picky Betta

[TKOS]

I am sure that many Betta owners have found that Betta's tend to be picky eaters. I have bought mine pellets, flakes, freeze dried blood worms and have had little success in having him eat them. Recently I found a source of live mosquito larva. He just loves them. Of course eventually I will run out and I was thinking that he might be okay with frozen brine shimp. But is this nutrious enough for him, is there someway I can suppliment this diet that I am not thinking of. Thanks

[Rometiklan]

Out of curiosity, what brand of pellets did you feed your Betta? While I have had problems getting Bettas to eat flakes, I have never had a Betta turn down any brand of micro-pellets, and freeze-dried bloodworms. There is a multitude of Betta pellets on the market like Tetra BettaMin, HBH, Hikari, etc.

Frozen brine shrimp is a good substitute to live feedings, but as with other fish, a varied diet is important. But you may not have much of a choice if your Betta will only eat certain foods. I suppose you could try starving your Betta for a few days and then see how he takes to the pellets and fd bloodworms.

[TKOS]

I have been using Wardley Pellets., Nutra Fin Blood Worms (Red Grubs), and Tetra's Betta Flakes. I have also tried the starving process but he doesn't seem to care. He used to pop the pellet in his mouth then spit it out. Now he just looks at it and swims away. He doesn't seem to care for any food that doesn't wiggle around. But I am assuming that he would like frozen brinze shimp or other frozen live food.

[kveeti]

I have 2 bettas, one is fussy the other isn't. Wardly pellets are those dark, blackish ones? Cranston won't eat those either. Try the Hikari Gold (though it's a bit more expensive). Mine will eat 2 of those before spitting out the third. It's something. I just feed him the 2 he will eat two or three times a day.... of course, then the good eater, Speckles, feels left out and I have to give him something each time too... so Speckles is being overfed.

[tammy911]

My Betta, who lives in a 75g community tank absolutely LOVES his peas! He grabs one and flares at anyone who tries to steal it from him. He also eats bloodworms pretty well. As for the pelleted stuff, he is just not interested.

[SomethingFishy]

I had a betta that wouldn't eat for about 2 weeks. I tried everything except live food. I finally took a freeze dried bloodworm & poked at it with the blunt end of a bamboo skewer to make it wiggle. Worked like a charm! after a couple of days I didn't have to wiggle them and he would eat just about anything I put in there. Also the Hikari brand bloodworms are far superior in quality to other brands I have tried.
HTH
Virginia

[TKOS]

So is live food generally less nutrious than food that comes in bottles?

[ChilDawg]

Generally, no. However, many of the live foods available to us are not nutritious without a lot of gutloading.

[OrionGirl]

Gut loading--in case you are curious--is the process of feeding the live food with the nutrients needed by the fish being fed. For example, live brine is very nutritious when it's kept well fed on infusoria and bacteria. Left unfed for several days, it becomes little more than bulky fiber and shell.