How much does a betta eat?

[jsoong]

OK, We've succumbed to MTS, and bought my daughter her own betta last Sat.

Compared with my goldies, this betta is positively anorexic. He is eating maybe one pellet a day. Is this normal? (or at least normal during acclimatization). I know bettas can be picky & not eat pellets so if this isn't normal I'll have to try some brine shrimp or something....

BTW - the batta is about 3/4" long, in a one gal container. I seeded the tank with filter gunk from my main tank but I am still seeing NH3. I am keeping that to less than 1 with pwc.

 

[Tiffi]

Sorry double post!

 

[Tiffi]

I assume your betta is 3 or 4" not 3/4" in size?

I would say one pellet a day is not normal for either size of betta, unless it's a jumbo pellet. Just try some differnt brand or maybe he likes flakes better. If nothing helps try frozen or live food.

 

[An t-iasg]

Congrats on your (daughter's) betta, jsoong!

New bettas can be very picky, if you are feeding them a new food than what they are accustomed to. If he is only eating one pellet a day, then he's still being finicky. It took one of my new bettas a whole week to eat anything!

I would continue to offer the pellets. He will become "used" to them. I give my bettas 4 pellets a day in the morning. In the evening, I give them 3-4 freeze-dried bloodworms - just a little bit, and if I miss a night it doesn't matter. Sometimes I alternated the bloodworms with a little bit of freeze-dried daphnia at night. Live brine shrimp can be a special treat. It shouldn't be a staple food because there is no nutrition in it - it's like us eating potato chips all the time. It is fun to see how the live brine shrimp get the betta's attention, though!

Tetra makes a betta flake food. If your betta will eat them, you can alternate the flakes with the pellets also. Some of my bettas ate the flakes and some didn't.

Be sure to feed a pea once a week. I boil frozen peas in a glass measuring cup in the microwave (frozen peas are less messy than canned peas). Let cool, peel the skin off and throw it away, and chop the "meat" of the pea into small pieces for the betta. If the pea pieces are about the same size as his pellets, he should accept them. I use a little paring knife to cut the pea (yes, it's tedious - what we do for our fish!!) and feed about 4-5 little pieces.

I feed the peas on Saturday and on Sunday, the fish are fasted. On Monday I resume their normal diet. Be careful not to overfeed - don't let the betta's little stomach get too bulgy! Some bettas are prone to bloat.

Good luck!

 

[jsoong]

Thanks for the replies.

Tiffi, the betta is 3/4" to 1" not including tail, guess he is still a baby.

An t-iasg, thanks for the info. I guess I will give the betta a week or so to settle in before trying anything else. We are considering frozen food for variety. Although I've read that once a betta tastes live/frozen food it won't touch the pellets again so I am not sure if I want to start on that. It is good to know that you are sucessfully mixing different foods with the staple pellets.

I didn't know that bettas will eat peas .... I thought they are pure carnivours. I will try some next time I feed my goldies peas. I do that once a week so it wouldn't be any extra work to give some to Mr. betta.