# Food coming out of gills??



## bfuddy (Nov 4, 2010)

Hi there, I've got a veil tail male betta living in a well-maintained 1 gallon tank.

He is responsive, active, and apart from a healing ripped caudal fin, quite healthy.

He eats well. However, I've always noticed that when I feed him pellets, he will eat the majority of the pellet and always spit out a tiny bit out at the end. So I've developed a habit of always watching him about 5 min. after I've fed him to make sure that I can quickly scoop out the food he spits out.

But I've noticed recently that as he chews his food, lots of really small food particles come out from underneath his gills! The particles come out in such a way that his pectoral fins flap them away from his body immediately.

I am sure that it is his pellets that are coming out of his gills because when I feed him red pellets, red particles come out and when I feed him green pellets, green particles come out. 

Is this even possible? Have you ever seen your betta do it? Is it healthy/normal?

Thanks for all your help.


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## Luimeril (Dec 29, 2010)

xD some of my boys do that. i think it's pretty normal, since their gils and mouth are connected(i think? it looks like it on sharks and bass. >.>. i don't freak out about it, but consider it sorta like a burp.


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## chargers505 (Dec 27, 2010)

Usually when their food comes out of their gills, it means they're being overfed or you're feeding them too many pellets at the same time. Bettas are pigs. When they see a bunch of pellets floating, they will try to chow down their pellet they have in their mouth as fast as possible and then get to the next one. This causes the betta to not swallow properly?? Thus coming out of their gills.


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