine will NOT eat pellets.

mine eats mysis 3 times a week.

he's about 5.5 maybe 6in

they are carnivors. they eat meat not pellets in my opinion.

mine is in a standered 55 gallon tank with a 15 sump

what size is your tank?

size of tank can "stunt" the growth if its to small.

if if you want it to stay the same size do what ur doing.

i think it needs more meat in its diet. but thats just me.

 

[MCCOOL]

Thank you! She was in a 150g tank for a year and half and now is in a 60g tank. She does eat mysis daily, but still eats the pellets every time. (I feed them for the anthias and wrasses mostly)

I'd like her to stay this size, but not at the cost of her health. If it's a dietary issue, I'll definitely rectify it.

 

[palmer373]

man i need one of these guys lol, following along to figure out dietary needs.

 

[tcmfish]

I had a spawning pair. Kept them in 180 with a flame cardinal and a butterflyfish. They definitely weren't aggressive eaters, but were fed big chunks of table shrimp, along with lots of other shredded seafood, but the big part of their diet was chunks of table shrimp about a 1 cm in diameter. The male was considerately bigger 6-7 inches, female about 5 inches. Female was more aggressive at feeding time, and she was fat and egg bound sometimes. She made up for her length in girth.

Also one of the coolest things with these fish, is feeding live food. They use their tail to scare the prey into their mouth and the behavior is extremely cool to watch!!! Some ghost shrimp or guppies work well. Or if you are in a position to collect live mysis or saltwater grass shrimp or feeders shrimp this works very well too, and its fun to get out and collect stuff and its free.

I have posted many times about this fish and if you search for marine betta I'm sure you'll find some of my posts and pics. Also Matt Wittenrich wrote an article on my fish in the coral magazine in my signature. Ask me if you have any other questions.

 

[MCCOOL]

Tim - thank you very much. I believe it was one of your old posts that made me think mine was a she. I think you said your male was much more cryptic than the female. Mine is out in the feeding frenzy when I feed the other fishes, and is generally not very shy at all.

How long did you have yours? Did they grow much? Maybe ~5" is normal for a female, I've been very pleased with her and she seems very happy and healthy, I was just curious about the lack of growth.

 

[tcmfish]

I kept them for a year. I believe they were passed onto someone in the lab, but the old lab was torn down and moved to a new lab, so I lost track of a lot of my fish and let other people take care of them. I don't really have time for fish because I move back and forth due to school.

The male was definitely much more cryptic and like I said it was a 180 gallon with two bettas and one cardinalfish and a butterflyfish! Aka hardly any fish, and still he didn't feel comfortable coming out and it was hard keeping him well fed. But yeah female was about 5 inches and male was about an inch bigger. The biggest ones I've seen have been about 7 inches never larger and they are a common fish in the shops down here. Usually always one in stock, in fact they had a fine spotted one the other day! I think its a separate species myself!

I wouldn't be so sure, yours is a she though. When I was pairing them, I bought three. I kept them together in a 55 for a while, then one day I came in and the smallest one was torn to shreds (not dead), moved it out and he made a full recovery (hardy a$$ fish!!, another plus for these guys!). When I moved them to the 180 I again tried reintroducing the third, and him and the biggest one got into it again. So I am almost positive I had two males and one female. I don't think they are able to change sex, but I could be wrong, just from my observations this seems to be the case, but more observations are needed to be sure.

I think 6 inches is a totally normal size for this fish, and I am skeptical whenever I hear of Marine Betta much larger than this. The ones I had grew a little, but not much. The male probably the most, he grew like an inch. They basically got fatter, instead of length. I think the reason for the males growth might have been the presence of a female.

 

[MCCOOL]

Tim

Thank you for all the info, it's been very helpful. Im glad mine is so social, it's been a wonderful fish.

 

[aftershock]

i was wodnering if you guys could chime in on how big their mouths are in relation to their body. i was thinking abotu buying one from my lfs. its about 5-6 inches. i have a blood shrimp and occ clown, both around 2 inches. wondering if they would be danger of being eaten.

thanks guys.

 

[MCCOOL]

Their mouths can open pretty wide. Mine has been with numerous small fish (clowns, firefish, anthias, wrasses) with no problems at all, but I don't know about the shrimp. Probably a tasty snack.

 

[cakemanPA]

Mine is about 5". We hardly see it come out of it cave/rock area. Mine loves to eat krill pellets off of the sand. And they can open their mouths very big. I watched mine stalk a small cardinal and in turn swallow said cardinal.


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[travis32]

I find mine's mouth more entertaining than the fish.. Whenever I come home from work, he peaks his head out, flashes his fins at me, then almost as if in slow motion, opens his mouth extremely wide then closes it.

I have a cleaner wrasse and a very small clown in the tank, he's never touched them.

He coule probably easily swallow the cleaner wrasse if he wanted to, but, he's content with his shrimp I feed.

Very hardy fish. Mine survived a 8.0ppm ammonia crash in my 55g. I had a huge limewater OD and the tank was cloudy and I tested ammonia and it was off the chart the chart went to 8.0.

I was like how the hell am I going to get the betta out of a white cloud? I knew he was alive because I'd see him swim..

Well, when I came up to the tank with the net, he swam right up against the side and was gasping, basicly saying "get me outta here."

I tried with the net in the white cloud and he swam away, then realized he was going to die, because then he swam right up to the glass again and this time let me catch him with the net no effort what soever. Might help that he was probably dieing and gasping to breath and didn't have the energy to swim away.

I pulled him instantly moved him to my clean QT (30 gallon) and dumped him in with no acclimation. I didn't know if temp or SG was close enough, but, I thought, this fish is for sure dead, I'll give him one chance to survive.

He wouldn't eat for 2-3 days straight no swim, just hid. Then he started coming out for food and as soon as he started eating I knew he was going to survive.

He's now in my 125g reef, happy as a lark. I put a piece of freeze dried krill a couple times a week inside his cave. (because it floats and he won't get it from the surface...) it floats to the roof of the cave, where it stays until he sees it.

A day or so later, there's no sign of the krill... so, I assume he's eating it.

By far, my favorite fish, and the hardiest fish I've ever seen. He lived in a 30 gallon QT until I could get my 125g setup and my 55g recycled from the crash.

I think the Bettas are better as a beginner fish than any other fish, just because of their hardiness. They seem to be able to handle a lot of stupid mistakes!

Mine comes out and swims in the water column when the halides shut off and the actinics come on. He doesn't really like the halides all too much... but i have a great overhang in the back of the tank that he can swim almost the full 6 feet and not be exposed to the light much at all.

 

[Drjusc00]

I had one for about 3 years. I never saw it eat anything and he was always hiding. I thought he was dead for about a month, and then I saw him at feeding time. He was beautiful. I lost him to and ICH outbreak, but he was a great fish. Did not see much of him though.

 

[Bayliner]

MCCOOL,
I think you are doing just fine with what you are feeding, I have had mine for about 9 months and he as not grown very much. Less than a half inch.
The only thing mine will eat is Frozen Shrimp, Mysis, and brine... They are an amazing fish. I have heard so many stories about them being shy, but mine comes out to the front of the tank everytime I walk up to it. He also hangs out with my Yellow Tang they share the same caves and swim side by side like buddies...

Cam

 

[MCCOOL]

Thanks for all the info, think I'll just stick with the current feeding schedule. The fish seems to be happy and healthy.