Question about Betta food in a community tank

[Chickerdoodle13]

I have yet another question about my community tank.

All the inhabitants are doing very well. They are healthy and they all get along. I currently have a ten gallon with four platies (One male, three females), three smaller cories, and a betta. Eventually I would like to upgrade to a 20 gallon, but for now the size of all the fish allow them to live in the ten gallon quite happily. I also have some plants including elodea, java moss, and this other leafy plant. The plants are doing pretty well...not growing too fast or slow. I notice the platies enjoy picking on the plants, which keeps them trimmed for the most part. I also have a few ramshorn snails that came in with the plants from the other tank in the kitchen. The betta keeps that population controlled by snacking on them!

However, I am feeding tropical fish flakes for the platies and the cories. The cories seem to be doing ok on that, and the betta eats the flakes as well. However, I am afraid that the tropical fish flakes don't have the nutrients needed for the betta or the cories. I was originally feeding betta food with the flakes (The platies will NOT eat the betta food, I'm guessing because it is composed of meat rather than plant based), but I noticed the betta was eating both his food AND the flake food and just eating way too much. I stopped feeding both foods and give him a couple of betta pellets every now and then. Is this ok? Is there something else I should be feeding them? I tried to choose a tropical food that has ingredients that all the fish would like and do well on and they all seem of good weight, but I know it takes awhile sometimes for the fish to show signs of malnutrition. I figured I'd ask here since its difficult to find an answer via google.

Also, I usually feed once a day or every other day and I only feed enough so that some gets down to the cories before the platies and betta eats it all on the top.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I made a post of pictures of my fish HERE

 

[flopshot]

considering that Bettas are capable of living in a mud puddle i don't think you have much to worry about other than the other residents picking at his
fins. i would be more concerned with the temps of a tropical tank but i guess the Betta would be able to handle that as well. mine were always in room temp tanks.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
The chief reason they sell different kinds of fishfood flakes/pellets is to trick people into buying more stuff. They will all do COMPLETELY FINE on a good quality 'tropical fish' type flake. Honest

Pat

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I used to breed Betta's, years ago, betta food is a new thing. there are fine on flakes

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks everyone! I knew I could count on some good answers here. I will just stick with the flakes then and give the pellets as an occasional treat.

 

[Whispering Winds]

I have a beautiful white betta male in my community tank and he eats whatever I throw in there. I found a website, and they will send you a catalog too, called "thepetplace.com or thefishplace.com. they have experts that will help you with your fish, and do they ever have a lot of good stuff. Postage is kind of high, but I try to just order enough for 6 months at a time and be done with it. They have stuff for ferrets, lizards, frogs, and other animals/reptiles/salt water too.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks so much! I will look into that catalogue, but I almost want to say that I already get a catalogue from them!

It may be a different company though. I will definitely check out the website though!

I LOVE the white bettas. I'm such a sucker for any betta though. My favorite part is buying the sad looking ones at a pet store and nursing them back to health. I've been good about resisting the temptation to take new ones home lately, but I have a nice 2.5 gallon and another 5 gallon sitting empty in my closet. That makes things VERY difficult! I just keep telling myself that I don't want to carry all those extra tanks back home for the summer!

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

Hey there, I used to work in a pet store that was mainly for the fishies. You are fine to feed them all the same food, we did and all species were very happy and beautifully colored. Especially keep in mind that your cories are supposed to be scavenging to help clean up the bottom. If you ever want to give treats, you can give either bloodworms or brine shimp (best fed live even though its gross) and for the cories you can toss in about a half of a small algae wafer, but just as treats, it's not whole nutrition. If you switch to a larger tank, I wouldn't move your betta! Bettas are shallow water fish, they live in mud puddles (kinda) like FlopShot said, really it's mainly water pools that are very shallow and dry up seasonally. The point is though, they aren't used to the large amount of space. Often times they will shred their own fins by swimming too fast, yes they are dumb enough to do this. I like bettas too, but they tend to have problems in too much water so just keep an eye on him to make sure his fins are intact.

Oh and just because I used to hear this ALL the time from my boss...It's pronounced BET-ta (people bet on them) not BAY-ta (they aren't from the bay).

Oh Lord, I hated that man!!!

SO glad I quit! I just miss getting discounts on my 'spensive fish addiction!

 

[MissCluck]

My bettas love blood worms as a nice treat! I a male and two females in a 12 gallon tank with some guppies.

They are such lovely fish!