Ahhh! I'm looking after a fish and I may have overfed it!

Ok here's the setup: My friend's gf gave me a fish to look after for reading break. Her instructions were clear: feed the fish two crushed pellets of food a day. No problem I thought.

Well today I woke up and dropped two pellets in the tank was about to walk out of my room when I realized I'd forgotten to crush them up. I came back to pluck them out of the water to find that they had already sunk to the bottom of the tank. So now I have two whole food pellets (a day's worth of food) decomposing at the bottom of the tank.

I've been reading on the Internet for the last hour about how overfeeding is the most often cause of killing fish and I'm freaking out. I'd reach in their and pull the food out but A) I'm afraid of hurting the fish, and B) it's one of those small tube tanks so I couldn't reach it even if i wanted too.

I'm also considering doing a partial water change but I'm afraid that I'll just screw up and go from the frying pan into the fire.

So I'm kind of in a bind...is there a fish owner that can tell me what I should do? If I just don't feed him today (he didn't eat anything because the pellets were too big) will he survive the decomposing food's changes to his tank or is it possible that this one overfeeding will be his death knell?

Please help!

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Im not to sure on this subject but Im sure they will be fine as my wife has over fed most of the fish we have had and they only died of old age. Seriously mate I wouldnt stress to much over it my friend.

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~In the event of a Zombie Uprising, remember to sever the head or destroy the brain!~

Do you know what kind of fish it is?

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Probably one with gills I would imagine.

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"This is that human freedom, which all boast that they possess, and which consists solely in the fact, that men are conscious of their own desire, but are ignorant of the causes whereby that desire has been determined." -Baruch Spinoza

It's some kind of betta fish I think.

You won't kill the fish if it misses one day of food. Changing the water is also another way of killing healthy fish. I'd just wait until tomorrow to feed it. I guess it doesn't matter according to your instructions but if it was me, I'd feed the fish one crushed pellet twice a day. Don't freak out. It should be fine.

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It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Over feeding for a long time, is what that means. Not once, or even a few times. I've had tanks, and a pond for numerous years, so I'm sure about this. You're fine.

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Smart arse...





Ijkky... I agree with Mark... just feed it a crushed pellet... twice a day... and it should be fine.

Betta can live in the worst conditions possible. They normally don't even have air filters. Just a plant.

Ok. I was really freaking there for a bit.

Thanks everybody for calming me down.

Can you hide the pellets with rocks and sand?
Maybe they will dissolve.
I would just wait a day and feed them again.
I think they will be ok.

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"If you can't be funny be interesting."
Harold Ross

If they can survive at Wal-Mart, they can survive anywhere.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

This is one of the funniest thread titles ever.

The only thing funnier would be, "Ahhh! I'm looking after Rosie O'Donnell and I may have UNDERfed it!"

My girlfriend's had a few betta fish over the years. Everyone else in this thread is dead-on: they're pretty tough. They're still fish, which means they're probably only going to live a couple of years, but you can pretty much just toss a betta in a bowl of water, and they'll be fine. And, of course, they're very pretty to look at.

Thinking of getting one myself, actually.

How are they getting on today?

We had some goldfish that lived for like 15 years, well two of them anyway, the third died around year 11. I remember it well because I always got told that they were the same age as me because my oldest brother won them at the local fair tossing dimes into fish bowls the day before I was born. Their names were Bugeye, Pluto, and Charlie. Charlie is the one who bit the dust early because during a total tank cleaning he decided to jump out of the temp' bowl we had him in and one of our cats decided he was a toy and not a flopping fish on the carpet (or maybe those two things are the same to a cat.) Anyway, Bugsy and Pluto both bit it when there was a major flood when we lived in Kenner LA. and we lost power for many days. We kinda neglected them during the tough time there and forgot to feed em. Kinda the opposite of overfeeding. I miss 'em.

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“The gladdest moment in human life, methinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton

Funny story when I was around the age of 6-7 we had a goldfish named Pluto (from Micky Mouse's dog ) I won him from the circus. Anyway my mother was going out and she had her best mate to babysit me, while I was getting ready for my bath my mum was getting the fish ready to clean. So my mum got distracted by something im not sure what but she said "Oh can you put him in the bath for me quick, then I'll be back to sort it."

So as her mate pottered about in the kitchen she said "Right to get in the bath." so I went in the bathroom just as my mother returned, so I entered the bathroo to find the goldfish having the time of his life in MY bath! My mothers dipstick friend put my fish in the bath instead of my, we laughed and I still laugh about it now.

this is why having a stupid small fish in a stupid small tank is stupid.