# My betta, the bully...



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Last night, my betta finally caught on to how I was feeding the African dwarf frogs. He ate all his food, and then he went and flared at the frogs and ate all their food. Now he's completely gorged. Swollen. The frogs were desperately searching for food, but he was guarding it. So I ended up removing the frogs and placing them in a little tub with some of the tank water and some brine shrimp. After they finally calmed down, they ate a bit. But I don't want to have to do this regularly because it's stressful for them. Not to mention one of them momentarily escaped when I tried to put him back in the tank....
So does anyone else have any ideas?


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## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

You could try to feed at the same time...

Feed the betta on one side of the tank and use a turkey baster to feed the dwarfs on the other side that way they never cross paths.

But, yes, you are right. That would certainly be very stressful to your frogs on a long term basis.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I do use a turkey baster and try to feed them at the same time... opposite end of the tank would help! I'll try that when the betta's constipation goes down and see if it helps.


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## Trout (Mar 16, 2011)

you could also get a piece of plastic to divide the betta from the rest at feeding time if just going to opposite ends doesn't work : P


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## Mr. fish (Mar 8, 2011)

Trout said:


> you could also get a piece of plastic to divide the betta from the rest at feeding time if just going to opposite ends doesn't work : P


This would work as well!

But, If it were me I would try the opposite sides first to save yourself the trouble. Hope it helps. Let us know!


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

If all else fails, the frogs may get moved to their own tank. Today I noticed my betta was harassing them. He NEVER did that until he figured out I was feeding them. How dare I feed anyone besides him!  I'll let you guys know how it works out.


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## Bettawhisperer (Oct 1, 2010)

I was going to say get a tank for the frogs.


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

I'm seriously considering it! A valid excuse to start a new tank.... hmmmmm......


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## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Ok, so Babyface the betta doesn't seem to be constipated tonight, so I tried my new strategy. It quickly went to hell but was sort of fun nonetheless.

First I had to locate the frogs, Bonnie and Clyde. Once I finally had them in sight, I gathered up just two flecks of bloodworm at a time in the turkey baster. I squeezed the first out for Babyface, because he was so excited to see the turkey baster... he knows this game  Then while he was busy, I squeezed the other out for one of the frogs. They were pretty quick to pick it up most of the time. But if not, I just had to keep my betta distracted with the turkey baster. And I just did that a couple times for each frog. 

This seems to go a lot better at night. So in the mornings, I'll just worry about feeding my betta. Then I'll get this routine going at night when I have more time anyway. Seems tedious but it's actually pretty entertaining!


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