What food do you feed your bettas?

[EllRog]

If they are used to pellets, it could be an issue. Flakes are extremely think unlike pellets. If the Betta is used to taking in larger mouthfuls are a time, he could swallow lots of air.

Fair point i suppose, never really thought of it. Never fed betta's flakes. I would have thought that betta's would attack the flake in multiple, singular bites opposed to just gobbling them whole like a pellet. Suprised a labyrinth fish would have any problem taking in air... first time I've really thought about any of this to be honest lol

 

[Emilyyy]

I feed mines Fluval Betta Bug Bites. Twice a week I soak freeze-dried worms/shrimp for them too.

 

[Sgooosh]

i never feed any fish flakes..., like i said i do not have much experience with bettas lol. thought it would work since most fish eat flakes exept for my guppies who are reluctant to eat every cake but DONT EVEN TOUCH the orange flakes like wha???

 

[Uberhoust]

When new, our bettas didn't recognize anything but pellets as food, they will now eat anything offered (I didn't starve them). They do seem to like the bug bites betta formula flakes better than the pellets now. I break the flakes up before feeding, ours tend to try to eat the whole flake.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I thought the issue with flake is that it contains so little moisture, when its swallowed it begins to absorb moisture and expand inside the gut leading to bloating. I find flakes are ok if you crush them them up when feeding, almost to a powder. It gives them a much larger surface area so they absorb water almost instantly.
I know with corydoras that they actively gulp air (aerial respiration), which actually runs through their gut, and is later farted out ? Maybe other fish struggle if they gulp some air? Seems like a bit of a pathetic issue for an organism thats been around for hundreds of millions of years to have? If they gulp a bit of air, their swim bladder gets bloated, they struggle to swim and end up dead?

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Fair point i suppose, never really thought of it. Never fed betta's flakes. I would have thought that betta's would attack the flake in multiple, singular bites opposed to just gobbling them whole like a pellet. Suprised a labyrinth fish would have any problem taking in air... first time I've really thought about any of this to be honest lol

I thought the issue with flake is that it contains so little moisture, when its swallowed it begins to absorb moisture and expand inside the gut leading to bloating. I find flakes are ok if you crush them them up when feeding, almost to a powder. It gives them a much larger surface area so they absorb water almost instantly.
I know with corydoras that they actively gulp air (aerial respiration), which actually runs through their gut, and is later farted out ? Maybe other fish struggle if they gulp some air? Seems like a bit of a pathetic issue for an organism thats been around for hundreds of millions of years to have? If they gulp a bit of air, their swim bladder gets bloated, they struggle to swim and end up dead?

I could be wrong, I just remember that from somewhere.

 

[mbsqw1d]

I could be wrong, I just remember that from somewhere.

Ive googled it since PK and it definitely comes up. Gulping air when eating causing issues with swim bladder. Just seems odd to me! ??‍ Dont fish in the wild eat from the surface and therefore gulp air?

 

[Car1os]

Ive googled it since PK and it definitely comes up. Gulping air when eating causing issues with swim bladder. Just seems odd to me! ??‍ Dont fish in the wild eat from the surface and therefore gulp air?

Thats weird, my fish always feed from the surface and have gulped air sometimes but they've never had swim bladder problems.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Thats weird, my fish always feed from the surface and have gulped air sometimes but they've never had swim bladder problems.

Mine neither.. i think it must depend on the fish? Or, its a myth?

 

[EllRog]

For all we know there's probably tons of fish in the wild with swim bladder problems lol. I don’t often scuba dive in tropical rivers looking at wild fish tbh

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Ive googled it since PK and it definitely comes up. Gulping air when eating causing issues with swim bladder. Just seems odd to me! ??‍ Dont fish in the wild eat from the surface and therefore gulp air?

I’m not crazy! ?

 

[Nuttawet]

I feed everything that is good for him/her.

 

[Pidge1992]

Mine is on new life spectrum micro betta pellets. His color is richer and he likes it a lot. Seems very happy and healthy. ?

 

[Back in the fold]

There are so many different prepared foods for Bettas these days and they're all good. Bettas will thrive and be healthy on all of them. I raise wingless fruit flies for my fish and they love them. I've never fed them to Bettas before but since they mimic a Bettas natural food I think they would be great. When fish have live food to hunt and strike at they seem to take on an added vigor. Wingless fruit flies are cheap and easy to raise, especially in the small amounts needed for a single Betta. Give it a try.