# What does a fat betta look like?



## MeredithNa (Oct 13, 2014)

I've seen photos of bettas that have dropsy, constipation, overfed, who are skinny, but what does a betta look like that is a plain old fatty? Just curious. If you have any photos, can you please attach them?

Also, I know in smaller tanks they can get obesity-related diseases but my standard is no less than 10L, and Larry and Barry have an 18 and 25L tank each (relative). Is there a risk they can get fat and have these diseases in tanks this size?

Thank you for answering the random question of the day.

Meredith.


----------



## iSheree (Oct 23, 2014)

Hey, I don't think there is such thing as a fat betta. They will have a bloated belly but if you continue to feed them too much or suddenly feed them loads, then they end up with a huge bulge in their belly and swim bladder disease but not necessarily fat... they usually end up dying. I could be completely wrong though but my dad overfed my bettas when I left them under his care for just 3 days and they never got fat but one of my younger ones got swim bladder disease and died. 3 others died because of ammonia poisoning thanks to my dad. It was absolutely heartbreaking. This all happened over the past three weeks. I had to euthanise Pluto 3 days ago. S.I.P Pisces, Aries, Phoenix (SBD) and Pluto (Dropsy). All of the ones that died came from the same tank, which was un-cycled before (it is now cycled). I haven't seen any info on how to tell if my bettas are underweight... do you know how to tell? I feed them once or twice a day.


----------



## MeredithNa (Oct 13, 2014)

iSheree said:


> . I haven't seen any info on how to tell if my bettas are underweight... do you know how to tell? I feed them once or twice a day.


I think they just look like a head attached to a backbone if you look at them from above if they are underweight. Both Larry and Barry have a nice thick body (Larry is a bit more streamlined but that's not surprising because he is SUPER active). Barry does seem a bit wider than most bettas I have seen, but he seems incredibly healthy, if not a bit bored when he swims. If he was a human I would say he is one of those people who joins up to a gym and only does half the weights with half the repetitions than what he should be doing. He swims just because he needs to rather than wants to (he's not unhealthy - just a couch potato). He never flares. Ever. He ignores the mirror or swims away from it. Which is frustrating because I want to make sure that he is not constipated, and see his beautiful finnage.

Larry has ADHD (or ADHHHHHHHHHHHD) and will not stop for any longer than 30 seconds. He flares at EVERYTHING (including my face when I look at him - I'm not sure if I should be touched or insulted). Because he would give the Energizer Bunny a run for his money, and he poos pretty much every time I flare him, which is about every time I look at him I am not as strict at fasting him as Barry. He's a pretty cool fish. I am lucky that he was my first because I love his personality. It's a real bugger that his fins are so prone to blowing. He is doing his best to look like a CT.


----------



## iSheree (Oct 23, 2014)

Oh right, well mine don't look underweight then. But they do look slim, as in healthy slim.... I am not 100 sure if that's alright. 

Haha sounds like you love your boys. I have 16 and I love them all to bits and know all their personalities and bits and pieces.  But to talk about them it would be like a page long post haha. 3 of my boys are so overly active, cannot keep still, highly aggressive and will flare at anything just like your Larry.  I am not insulted when they flare at me, I think it's funny and cute. My black plakat (he is my only plakat), Abyss, gets pushed by the filter output and gets all puffed up and angry with it.  He could just go away but he keeps going at it for a while until he gets tired. It's amazing how much energy some of them have.


----------



## MeredithNa (Oct 13, 2014)

I do love my boys. They are so different in their personalities. If Larry isn't trying to get attention, he is exploring his home. I need to get some more plants and bits and pieces for him. Oh, and occasionally he falls asleep. Right now he is trying to lie on top of his thermometer. Hopefully his plant will grow up soon and give him a hammock.

Barry is like: meh, whatever. But he gets pretty excited when I feed him. He used to be really nervy and scared (and he still is a bit) but he's so much more relaxed since I got him. I think another plant wouldn't go astray in his tank too.

Chalk and cheese my boys. Chalk and cheese.


----------



## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

There really is not such thing as a "fat betta". You can tell if you are overfeeding them by the size of their stomach. When you feed them, their stomach will become rounded and plump but not bloated and then will return to normal by the next feeding time. If your betta's stomach constantly looks bloated then you are overfeeding him.


----------



## bethyMT (Nov 24, 2012)

Fat bettas just look thick when viewed from above. Like tree trunks with tails, no pineconing. 

I have giants and they tend to run towards fat. Also they are old, so they just sit around and nom at dinner. They are thick. Not bulgy in any way, just thick. When I was overfeeding my veiltail he looked similar. 

Skinny bettas, when viewed from above, have a very very prominent head and a sticklike body. 

It is always better to have a slightly skinny betta than a fat one. Now if only I could get all by bettas to match my philosophy, I'd be set...


----------



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

I think you would be more likely to encounter a "fat" betta in the wild than in a fish tank.

I was listening to a podcast today at work on raising wild bettas. I found it very interesting the fish-keeper said that breeding season was during the rainy season, because that's when food was most readily available. During the dry season when food became scarce, the fish became inactive and went into hiding. Which leads me to believe that they must fatten themselves up to build reserves in order to be able to survive long, dry periods of time without food.

Other animals do it, why not bettas?

I don't overfeed chubbsy-ubbsy here, he's just big boned.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

I disagree Mike. My wild-caught fish have always been smaller and more slender-bodied than any of my captive bred stock, even when I've fed the fish I've raised sparingly. 

I think you can certainly make a wild betta fat, because I have done so in the past when I was feeding a diet predominately of live blackworms. 

For example, this was an old wild-caught Betta burdigala male of mine. 










This is compared to a wild-caught Betta uberis (I think I'd had him a while here and he'd been at the seller's store as well prior to that).










The burdigala male lost what I like to call his 'tuck-up'. His shape basically became a sausage with fins. 

I've found now I've reduced the amount of blackworms and white worms I was feeding previously, the fish I keep (even those I have bred) look much less like sausages and retain a more snake-like body shape. 

I see it a lot with wild bettas. Look at any complex, and a lot of captive stock is pretty hefty.


----------



## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

LittleBettaFish said:


> I disagree Mike. My wild-caught fish have always been smaller and more slender-bodied than any of my captive bred stock, even when I've fed the fish I've raised sparingly.


I hear what you are saying about wild body type vs. captive body type LBF, that was discussed on the podcast as well. You are correct.

In high school was voted boy most likely to agree with the people who disagreed with him.


----------

