Help Betta diet problems [Archive]

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halfmoonplakat

11-12-2009, 5:26 PM

okay as you may or may not know i bought a new female betta about two weeks ago and she wasn't eating anything but bloodworms. i've tried everything you guys have suggested, and i also tried fasting, but she still hasn't touched the pellets at all.
is there any way she can have a balanced diet without pellets? like a, daphnia and brine shrimp and bloodworm alternation? or maybe something else? because she seems perfectly happy and swims around her 5gallon actively she has clear eyes, and no signs of diseases and she is also displaying vertical bars although she has not been eating much. pleas help me!! :huh:
thank you soo much

halfmoonplakat

11-12-2009, 5:38 PM

oh yes and would sweet peas work?? because she is incredibly picky and for the two weeks that ive had her she has refused to touch anything besides bloodworms and to prevent her from starving to death i have to feed them to her but i read somewhere that they are quite unhealthy right? does anyone have a way to get a picky betta to eat pellets? thank you

halfmoonplakat

11-12-2009, 6:02 PM

she is also flaring at her own reflection a lot which i think means she has high energy levels and she is healthy?
are her eggs like fat? i mean, the more eggs she has the longer she can survive without food because she digests them for energy?
how do you sustain her with something that is not a betta pellet?
thx because i dont want her to die of malnutrition or starvation, or something :(

theicequeen

11-12-2009, 6:48 PM

what if you try crushing the pellets. Like I said earlier in a post 1 of mine only eats bloodworms. I tried crushing them and he did take a nibble without spitting it out. I would say try the flake but I am not crazy about it cause pellets are easier to scoop out if he doesn't eat them.

Jspigs

11-12-2009, 7:29 PM

Just keep trying to get you Betta to eat the pellets, your Betta will eventually eat them. Your Betta will NOT starve herself to death.

bcarm

11-12-2009, 8:14 PM

There is a betta flake you can get, my first betta would not eat the pellets, but loved the flake. My second betta won't touch the flake, but loves the hikari betta bio gold.

I think it was this stuff http://www.petco.com/product/13330/HBH-Betta-ColorBright-Flake-Food.aspx?CoreCat=OnSiteSearch

echoofformless

11-13-2009, 10:38 PM

I wouldn't even be that worried. In the wild, they basically live off of worms and bugs. Sure, the idea of balancing the diet is a novel one, but probably not as imperative as the fish food companies want us to think.

If she is that wormy of palette may I suggest Nutrafin's earthworm flakes? And if you're feeding her the Hikari brand bloodworms, she is getting all sorts of added vitamins anyway. Really I think she will do fine with whatever she likes.

slt65

11-13-2009, 11:34 PM

My female betta would not eat for the first few days, now she eats everything i put in the tank.

lilcavy2

11-14-2009, 7:37 PM

And if you're feeding her the Hikari brand bloodworms, she is getting all sorts of added vitamins anyway.

Wow I never noticed the info on the container: "Enriched with multi-vitamins to reduce stress and stress related illness.....Hikari Bio-Pure FD Blood Worms
0.42 oz.
SKU: 823767
Blood worms, vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, vitamin B12."

Nice, and they've got tubifex worms and krill too for variety.

brittanyd0203

11-18-2009, 10:00 AM

I've had several bettas and all of them have had different eating habits. Currently, I have one who will not touch pellets, but will eat flakes. It is a good idea to feed bettas a variety of frozen food though since they are labyrinth fish and if they don't have enough moisture in their diet (i.e. and all flake diet) they can get intestinal blockages and die. As far as peas go, get the frozen kind, thaw one out, remove the outer shell and crush it up. I'd take a toothpick and put a little on the end and then put it in the water. Mine LOVES peas. A variety of frozen foods such as bloodworms, daphnia, and brine shrimp would be perfectly fine for your little girl so you've got nothing to worry about as long as she's eating those. :)

lookit

11-18-2009, 10:49 AM

My betta, Travis, was a real stinker when I first got him. He loved bloodworms, but more than that he really liked the veggie rounds I put in the tank for the otos. He wouldn't touch a betta pellet for anything. After I relocated him to his own tank, I broke him of being so fussy. It was a real test of wills, but I finally won. Now he scarfs down his betta pellet whiz bang lightening fast every morning. I agree that your betta will not starve to death. Just keep offering her a pellet every morning. If she doesn't eat it, take it out after a couple of minutes. Pretty soon, she'll eat it.

thatbettaglo

11-21-2009, 4:07 PM

Bettas can be real stinkers when it comes to eating. My recommendation is frozen or live brine shrimp, bloodworms, and you can try some tufiex worms to. The tufiex worms may make the water in your tank a bit cloudy.Also, I know that my betta LOVES the algae wafers I put in for my zebra danios and Cory.

Jspigs

11-21-2009, 8:58 PM