Oldfishlady

Sometimes you have to starve to them to get them to eat what you want....hold food for a few days and try again.....only offer the food you want him to eat and once he eats it good for a few days...then you can offer him treats....

Hey OFL! I recently bought a young halfmoon betta 2 days ago. He is doing fine at his tank. The problem is, he won't eat hikari pellets and Atison Betta Pro pellets. When I first dropped them in the tank, he ate the first one but spits out the second one. Then the next time I dropped a pellet he will swim up to it and then swim away ignoring it. I know that he is fed tubifex worms at the fish farm before. All my bettas eat the pellets when I dropped them for the first time to eat. But this young halfmoon doesn't eat them. He likes the live daphnia I gave him. How do I get him to eat the pellets? He is about 3.5cm-4cm in length and I can tell that he is quite young.

From everything ive read your very knowledgeable on everything betta related. I was wondering if you could check out my thread if you have time. My girl isnt acting herself and seems to be less active as the day moves on. Its labeled "floating butt" in the diseases section.

Pew-6500k is more like natural sunlight and aquatic plants can use this range the best for energy....its a standard kelvin for aquatic plants regardless of tank size, plant needs.... etc.....

inkrealm-I am not sure I understand what you are asking...have you made a thread on this with the needed information...I will look for your thread on this...but generally-if the fish is acting fine overall with an occasional dart and no other symptoms....I wouldn't worry but keep an eye on things....

thanks :D he darts funny sometimes but doesn't seem in distress per say, just odd, which they often are with their personalities ><
no stress streaks or lack of eating though. greatly appreciated :)

Hey, OFL! Hope things are well.

I had a question about lighting, because I saw a post of yours about it.
My 10w tubular florescent light in my 5 gallons are 6500K. I have both light loving and low light loving plants (anubias, etc) in my tank.

For my light lovers, is 6500K a good rating for 5 gallons? Thanks, OFL! <3

The best natural method is using crushed corral or crushed oyster shell in the tank...it takes a week or so to start to see an increase...you can either add it to the substrate or in the filter box wrapped in hose or netting of some type or both...but you also have to treat the source water for water changes too and with small tanks this can be a challenge......watch the fish...does he seem to have a problem with the pH and hardness....if not, I would leave it alone....but you also have plants and plants can benefit from the added mineral content....

Hi OFL, ^-^
I got my liquid test kit today and I had just a few questions,
my ammonia is fine,
no nitrate, no nitrite,
but my PH is still around 5.5 ( too low to be tested by AFI liquid, and almost too low for strips ) and my Alk is higher than my Hardness :/
today it was ridiculously higher, so I did some water change, but not a lot since I'd already been poking in his tank a lot today fixing some plants,
do you know any natural ways to ajust these water issues? if not should I get some products? or just leave them be?
it's also not currently aerated except for the filter if this helps at all,
thankyou :) :)

I see.. :V

Well, my betta didn't die with the levels of toxins on the tap water over the 3 months it's been with me, it came with fin-rot, cured, it came back from my friends house after holiday with bacteria, cured, now the cloudy eye for the first time because of me, xD... curing hahahah

Its best to always try to use your source water....mainly because its easy and best to get the fish adapted to it...not to mention cost....lol.....

Yes, Epsom salt is safe long term and is often used for plant food too and you are correct with the aquarium salt......for resistant issues and kidney issues with this species of fish....not all species of fish can tolerate either of these salts....