# Betta eating sand?



## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

Hi! 

So I've had my little veiltail betta for about 4 months now and I just recently moved him to a new tank. This week I noticed he had a big belly, sort of bloated, but more of an overfed look. I fasted him, it went away and I didn't think anything of it because he's super active. The big belly returned a few days ago and I gave him just a bit of food...the big belly hasn't subsided.

The substrate is sand, which I've never used before but have loved so far. Today when I went to do a water change I noticed that there were bits of sand (betta pellet sized) in his floating log that he absolutely adores. He must have been carrying those bits into the log and then spitting them out. I scraped the sand bits out of the log and plopped the log back into the tank, which he immediately swam to. Sure enough, I missed a piece of the gravel which he gobbled up just like a pellet and didn't spit it out. 

He's been happy and eating fine but I'm now worried about him because of the stories I've read of them eating sand by mistaking it for pellets and dying from it...I love him dearly so I hope he'll be okay. 

Has anyone had this happen to them and is there anything I can do for him to maybe help him pass these bits of sand that are likely hanging around in his belly? 

Thanks!


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Shelled peas. Blanch them and put them in. I usually shell them and blanch them, then I smash them up so it floats in little pieces he can take. It's a laxative for them. Don't use peas from a can, the frozen whole peas are the best. No idea how to get him to not pick them up in the first place.


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## .hawaii (Oct 8, 2011)

Obsidian said:


> Shelled peas. Blanch them and put them in. I usually shell them and blanch them, then I smash them up so it floats in little pieces he can take. It's a laxative for them. Don't use peas from a can, the frozen whole peas are the best. No idea how to get him to not pick them up in the first place.


Interesting! I've never heard of this.

I was going to suggest feeding him live food(brine shrimp), because when I feed my bettas live brine shrimp they seem to poop a lot.


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## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

Thanks very much for your advice! I'll see if I can give both those a try. His belly has gone down today which is a good thing, I'm thinking, but the silly little goose is still picking up the sand pebbles and putting them in his log. I might have to change out the sand for some rocks so he can't do that if he keeps it up.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Chances are he is only redecorating and had/has constipation separate from that. If starving him hadn't worked I would be more likely to buy that he is eating the sand. If it was just that he is eating sand the fasting wouldn't have had much effect. To my mind anyway.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

The sand shouldn't be a problem. He'll just poop it out.


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## bmlbytes (Aug 1, 2009)

Betta man said:


> The sand shouldn't be a problem. He'll just poop it out.


The sand isnt harmful itself, but if he only eats sand, he will starve.


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## BettaLove1 (Dec 6, 2011)

That does make sense to me too, Obsidian. I'm going to agree that he likely had some constipation that just coincided with me noticing that he was rearranging things. I've been giving him pellets which I haven't soaked that probably caused that. I'll be soaking his pellets from now on (heard it helps with this issue). 

Thanks for all the input!  I much appreciate it I'm a lot less worried about him now, hearing that the sand likely won't have much of an effect on him. He gobbles down his regular food too so I'm not worried about him starving....little piggy betta.


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## Betta man (Mar 25, 2011)

try feeding him a small bit of a pea.


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