# HELP! My betta fish eating plant



## Bubuzhao (Jul 17, 2012)

Hi,im new member here, I have just bought a bettafish two days ago, with a 1.6 galloon tank include a hang on filter on it,(i know 1.6 gal is not suitable for bettafish but I will change a much larger one soon) I also put in a small plant into the tank. My fish is doing well with her new tank and eating pellets well, but I realise she is bitting and eating the plant although I have already feed her for 3 pellets per day and night. She seems to be always hungry and finding food from all over the tank, I really worried about this situation and dunno what to do?
*the pellet is much more smaller than those popular pellets such as HIKARI

My question is:
1)Do bettafish really eat plants?
2)Should I remove that particular plant?
3)Am I not feeding the fish enough so she tend to eat anything in her tank?

I really need your help! Please and I will be appreciating it! 
Sorry if I posted this thread in a non appropriate way because this is my first post. Thank you!


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## Shayebri (Jul 14, 2012)

I haven't heard of a betta eating a plant. I assume she is a female, as you said her. If anything, you are feeding her too much. I would suggest taking the plant out and seeing what she does. And what type of pellets are you giving her?


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## SpookyTooth (Dec 23, 2011)

Is she actively taking pieces out of the plant and eating it or is it her "pecking" at it? I've noticed that my fish will often forage for microfauna amongst the plants in their tank, while it may appear that they are attempting to eat the plant itself they are actually just nipping at the foliage to remove whatever tasty morsel is there.


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

6 pellets a day pf any size is too much. I would say 2/day AT MOST pref. 1. Bettas are opportunistic eaters, meaning that when they see food, they eat it because they never know sere their next meal is coming from. They will gorge themselves until their guts literally burst and they die. Do not give in to their begging. 

Also, she may see the plant as like a flowing fin and be attacking it, ou should probably remove it because whatever the reason for biting it, it is obviously stressing her.


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## teeneythebetta (Apr 29, 2012)

What type of plant is this?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Shes trying to eat microorganisms on the plant.

If a mod sees this, can we please do something about non-disease/emergencies in this subforum? Fin issues aren't emergencies and this is not either.


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## Bubuzhao (Jul 17, 2012)

This is my Betta, I think she is a female Plakat?


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## Bubuzhao (Jul 17, 2012)

Unfortunately, this is the pellet she used to eat for 3days already. 
I definitely cant tell what brand it is, because i bought from a pet shop 
The petshop's promoter only told me to feed it 5 to 6 pellets per day.
Should i go get a better pellet brand?







This is the Nutrafin cycle i used.







This is the plant i put it into the tank
She started to take out piece and eat it, she probably shallow it because once the plant piece go into her mouth it never comes out anymore.
However i removed it from the tank already.
Im not sure what kind of plant it is but i bought it from petshop as well, the worker there told me this plant is suitable for betta.

So i think i should fast her for one day? or maybe give her about 1 pellet for today as i feed her too much yesterday.

Thank you for all of your reply :smile:


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

They always tell you to overfeed bettas so you come back for food sooner, and yeah 1 or two of those a day should do the trick.


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## Bubuzhao (Jul 17, 2012)

Shayebri said:


> I haven't heard of a betta eating a plant. I assume she is a female, as you said her. If anything, you are feeding her too much. I would suggest taking the plant out and seeing what she does. And what type of pellets are you giving her?










Unfortunately, this is the pellet she used to eat for 3days already. 
I definitely cant tell what brand it is, because i bought from a pet shop 
The petshop's promoter only told me to feed it 5 to 6 pellets per day.
Should i go get a better pellet brand?


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## Bubuzhao (Jul 17, 2012)

SpookyTooth said:


> Is she actively taking pieces out of the plant and eating it or is it her "pecking" at it? I've noticed that my fish will often forage for microfauna amongst the plants in their tank, while it may appear that they are attempting to eat the plant itself they are actually just nipping at the foliage to remove whatever tasty morsel is there.










This is the plant i put it into the tank
She started to take out piece and eat it, she probably shallow it because once the plant piece go into her mouth it never comes out anymore.
However i removed it from the tank already.
Im not sure what kind of plant it is but i bought it from petshop as well, the worker there told me this plant is suitable for betta.


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## Shayebri (Jul 14, 2012)

Eh. Never trust anything they tell you.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

actually your pet store guy was not too far off. I would feed a full grown betta 4-5 pellets a day. it depends on the size of your female too. sometimes they are tiny and sometimes they can be rather large. you can fast her one day a week to prevent constipation.


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## Aus (Feb 3, 2012)

> 6 pellets a day pf any size is too much. I would say 2/day AT MOST pref.


I'm sorry -- but it really depends on the size of the betta/size of the pellets.

I feed all of mine bettamin, which is a larger pellet. My small girl gets 2 pellets 2 x per day, my stunted male gets the same. 

My plakat is twice their size and is thriving on 4-5 pellets twice a day. He is a big, meaty fish and that's how much food he needs. 2 a day "at most" would malnourish him.

If the OP's betta is a large female and the pellets are small, I don't see anything wrong with that feeding schedule. If she was tiny, yes it would look like overfeeding.

And eating a bit of plant matter won't hurt your betta. Maybe she likes the taste.


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## Pogthefish (Mar 24, 2012)

BUT she is nibbling at the plant, and sorry for the under-estimation, but I guess my bettas do not need as much. Pog, is his prime years, needed only 1 pellet every other day and he thrived, now he ets 1/day and is still big and strong. He is a special case though, and I guess I was maybe thinking of him when I posted that, but bettas DO need less than it looks like, and I would suspect that if you just dropped 1 pellet from each feeding on that "big meaty" betta he would still thrive just as much. Maybe it is also the brands we have used, and maybe the brands I use have more nutrition compared to yours, but yeah... just trying to keep from lookign stupid ^_^ sorry for contradicting


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