Can A Betta Stay Healthy & Happy On Just Freeze Dried Bloodworms?

[beginner]

Hi Friends,
I am thinking of keeping 1 Betta in a 5 gallon planted tank (no other fish). But I have a probelm. I am a vegetarian and the only non-veg food I am willing to feed the Betta is Freeze Dried Bloodworms (since they are larve of a pest, namely mosquito). Would the Betta remain healthy and happy with a feed of just Freeze Dried Bloodworms? Or is it not advisable to keep a Betta only on a single food diet namely, Freeze Dried Bloodworms?
Thanks in advance to those who reply.

 

[rowdyburns21]

No fish will do well being fed just one food, variety is needed for healthy fish.

 

[MermaidMel]

Why don't you feed it Betta pellets and then give the bloodworm once a week

 

[dwarfgourami]

Bloodworm, though a nice treat, is not actually terribly nutritious; in the long run, your fish's health may well suffer. You could alternate with daphnia, though again I'm not sure if this will give a balanced nutrition with just the two.
(Bloodworms may be a pest and daphnia may not be, but that seems a very human-centered attitude; there is no evidence daphnia would suffer more than bloodworms from being eaten by your fish, and it would be better for the betta.)
It is probably not a good idea to keep feeding freeze dried all the time, could risk bloating problems. Try frozen or live.
(Better still, if you could also feed betta pellets now and again- I appreciate those probably have fish in them, but the betta may still need them; a bit like if you kept a cat or a dog, you wouldn't be able to keep them vegetarian.)
On a brighter note, an occasional vegetable meal, like a lightly boiled pea, will probably be appreciated.

 

[littlest]

Hi, I'm vegetarian too, but whilst us humans can easily survive without meat, bettas can't, so if we are going to keep them we have to be prepared to feed them non-vegetarian foods which are not limited to bloodworms. I feed mine a betta pellet, a betta flake, bloodworms and live brine shrimp. I understand you may not want to go as far as feeding live foods, but you do need to feed a betta a variety of food.
Since your issues appear to be moral ones, it is important to remember that unlike us, bettas cannot be vegetarian, but like us they won't be happy and healthy with just one food.

 

[Don Trinko]

Walmart has Betta pellets for $2. These are balanced nutricionaly. As said before variety is good but most of the frozen/freezdried foods only have one ingrediant and are not a good diet by themselves.
Don T.

 

[lilfishie]

mine get, pea once a week, bloodworm once a week, then pellets everyother day

 

[K.J.]

In short: no.

If you aren't willing to give it a balanced diet, don't keep it. Just because you're "saving a life" does not mean you're doing it good.

 

[SouthernCross]

Just because you are a vegetarian doesn't mean you should enforce it on your pets. Many animals need to eat meat in order to be healthy. For example, you wouldn't not feed a dog meat. Its their natural diet, they are MEANT to eat it, they need it to be healthy. Please feed your betta properly, or give it away to someone who will. These animals are omnivores - they eat meat and vegetable, and require nutrients from both to be healthy.

In fact many nutritionists would argue humans are the same - we're meant to eat meat, there are things in it to promote our optimum health. I hope you take supplements yourself to make up for what you lack from not eating meat.
They play a television ad out here actually that says the same thing - that our brains wouldn't have developed to where they are today if we hadn't been meat eaters.

 

[HurleyInferno]

Kinda ridiculous you throw your moral beliefs onto your fish..it's bred in them to be omnivores

 

[beginner]

Hi Friends,
THANKS for your very informative replies. I wish to assure SouthernCross I don’t have a Betta as yet (so there is no need to give it away). I too felt that feeding a Betta just freeze dried bloodworms won’t be enough, hence I put up the issue on the forum. From the replies it seems a combination of Betta Pellets and Freeze Dried Bloodworms is the bare minimum. Here, I have another question (please bear with me), Would this combination of Betta pellets and Freeze Dried Bloodworms be enough or would they still need occasional live and other feed to be happy and healthy?
Bye & THANKS AGAIN

 

[madgap]

Just because you have particular culinary belief, it's unethical and immoral to enforce that on to another creature. Even one such as a fish.
I give my fish as wide a range of food as I can, even though I don't eat fish food myself!

 

[SouthernCross]

Hi Friends,
THANKS for your very informative replies. I wish to assure SouthernCross I don’t have a Betta as yet (so there is no need to give it away). I too felt that feeding a Betta just freeze dried bloodworms won’t be enough, hence I put up the issue on the forum. From the replies it seems a combination of Betta Pellets and Freeze Dried Bloodworms is the bare minimum. Here, I have another question (please bear with me), Would this combination of Betta pellets and Freeze Dried Bloodworms be enough or would they still need occasional live and other feed to be happy and healthy?
Bye & THANKS AGAIN

Ahh, thats good to know. Its good to hear of someone doing their research BEFORE buying a pet - it doesn't always happen that way! Congratulations. Sorry if it sounds like some of us are attacking you a bit - you'll learn people on this board are very defensive when it comes to fish and fish care - but its only because we care a lot about fish and want whats best for them.

Yes, I think most of us generally stick to pellets and occasional bloodworm as a treat. On top of that mine occasionally get flake (usually one I have thats made by Nutrafin specifically for bettas), and every now and again some peas to clean them right out, helps avoid constipation.

If you do decide to get a betta, good luck! P.S. We always love to see pictures of people's new bettas

 

[starrynightxxi]

Just because you are a vegetarian doesn't mean you should enforce it on your pets. Many animals need to eat meat in order to be healthy. For example, you wouldn't not feed a dog meat. Its their natural diet, they are MEANT to eat it, they need it to be healthy. Please feed your betta properly, or give it away to someone who will. These animals are omnivores - they eat meat and vegetable, and require nutrients from both to be healthy.

In fact many nutritionists would argue humans are the same - we're meant to eat meat, there are things in it to promote our optimum health. I hope you take supplements yourself to make up for what you lack from not eating meat.
They play a television ad out here actually that says the same thing - that our brains wouldn't have developed to where they are today if we hadn't been meat eaters.

Kinda ridiculous you throw your moral beliefs onto your fish..it's bred in them to be omnivores

Just because you have particular culinary belief, it's unethical and immoral to enforce that on to another creature. Even one such as a fish.
I give my fish as wide a range of food as I can, even though I don't eat fish food myself!

Geez, you guys could lay off a little, he said he was THINKING about keeping a betta, not that he had one. He's been here before trying to find a fish that will suit his beliefs, not trying to force his morals on a fish. Also, bettas are CARNIVORES, not omnivores. They don't graze in the wild. And for crying out loud, how can you stand here and spout off about how someone's personal ethical choice, which they are not forcing on you OR their fish, is unhealthy?


beginner - Most people will say bloodworm is too rich in protein to be fed regularly. I've no idea if that's in reference to the hemoglobin in them (which is what makes them red) or not, but I believe glassworms are the same thing, only without hemoglobin. Depending on your definition of the word "pest" there may be other frozen foods, or live food cultures you would be willing to feed. A diet of just pellets itself would be fine,though, and the bloodworms would be bonus

This makes me curious though, with the options that are open to us for vegetarianism, i wonder if you COULD healthily make one out of a fish. I suppose you'd first have to convince them that soy is their friend... might not win that battle

[edit] don't you just hate when you hit "post" instead of "preview"?

 

[fry_lover]

Just because you are a vegetarian doesn't mean you should enforce it on your pets. Many animals need to eat meat in order to be healthy. For example, you wouldn't not feed a dog meat. Its their natural diet, they are MEANT to eat it, they need it to be healthy. Please feed your betta properly, or give it away to someone who will. These animals are omnivores - they eat meat and vegetable, and require nutrients from both to be healthy.

In fact many nutritionists would argue humans are the same - we're meant to eat meat, there are things in it to promote our optimum health. I hope you take supplements yourself to make up for what you lack from not eating meat.
They play a television ad out here actually that says the same thing - that our brains wouldn't have developed to where they are today if we hadn't been meat eaters.

Kinda ridiculous you throw your moral beliefs onto your fish..it's bred in them to be omnivores

Just because you have particular culinary belief, it's unethical and immoral to enforce that on to another creature. Even one such as a fish.
I give my fish as wide a range of food as I can, even though I don't eat fish food myself!

Geez, you guys could lay off a little, he said he was THINKING about keeping a betta, not that he had one. He's been here before trying to find a fish that will suit his beliefs, not trying to force his morals on a fish. Also, bettas are CARNIVORES, not omnivores. They don't graze in the wild. And for crying out loud, how can you stand here and spout off about how someone's personal ethical choice, which they are not forcing on you OR their fish, is unhealthy?


beginner - Most people will say bloodworm is too rich in protein to be fed regularly. I've no idea if that's in reference to the hemoglobin in them (which is what makes them red) or not, but I believe glassworms are the same thing, only without hemoglobin. Depending on your definition of the word "pest" there may be other frozen foods, or live food cultures you would be willing to feed. A diet of just pellets itself would be fine,though, and the bloodworms would be bonus

This makes me curious though, with the options that are open to us for vegetarianism, i wonder if you COULD healthily make one out of a fish. I suppose you'd first have to convince them that soy is their friend... might not win that battle

[edit] don't you just hate when you hit "post" instead of "preview"?

Good response, what it's known as Starrynightxxi is not reading the post properly, jumping to conclusions and also peeps getting on their soap box way too quickly.

And as for the question, like the others, i say a firm "no" as the answer