Quokka

When I got home yesterday there was fish poop in the net breeder that wasn't there when I left in the morning, so it does appear food is moving through... I've just been letting her overeat. To avoid her developing any of the scarier possibilities discussed here, I've switch their main food for the tank from vibra bites to the Sera veggie flakes, which she's less intensely interested in. She's a very active betta, spending a fair bit of time swimming laps of the back (3ft) of the tank, so hopefully she'll recover from my error soon. Thank you all for help here folks, I really appreciate it.

I started setting up my tank around New Years and a couple of the anubias I added during the first week of Jan were just coming into bloom when I got them. They’re both still going strong today (29th), algae aside.

I’ve had a good look and all there’s no sign of any scales sticking out. With her being so dark coloured it’s very difficult to get my camera to focus on her

I haven’t done a substrate swap, but I remember seeing someone on another forum mention they did theirs with fish in, but only changed out about an eighth at a time with several days in between changes. They were aiming to give at least some of the substrate beneficial bacteria a chance to cross over. If you want to do the full tank at once though, based on my microbiology experience, that mixing maybe 5-10% of the old substrate into the new would also work. This would give your substrate adapted bacterial colonies a larger foothold to recolonise the sand. Disclaimer, my bacterial experience is not in fish tank bacteria, and I’m not sure how different the bacterial colonies are in different parts of the tank.

I fully admit she is definitely getting too much food. I have not quite dialled in how much food I need to add for everyone to get some, and also she is very food motivated and unlike the tetras, does recognise pellets even after they land on a leaf. When I checked this morning it does appear that she is pooping, so I’ve left her in the net for now and fed everyone else.

Hi, I'm new to the forum and haven't had time to do an intro post yet. I'm a very new fish keeper (<1 month) and think my betta might have bloat? But I don't have enough experience to be sure if that's the case for sure. The first photo (in the net jail) is a top down shot of her this evening in the net breeder I put her in to stop her eating any extra food in case it is constipation. The second photo is a side view from the day after I acquired her. Before I do anything beyond forcing her to skip dinner and locking her up, I thought I should double check she is actually rounder than she should be. This is my first time keeping fish so I'm not yet familiar enough with what a 'normal' shape for a betta is. She's a fairly active betta who spends a lot of time patrolling the upper reaches of the tank (3ft) and making sure she gets first go at any food while it's in the upper water column. Water parameters have remained constant for the last 2 weeks since the tank finished cycling and are as below, all based on the API liquid tests pH: 7.5 Nitrates: 5-10 Hardness: 6 Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 KH/Buffer: 6 Water Temperature: 27 C/81 F Tankmates are: 2 bolivian rams, first in the tank: she avoids the lower corner they've claimed, they otherwise seem to largely ignore each other when in the remaining 90% of the tank, including when feeding. Both she and they spend more time telling off the tetras than each other 8 black phantom tetras, arrived a week later with her: largely focused on working out their own internal hierarchy, do let her have first go at any floating food 6 otocinclus, in since the 24th: she checked on out when they first arrived (no contact, just looking), they otherwise haven't interacted. It's quite late here so I'm going to have to go to bed and check any answers and reply in the morning, but I've uprooted her favorite crypt to give her something to rest on/under while she's confined for the night. Edit: I forgot to mention that she sometimes has a tiny white dot appear slightly forward of her anal fin