Fussy eater

[Loboto-Me]

My boy is a very fussy eater. He refuses betta bites... he'll swim up to them, stare at them and quickly turn around completely ignoring them. Out of desperation I put in a few tropical fish flakes, but he picks and chooses what flavor he prefers, the leftovers make an oily film on the top of his water. I gave up on that idea.

Then, I tried freeze dried blood worms. Eureka! I found something he loves! The only problem is, too many could constipate him so I don't like to give them to him every day (only 2 or 3X a week as a treat).

I finally got an idea that worked, tropical fish floating pellets. He loves them! He's not picky about the flavor he gets. I noticed that the tropical fish pellets are smaller than the betta pellets, so I'm suspecting that that's the reason he likes them.

I do have a question though. Are tropical fish pellets ok nutritionally for my betta? I finally find a food that he likes and it's got to be formulated for another type of fish! sheesh!

 

[AmberC]

I'm not sure about your question, but had one of mine own...

You said too much blood worms will constipate... is that just your particular fish, all bettas or all tropical fish? I feed my fish mainly a diet of frozen bloodworms because thats what my puffer prefers. My puffer wont touch the brine shrimp, will eat flakes, but I dont think thats really a healthy food for him, so I pretty much just stick with the bloodworms. I haven't seen any problem with bms of my fish.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Hi Lobo~

I've never had to deal with picky eaters, all of my guys and gals are pigs. I do have the orange pair that are difficult to feed, they eat only fresh or frozen. I tried the male in "tropical pellets" for awhile because he was always hungry, I was defrosting food for him two or three times a day so I said pfffft,forget this,he's getting dry! Tried him on the trop pellets and he got swim bladder ,maybe there's no connection. That's my only experience with feeding regular fish food so I thought I'd let you know. I put him back on his fresh/frozen diet and he straightened right out

There's so many different foods you can try.

Krill
brine
squid
beef heart
fruit flies
the list goes on & on

Don't be afraid to make something for him , I buy a frozen blend that my lfs makes, it has spinach, finely chopped fish, garlic, and a bunch of other stuff....my bettas go NUTS for it. Just whip it up in a food processor, stick it in a bag, flatten it out and freeze it. Break a chunk off as you need it. I've also noticed how much they love veggies of any sort. Last night they all had frozen food that has a base of algae and vegetable matter, they love that stuff too. Once a week I give them all blanched zuchinni,it's one of their faves.

Amber~frozen bloodworms are great, especially if they're made by Hikari, they do have a high fat content though, keep experimenting with other foods to try and expand their diet, have you tried giving the puffers snails? If you can get them a steady supply of snails, you may have better luck with your other fish eating different foods.

 

[AmberC]

Amber~frozen bloodworms are great, especially if they're made by Hikari, they do have a high fat content though, keep experimenting with other foods to try and expand their diet, have you tried giving the puffers snails? If you can get them a steady supply of snails, you may have better luck with your other fish eating different foods.

They are Hikari bloodworms . I do give my puffer snails once a week. I dont have means or space to set up a snail tank right now, or I would have done that. I have to drive pretty far just to get those snails and usually I will buy 5 at a time and plop them all in there and he gets them all after a couple days. He has started eating the brine shrimp recently tho. So I am doing flake, brine and bloodworms. I'm going to cut back on the bloodworms a little. Maybe I will try some of the krill or other ones you mentioned too. Thanks