BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish Is the guy at Petco off his rocker? (Betta questions)

Okay, obviously I was at Petco yesterday. I promised Alpha a new tank, yadda yadda, long story short, he's now in a ten gallon with his very own heater and is much more lively now.

But the guy at Petco was saying things about bettas that I had never heard before. All the boxes of food say to feed them a certain number of pellets a day (two to three two or three times a day, as much as they can eat in two to five minutes, etc), but he was telling me they all just want you to buy more fish food and that you should only feed your betta two of the Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets every other day. I don't know about that. Alpha seemed happy enough with two for breakfast, two for dinner, and sometimes one more tossed in just because he's cute as a button, and my friend's betta has been chowing down eight to ten a day. He's saying feeding them this much will cause them to die younger.

Then he said I should keep the tank at 72-74 degrees, as more will increase their metabolism and shorten their lives. That I'll buy, but again, I want more opinions on that, because I really don't know what to think about him after what he said about how much my betta should be eating. Is the guy a quack or did he just give me some really important information?

(Part of the reason I'm so hesitant to trust someone from Petco is that when I was in Walmart last week, the guy working there was talking to another customer about someone that bought two betta from them because their betta are cheaper. They come back the next day trying to return a dead betta. They'd put two males in one tank! "The guy at Petco said we could do it, so it must be your fault the fish died." I really don't want to take potentially bad advice from someone I don't know.)

Okay, all that about the food and metabolism is true. But I still don't believe in doing that. I prefer fish to have a nicer quality of life with comfy temps and a level of feeding that they enjoy without making them sick.

Look at it this way - if you lived in the colder temps of Tibet and ate only yogurt once a day, you might live longer, too. But do you want to?

besides, bettas show better colors and swim and interact more when they are warm. Cold bettas sit all clamped on the bottom and seem miserable. So this has to be your own choice.

tamagot,
I would trust the guy with the food, The Bio-gold is rich with vitamens and minerals, but it's bigger than most pellets, so you shouldn't give them as much(I read it on the internet). I also read that the Bio-gold is one of the most newtreshose foods!
My mom (Emg) said that bettas do like temps in the 70's. Breeders use higher temps when they breed them (so I've read).
good food+nice tank= <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Emg's daughter :music:
BUT,you still should watch those "sales people".... <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Okay, but as for just two pellets every two days, that seems a little cruel to me. What do you think a nice compromise would be? His tank is staying in the low to mid seventies, he seems VERY happy with that, and I'm not planning on breeding him anyway.

Do what makes you and your fish happy without overfeeding. I give 2 pellets in the morning and 2-3 at night.

:rolling: About the fish food, I had heard the same thing, but my fish does not fit the profile for eating only 2 pellets a day. I think he would eat himself to death if i'd let him. But don't feel bad, I usually feed my fish 8-10 pellets a day, at many different times during the day. My fish food which is not Bio-gold, says I can feed my fish up to 18 pellets a day. I wouldn't advise that even though my fish might <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

About the water, I did not know to be concerned till I joined this forum but my fish has always been pretty happy. I recently started checking the temp. and it stays between 68-72. Usually 70. I still don't really know what is the best for him but I have read about bettas and most people suggest between 75-80. I figure I am pretty close to that and my fish seems happy.

<img src="/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Yeah, watch those pet store people! I think some of them are sincere about caring for the fish but for some of them it is just a job they half way learn to do. I was in walmart and there was a fairly new guy there. Another guy was training him on how to clean the tanks. He told the new guy that he would eventually kill some fish will cleaning the tank and not to worry about it, they were laughing at that. That shows you how much they cared. Pet places could for sure do a better job.

I think that you can tell a lot about the advice you get at a store by the quality of bettas. Many places have dead bettas in the cups - you'd think they would at least know that they were dead or unhealthy. That's why the places that only sell fish are the best - it's their business and they can't afford to have unheathy fish and many people open those stores for the love of fish.

Question about bettas in stores: What is with the colored water a lot of them are in? Is that healthy?

the colored water is a bit of methylene blue, added as a tonic to improve their health after transport stress. It does make it hard to see their colors tho.