Betta fish and guppies

Question
Hello,

I have recently bought a 30 litre tank with a male fighting fish and two guppies. They seem to be getting along quite well, but I'm a little concerned about the betta. He often lies on the tank floor or curls up by the heater. The water is heated to 25 Celsius, which I thought would be ok. Also on the net it says to feed the betta everyday but my local pet store recommended feeding the three fish every other day with tropical fish flakes - is this ok or do I need some betta food (and if so will it harm the guppies?). Thanks for any help and sorry for the length of the question!! Many thanks.

Answer
Hi Phil,

Hmm, I'm not sure why your betta is lying on the floor, he definitely seems to be unhappy about something. First thing, you ought to test the water with a strip kit or a liquid test kit. A "5 in 1" strip sort of deal is cheap and easy, even if it isn't 100% accurate.

Make sure you have no ammonia or nitrite in your tank's water. In new tanks, it's common for these levels to show up, but in an established, healthy aquarium, these levels are always 0 ppm. I would change 50% of the water for starters. (You should be changing this much once or twice a week.) Always use a dechlorinator that detoxifies both chlorine and chloramine. Slowly heat up the water about 3 more degrees, your betta sounds cold...and add a pinch of salt (aquarium salt, kosher salt, pickling salt...it's all the same, non-iodized salt is what you are after, NOT table salt) about 1 tablespoon (15 ml), mix it in warm water first so the salt grains don't burn your fish.

See if that helps your betta feel better. As far as feeding, your guppies need different sorts of food than your betta. Guppies need lots of greens, they thrive on things like nori (roasted seaweed sheets used for making sushi) and bits of vegetables such as blanched spinach. It can take time for them to accept these foods, but one thing they will definitely take is Spirulina flake. Tetra makes some in a small tin (always get the smallest tin, fish food only lasts about 3 months, after which it gets stale and your fish won't like it as much...plus, it loses nutritional value) and it is good for both your betta to have occasional green food, and your guppies, who should be having MOSTLY green food. Your betta ought to have a high protein flake. Betta pellets, such as Hikari Bio-Gold and I believe Tetra has some now also, are complete nutrition for your betta, so they ought to be his staple food. Give him about 3-4 pellets at a sitting. If the guppies eat some, that's fine, it just shouldn't be their staple.

Tropical fish flake is sort of a compromise, it is not very high in protein, nor is it very low in protein. Basically, fish that need greens such as livebearers should have a dried food with lower than 40% protein, carnivores like bettas ought to have higher than this. It doesn't hurt if these two fish have a little of the other's food, you should just be aware that they have different nutritional needs.

As a treat, bettas love frozen bloodworms, and the guppies will probably taste some of this too. The guppies will appreciate a shelled, cooked pea (such as an unsalted canned or defrosted frozen pea) which the betta will probably pick at also. Give it a try!

These websites will help you understand the needs of both fish:
http://www.bettatalk.com
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/guppies.htm

I hope that helps, have a nice weekend.
Nicole