So, What Do You Feed Your Betta?

[doresy]

My Betta boy is so fickle

When I first got him some months ago he would eat just abot anything but not now...

The ONLY thing he will take for some time now is flake and only the red bits!

He has never taken Betta pellets.

Frozen bloodworm he used to love but now he looks at it, sucks one up, carries it around for a bit then spits it out.

He also used to fight the pigmy cory for their catfish pellets but not now.

He used to even have a go at an algae flake but again lost interest now.

Today I tried him on a little freezed dried (but moist, can't work that one out!) brine shrimp which he sort of went for but after a mouthful he didn't seem too sure about it.

Don't get me wrong, he is very happy in as much as he looks good, is very active and his water is better than perfect.....

I am a little concerned that he is not getting enough goodness.

 

[newfishy]

can you try putting a few drops of garlic juice on the food and letting it soak for a few min before eating, perhaps that would stimulate his hunger.

 

[doresy]

can you try putting a few drops of garlic juice on the food and letting it soak for a few min before eating, perhaps that would stimulate his hunger.

wouldn't have thought of that.....is garlic a betta's choice of taste?

 

[Honeythorn]

I feed Duncan Nutrafin micro pellets. So small it's practically dust! ( no store anywhere in my area sells betta specific food ) He also gets a couple of tiny baby earthworms once a week which he LOVES. He rips them off my finger like a mini pirhana! He also loves bloodworm when stores have it in stock. again, only 1 or 2.


Do you feed any live foods at all? Bloodworm Daphnia or brineshrimp? Worms? Tetradelica also do a meaty type of wet food in packets, you could try him on a tiny bit of that and keep the rest of the packet in the fridge or feed it to any other fish you have.

There just doesn't seem to be much live or meaty food in his diet. I've never liked freezedried or frozen foods personally. Don't get me wrong, you shouldn't feed him too much of this sort of rich meaty/protein food as it can bloat them if you aren't careful. But 1-2 times a week in small amounts if he will accept them is fine.

I think it's good to encourage their natural feeding behaviour, and small live insects/larvae ect are what they eat in the wild. Get him to chase what he's eating .

 

[doresy]

Thanks 'Honeythorn', duly noted

 

[metromyers]

My first betta Fred was also a very picky eater. He wouldn't eat pellets, flake, or brine shrimp. He would either eat live or dried worms. That was it. He would suck the pellets down and them spit them out.

My baby Fauna, her mouth is to small to eat pellets. So I crushed up some pellets, dried worms, and a couple algae wafers. She loves it.