Are You Sure?

[PrairieSunflower]

I have the Hikari Bio Gold Betta Pellets (I think that is the full name of it) that someone suggested in one of my many threads somewhere.   Are you really sure about 5 pellets per meal is enough?  They look so small!
 
 
My betta is a tiny bit less angry with shadows this morning, by the way.  LOL

 

[Mamashack]

If you soak them Prairie they expand a bit - mine gets around 5 pellets daily. Well one of them does - have different foods for the various occupants of my betta tank, but I'm not sure who gets what tbh!

 

[Noahsfish]

When I had a betta I always f'ed him 10-12 pellets TBH, and he never had any problems.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I have been soaking them.  I am just thinking he might seem a bit hungry... or he is a bit deviant... as he later goes around pulling bits off my cabomba and spitting them out.

 

[Mamashack]

He's maybe a bit bored if he's not actually eating it. Has he anything or anyone to play with? If not try him with a pingpong ball.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I am going out later so I will see if I can find any ping pong balls... the only one I have at home is filthy.
 
He still spends most of his time on one side of the tank looking at shadows... but is not constantly flaring so far today.
 
His tank has cabomba, anubias, moss balls and one ornament I want to replace eventually with something less jagged (I want some sort of cave but anything I spot is even worse for edges).  He still has a few assassin snails in there and has been watching one climb up the side of the tank.

 

[Mamashack]

He'll settle eventually I'm sure - good luck with the pingpong ball!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

What will he do with a ping pong ball, follow it around?

 

[Dominus_XVIII]

I use the same brand, 8 pellets seem to do well, without getting my bettas bloated. I also vary my betta diet regiment, so my bettas don't get bored of their food. Here's a list and the order I use to feed all my bettas.

Dry foods: (main stable diet, alternate brand every week, 8-10 pellets)

-Atison's betta Pro
-Hikari betta gold pellets
-NLS betta pellets

Frozen foods: (Every Friday, alternating type of frozen food each week)

-Beef heart
-Bloodworms
-Brine shrimp
-Lobster eggs
-Salmon roe

Live foods: (2 times a month, Mondays of the the first week and last week of a month)

-Blackworms
-Pin head crickets (gut loaded with Hikari Massivore)

 

[PrairieSunflower]

What I have right now is Tetra Betta Flakes... which are really hard to guess what the right amount is... I have the Hikari Bio-Gold pellets.  I also have freeze dried bloodworms (which I haven't used on this new betta since I am afraid that maybe someone how I overfeed my other one and no idea if that contributed to it dieing... plus my new one is smaller), and I have daphnia.... plus tropical food which I think isn't for bettas but I feed my other fish.
 
I also have algae wafers, is that something a betta would like?  (If I broke of a tiny bit since they are far too big).

 

[Mamashack]

I think the algae wafer would probably sink and bettas seem to be top feeders. The snails might like it altho they might not do their clean up job quite so well is they are full of algae wafer. I've heard live food is good once a week altho I haven't done that as yet with mine. He hasn't got bored with food yet and he gets the same every day altho as said before it may vary slightly depending on who gets to what first.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

I'm not sure my snails have ever eaten algae wafers (they are assassins)... there are no pest snails left so I've been moving the assassins as I find them into the community tank where food will drop to the bottom.  But that gives me an idea.... would it work to find some sort of sinking food for the snails... or would my betta eventually get the idea and eat that too?

 

[Mamashack]

I think they would probably eat algae wafer if there was nothing else, but otherwise you are right they are not primarily algae-eaters.
Not sure about the sinking aspect of their altho there is an interesting thread on moist tropical food that might be of interest. I'll link it when I can find it again.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/416102-moist-pelleted-fish-food/

 

[Wildbetta]

Bettas are carnivores so they need protein rich food so algae wafers are not something to feed them.  There are some that will take a bite out of one when it is added for bottom veggie feeders but normally will proceed to spit the bite out.  I do not recommend flakes or freezedried foods for bettas.  Both of these tend to cause bloating and constipation issues and the flakes are bad to foul the tank since it is hard to work out how much to feed.  A variety of different pellet foods are best and you can switch them up to keep the betta from being bored with one particular one.  Live and frozen foods are really good for bettas as well but their main food should be the pellets.  As for how many pellets to feed:  it varies for the type of pellets because some are quite large and others are tiny.  The best way to gauge the amount is to think about the fact that your betta's belly is the size of his eyeball.  If you think he is not getting enough just give him one or two more pellets and see how he does but I wouldn't give him much more than that.  
 
The ping pong ball -- bettas will play with them by pushing them around the tank or popping up underneath it and making it pop off the water surface a bit.

 

[KasumiBetta]

I bet Kasumi would be thrilled if I got her a ping pong ball. I'm going to try it!
 
If Kasumi ever misses a pellet, I can count on her rooting through the gravel till she finds it. I don't know if it's the same for all bettas. Just my observations with Kasumi!