Are Bettas picky eaters?

Chickieepooh2u

Chickieepooh2u

Ooo, Ooo! Pick me pick me!!
Jan 12, 2006
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Norfolk, NE
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OK. I rescued this Betta from Walmart about a week or so ago. Hes really pretty and not very aggressive. But.... He won't eat anything except freeze dried blood worms. I swear.... I put a couple flakes in the tank, he sniffs them, then gives me this 'You have GOT to be kidding me' look, then off he swims. Drop a couple blood worms in the tank, and ohhh yummy yummy. Whats the deal?? Is this normal Betta behavior?? And I would imagine that a diet of strictly worms isn't good for him. Any ideas or suggestions.
 
Means you should be feeding him better stuff than flakes. ;)
I feed mine a variety of food from betta bites, flakes, sinking/floating pellets, freeze dried bloodworms and freeze dried plankton... and any of his tankmates babies that he catches.

I'm planning on getting some more food when I head to Petco again. There's nothing wrong with him eating bloodworms, but try some other stuff too. Flakes lack good nutrition, so they shouldn't be the main diet anyway.
 
I wouldn't say that flakes lack good nutrition at all....it just depends on the quality of the flakes you're using. All of my non-special needs fish have been living more than happily on quality flakes for many years now.


As far as bettas go...man this is such a thing! It's almost cute how finicky they can be about food - and how they definitely know you're the one who feeds them! They're like puppies or kitties in that respect. In my bathroom I have several betta bowls and whenever I go in there I end up with an army of little fish all swimming to the front to stare at me and make chompy noises!


Now, a betta's natural diet in the wild is mainly small worms and larvae (blood worms being mosquito larvae and pretty much their staple) so there's nothing wrong with him eating just that. But you might also try betta bites - I recommend HBH or Top Fin brand (Top Fin is just HBH repackaged and cheaper) even if they don't like them at first, they always give in eventually. They're hungry after all! Plus it seems they get used to a certain thing after a while and tend to only eat that one thing. I know bettas who don't even want bloodworms! Some who eat only flake, some who eat only bites.....
 
Mine likes betta bites and actually looks pretty funny when he's swallowing them down :) I also feed mine coca-cola. He likes it. Everytime I put it in the water his swims around in circles like he's going crazy. O.k. just kidding, but he does like betta bites :)
 
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