Betta feeding question.

[aviva90]

I have tried to give him the pellets but to no avail. He will mouth it a couple times and ultimately not eat the thing. I think it's just too much for him to fit in his mouth. Going back to the LFS today and I was wondering what everyone else thought, what food should I get him that he will actually eat and enjoy? Oh turns out he too likes zucchini... gave a piece to my snails and he had a few bites lol.

Oh and more pics to come, just waiting until I get some good ones! Thanks in advance.

 

[fishycat]

Vegetarian betta?? :laugh: At least you won't have to worry about constipation!

Frozen daphnia, tubifex & bloodworms are a good treat. Sephy had a hard time at first with pellets... I tried to pick out the smallest pellets for him. It took him several tries before he ate one, I just kept at it and eventually he got the hang of it. I supplement with Hikari Micro Pellets (all but my littlest endler fry love to eat this) & ground up flake.

 

[fishycat]

PS: I avoid freeze-dried for fear of bloat & constipation - & none of my fish really enjoyed it, anyway.

 

[aviva90]

Yea I fed him a couple live blackworms yesterday and he loved it. All I have is the freeze dried bloodworms by Hikari, I'll go get the frozen daphnia when I go to the LFS today. And I'll keep at the pellets, thanks once again fishy! You are awesome =]
I can't decide on a name either.. it's driving me crazy!!

 

[fishycat]

Aw, hey no problem!! You could soak the FD bloodworms in tank water before feeding - that'll reduce bloat and make 'em easier to eat.

I'm jealous you have access to live food. The only live stuff I could readily get would be mosquito larvae, but I hate getting bitten. :

 

[aviva90]

Good idea, soaking the bloodworms! Yea I have access to only 2 types of worms that I've found so far, but I chose blackworms just because I don't think I could bring myself to cut up big juicy worms... or even feen them to my fish just because it's easy to tell what they are. Blackworms are so small that it's fun to feed them to my fishies.

 

[Lillyan]

Crush flake food. Do not bother with 'betta foods' most betta hate that stuff. None of the 20 betta I've owned ever likes anything hard like pellets. Actually, none of my fish of any kind like pellets.
Just get a good varied flake food and crush into 2-3MM size flakes, he will love those.
Frozen blood worms are always a favorite snack for all fish too!

 

[fishycat]

Ugh, I know what you mean. Bloodworms are supposed to be really popular, but all my fish are small (bettas have the biggest mouths), so I'd have to chop or shave them up. *shudder*. I cut my frozen food into pieces, but frozen tubifex & daphnia are tiny! :

 

[Juice]

I second the Hikari pellets , when I got one of my bettas he was a super finicky eater and refused anything other then blood worms until I bought some hikari pellets, he took to them right away so they must be pretty tasty!

 

[Juzah]

You could always soak the pellets in water for a lil bit before feeding to him so that its easier for him/her to mulch up, my own fish will take bites at foods too big for them and will keep going at it untill they either squeeze it in or they tear some off. No need to sit and pick out the smallest pellets from a pack : p