Marine Bettas: Show Me Yours!

[radiata]

Does anyone know what their Marine Betta eats, or prefers to eat? I've had one for about 2.5 years. My LFS used to sell live grass shrimp at $.25 each. Every month I'd buy 3 or 4 dollars worth, and put them in the tank, expecting the Betta to pick them off as needed. It's been a good seven or eight months since my LFS got them on a regular basis. I have a number of Anthias now and overfeed my tank to accommodate them. But, I've never seen my Betta come out at feeding time and eat anything. It must be surviving on something, but what? And, what would it prefer?

 

[Cra-z wolf]

Does anyone know what their Marine Betta eats, or prefers to eat? I've had one for about 2.5 years. My LFS used to sell live grass shrimp at $.25 each. Every month I'd buy 3 or 4 dollars worth, and put them in the tank, expecting the Betta to pick them off as needed. It's been a good seven or eight months since my LFS got them on a regular basis. I have a number of Anthias now and overfeed my tank to accommodate them. But, I've never seen my Betta come out at feeding time and eat anything. It must be surviving on something, but what? And, what would it prefer?

Glass shrimp and amphipods. Floridapets sells saltwater glass shrimp for a decent price, and ship through the mail for low ship cost, although you have to watch not in stock all the time and sell out fairly quick.
I also have made amhipod hotels for my sumps. Corrugated plastic sheets cut into small squares and glued together in a stack. Drop in sump, the pods love the holes. Pull one from sump every so often and drop in tank for a few. Replenish supply that has been decimated by fishes.

 

[ThRoewer]

Does anyone know what their Marine Betta eats, or prefers to eat? I've had one for about 2.5 years. My LFS used to sell live grass shrimp at $.25 each. Every month I'd buy 3 or 4 dollars worth, and put them in the tank, expecting the Betta to pick them off as needed. It's been a good seven or eight months since my LFS got them on a regular basis. I have a number of Anthias now and overfeed my tank to accommodate them. But, I've never seen my Betta come out at feeding time and eat anything. It must be surviving on something, but what? And, what would it prefer?

Mine eat everything: flakes, frozen mysis, frozen krill, and they also pick pods when they see them.

This video shows one of my pairs going after flakes. The females are generally more aggressive eaters.

 

[radiata]

Glass shrimp and amphipods. Floridapets sells saltwater glass shrimp for a decent price, and ship through the mail for low ship cost, although you have to watch not in stock all the time and sell out fairly quick.
I also have made amhipod hotels for my sumps. Corrugated plastic sheets cut into small squares and glued together in a stack. Drop in sump, the pods love the holes. Pull one from sump every so often and drop in tank for a few. Replenish supply that has been decimated by fishes.

Amphipods just might be doing the trick. The hotels are clever, but I use pieces of Low Density Black Matala in my DT instead. Here's a link : http://www.matalausa.com/Sheet-Matala-Filter-Media/Sheet-Matala-Black-p-37.html . I use pieces of it between my live rock and back wall. For hiding purposes, it is also sturdy enough to put your live rock on top of. It can be found in pond stores where it is used for pond filter media. Unfortunately, it isn't cheap...

 

[Hugh Mann]

Does anyone know what their Marine Betta eats, or prefers to eat? I've had one for about 2.5 years. My LFS used to sell live grass shrimp at $.25 each. Every month I'd buy 3 or 4 dollars worth, and put them in the tank, expecting the Betta to pick them off as needed. It's been a good seven or eight months since my LFS got them on a regular basis. I have a number of Anthias now and overfeed my tank to accommodate them. But, I've never seen my Betta come out at feeding time and eat anything. It must be surviving on something, but what? And, what would it prefer?

Same story with mine. Didn't see it eat anything for over a month until it decided to start eating out in the open.

It's preferred food is definitely krill, takes that above everything else. Second favorite is chunks of shrimp. It also eats mysis, brine, flake, scallops.

I reduce the flow on my pumps and drop the food in at the surface, and typically the betta snatches it right away, but doesn't usually chase after food if it sinks too fast or blows around.

 

[ThRoewer]

Video of feeding my Marine Betta harem group flakes. The two that are out are the females, the male decided to stay inside his cave to the right. They had been fed before so they are not feeding as aggressively as in the morning.



The tank is a 40B and it is currently minimally decorated with drilled ceramic flowerpots while the live rock is in the Berghia tank to be cleared of the Aiptasia.

 

[vahegan]

I used to have one in my previous tank. Gorgeous fish. Except I wasn’t seeing mine much during the first three years- He was coming out only briefly at feeding time and after the lights were off. Then, gradually, he started to come out also during the day. Lost him as a result of an accident with the tank, which killed everything. Will get one again when I come across a decent one

 

[Fourstars]

I have a mated pair in my tank. Laid their fish egg sack a few weeks ago.

 

[Zionas]

Sorry about your loss and I hope you can find a new one ASAP. Magnificent fish. What kind of accident was it? Heard these guys tank their way through crashes, disease.

 

[Zionas]

@Fourstars Too awesome! Were they already mated at the LFS or did you have to pair them yourself? How much aggression was there?

 

[Fourstars]

@Fourstars Too awesome! Were they already mated at the LFS or did you have to pair them yourself? How much aggression was there?

Funny story how I ended up with two. I ordered one and was notified it was in stock and shipping, a few days latter I got a notice that they were out of stock and could not ship, so I ordered a small marine betta because that’s the only size they now carry. they shipped but I forgot to cancel the order for the medium size and a few week latter I was notified it had also shipped! Luckily I had two tanks side by side. They lived for a good year just being able to see each other through the glass. Never had any aggression so I decided to upgrade my reef to a 150 gallon so these two could be together. Have never really seen any aggression mostly they have their own caves but spend much of their time visiting and rubbing up against each other. A true love affair!

 

[jaxteller007]

Mine eat everything: flakes, frozen mysis, frozen krill, and they also pick pods when they see them.

This video shows one of my pairs going after flakes. The females are generally more aggressive eaters.

Mine is like yours. Will eat pretty much anything I put in the tank accept algae sheets. She (no idea if its a female but her name is Billie lol) isn't a huge fan of flakes but I've seen her eat them.

I keep some frozen LRS and frozen cubes that have like mysis shrimp and stuff handy and make sure to put those in a few times a week.

 

[jaxteller007]

I love the fact that despite not having any real physical defenses like tangs and foxfaces, pretty much none of the fish mess with our Billie.
She loves this cave and every now and then I'll see her in and and our small yellow tang will swim over to try and get in. He will start to put his face in and she will start to come out and just stare him down, then he runs away lol.

 

[Zionas]

Glad to know you guys have Marine Bettas eating frozen and dry foods. @jaxteller007 Does yours eat pellets? If so, what kinds of pellets?


I only have a single tank, so unfortunately pairing will be a risky proposition for me.

 

[Marsh980]

Here’s mine. Only had it a week so it’s primarily staying inside the aquascape so can’t get a new photo. Hopefully over time it’ll start to venture out

 

[jaxteller007]

Glad to know you guys have Marine Bettas eating frozen and dry foods. @jaxteller007 Does yours eat pellets? If so, what kinds of pellets?


I only have a single tank, so unfortunately pairing will be a risky proposition for me.

I actually don't think we have pellet food other than what is mixed into the dry food that we feed everyone else. And I think that's mainly veggie pellets with some crab pellets mixed in.
Ours seems to really like that omega one frozen cubes. We get the mix pack that has some that are all veggie and then some that have krill and stuff in them and all the fish seem to really like them. Not as much as the LRS though lol.

 

[jaxteller007]

I have to admit, I wasn't sure about taking the betta when it was offered to me but me and the wife figured "hey it's really free (i traded labor while I was laid off) we might as well". Really glad we did, love this fish.

 

[ThRoewer]

Caught all of my harem group out and in one corner of the tank today:




By the time I had the cable cleared the male had moved to the other side

 

[ThRoewer]

Hard to get pics pc mine, cave dweller until the lights go out. Did manage a video a long while ago. When he was alone in a smaller tank.

This is a Calloplesiops argus, the Fine Spotted Marine Betta.
This species isn't only different in coloration but more importantly also in body shape which this video shows nicely.

 

[Hugh Mann]

Further proof that these fish are basically immortal to all but a total tank crash.
Mine has made it through velvet, the following 6 weeks of copper, a tank move, and is still alive, if somewhat grumpy from the move. In that time, it's two tank mates, Flame Hawkfish and Bluestreak wrasse have unfortunately died, first by secondary infection, and second by carpet surfing.
Out of my original stock of fish, this Betta and my eel are the only survivors. These fish are tougher than a T-800 Cyberdyne Systems Model 101.