Betta Pellet Varity AND Amounts?

[ClassicRocker]

I have read that some folks feed their betta more than one brand of pellet, plus Bloodworm and/or Brine Shrimp.

I have also read, and quote: "With today's high quality foods it is not necessary to feed a variety. NLS and omega one and the like are complete nutrition."

We were feeding Hikari Betta Bio-Gold and were going to run out. Bought the small .088oz/2.5g. He (Stormy) love them......perfect size! Our LFS was out of this size, so thought about buying the large size. Then, we started looking at the Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets and comparing the ingredients. Found that Omega One has better ingredients than Hikari Bio-Gold does.

Got home and done some research on one of the ingredients in Omega One that some fish owners don't like, but decided to try it anyway. Also read reviews that the pellets don't float. Well........from what I see, our betta loves them and he doesn't give them time to sink, if they even do.

Now, question is: can more than one brand of pellet be fed OR is one "Top-Notch" brand pellet enough? I've also read that some folks feed freeze dried or frozen Bloodworm or Brine Shrimp as a MEAL. However, I've read that feeding either as the primary meal isn't good b/c of too much protein.

And, the question of many Beginners......."How many pellets do I feed a single betta in one day?" Hikari says "5-10 pellets 3 times daily" and Omega One says feed "3 times daily", but no amount. I was told "no way" on these amounts and so we were feeding 5 pellets of Hikari twice a day w/a small piece of frozen Bloodworm a couple times a week as a treat. He doesn't like Brine Shrimp, so no questions there. Now that we are feeding Omega One, AGAIN, don't know how much!
Same question would go for frozen Bloodworm or frozen Brine Shrimp.......how much? Our package comes in cubes, so we cut off a small piece and that seems to be enough for our betta.

Recommendations/Comments.........PLEASE!

BTW, sorry for the long Thread, but I'd like to clarify this topic/question, if it can be.

THANKS!!

 

[Mebbid]

I have also read, and quote: "With today's high quality foods it is not necessary to feed a variety. NLS and omega one and the like are complete nutrition."

I'll believe that when my poo turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbert.

It's never a bad idea to feed a nice variety of foods. I like to feed my fish two different flake foods with an occasional feeding of frozen bloodworms.

You only need to feed the tank once daily and then only enough that it will all be eaten within 2 minutes. The overwhelming majority of nitrate production comes from excess food in the tank.

 

[ClassicRocker]

Well, I read this from someone who has experience like you do!

Anyway, you say it's ok to alternate between a couple of top brands of pellets (or flakes, in your case)? You say "two minutes" for amounts. As for us, we feed one pellet at a time and WATCH him eat it! I'm retired and have the time to do that......LOL. As far as "excess food on the bottom", we have Ghost Shrimp and isn't "excess food" what they take care of? The only way a pellet would be "excess" on the bottom is if the betta spits it out and, if that happens, most likely he doesn't like it OR the pellet is TOO big as we had with the Tetra Betta Pellets we use to feed.

I'll believe that when my poo turns purple and smells like rainbow sherbert.

It's never a bad idea to feed a nice variety of foods. I like to feed my fish two different flake foods with an occasional feeding of frozen bloodworms.

You only need to feed the tank once daily and then only enough that it will all be eaten within 2 minutes. The overwhelming majority of nitrate production comes from excess food in the tank.

 

[Mebbid]

Well, I read this from someone who has experience like you do!

Anyway, you say it's ok to alternate between a couple of top brands of pellets (or flakes, in your case)? You say "two minutes" for amounts. As for us, we feed one pellet at a time and WATCH him eat it! I'm retired and have the time to do that......LOL.

Must be nice I'm a college student and barely have time to do water changes. Thankfully I have high tech planted tanks so it doesn't really matter much if I overfeed. I just end up throwing some food in my tanks and run out the door My nitrates run at 0 unless I go out of my way to add liquid nitrate.

It might be a good idea to throw a chunk of algae wafer or bottom feeder pellet in the tank occasionally for your ghost shrimp. I would imagine that a few pellets a day would be more than enough for your betta.

 

[ClassicRocker]

LOL......"been there, done that" with the college thing. That was many, many years ago, but I enjoyed partying more than studying, so the college days ended.

We do have some algae wafers. So, the Ghost Shrimp would find a piece of that on the bottom and eat it? I mean, it wouldn't just lay there and rot, right?

Must be nice I'm a college student and barely have time to do water changes. Thankfully I have high tech planted tanks so it doesn't really matter much if I overfeed. I just end up throwing some food in my tanks and run out the door My nitrates run at 0 unless I go out of my way to add liquid nitrate.

It might be a good idea to throw a chunk of algae wafer or bottom feeder pellet in the tank occasionally for your ghost shrimp. I would imagine that a few pellets a day would be more than enough for your betta.

 

[Mebbid]

LOL......"been there, done that" with the college thing. That was many, many years ago, but I enjoyed partying more than studying, so the college days ended.

We do have some algae wafers. So, the Ghost Shrimp would find a piece of that on the bottom and eat it? I mean, it wouldn't just lay there and rot, right?

He should go right for it. Mine have always scavenged the tank whenever they smelled food. I just break my algae wafer into pieces and feed an appropriate amount.

 

[ClassicRocker]

Ok, sounds to me like most use either one or a combo (2) of Hikari Bio-Gold, NLS and Omega One Buffet. There are a couple of other good brands out there, but these three seem to "top the charts" for popularity. Omega One Buffet and NLS are pretty equal in popularity as #1 and Hikari is #2 for popularity........from what I've read anyway. All three are highly recommended by a lot of experienced Aquarist.

I do know that Omega One has excellent ingredients and, it's small "betta mouth size" is what a lot of folks love as well as their beta's love. I just started ours on the Omega One Buffet yesterday and loved it that he sucked up the pellet FAST and ate it all. Actually, he done the same thing with the Hikari Bio-Gold pellets when we first fed them to him.........sucked them and they were GONE!! We will finish the Hikari that we have and, then decide if we want to go with NLS as a secondary pellet or stay with Hikari as a secondary one. We do want to a little food variety for him.

As far as how many/how often to feed: For now we are going with 4 pellets in the AM and 4 pellets in the PM. He sure seems to handle the 8 pellets just fine and swims around the aquarium like a "care-free" betta should! Will continue to feed a small piece of frozen bloodworm as an afternoon treat once or twice a week and fast on Wednesdays.

Sure are glad we got this all straightened out now........LOL.

 

[0xxKyleexx0]

Pellets are actually not too good for the bettas, since they expand in their stomachs. I gave my bettas blood worms, brine shrimp, pellets, and flakes. My bettas love the flakes the best

 

[Mebbid]

Pellets are actually not too good for the bettas, since they expand in their stomachs. I gave my bettas blood worms, brine shrimp, pellets, and flakes. My bettas love the flakes the best

Frozen foods are by far the best but any dried food will expand in their stomach unless you soak it in water before feeding. It's best to get a variety of foods and rotate through your feedings.

 

[JessiNoel21]

Jet my guy gets NLS pellets, omega one pellets, cobalt flakes, first bites, frozen homemade ground earthworms,frozen bb,frozen beef heart, and frozen bloodworms.


iPhone 5s has taking over lol

 

[MICEY]

I always like variety different foods have different nutriates in it
check out kens food
Ken's Premium Red Floating Betta Pellets 1.5 mm

 

[trennamw]

Fish pellets are to fish, like power bars are to humans. So yeah it's adequate, if one high quality pellet has everything in it, to feed it just that. There's a greater reassurance it's balanced, because you can go too far with one nutrient with a lot of the frozen or live or whatever. But yeah fresher food is always healthier, and variety is fun. I'd just suggest if you do a lot of frozen/fresh/freeze dried food, make sure you understand the balance of fat/protein/carbohydrate and vitamins and minerals.

I love NLS foods and my community tank gets NLS Thera-A almost exclusively. I got it for the Betta too, but the pellets are really big. I haven't had a Betta yet who could eat them without my painstakingly breaking each one with my fingernail. So now I give him a tiny dash of the NLS community .5mm pellets. I like that he's getting garlic.

 

[Bloodroot]

I have read that some folks feed their betta more than one brand of pellet, plus Bloodworm and/or Brine Shrimp......

I have had Bettas for 5 years now love them!

My advice is that their stomach is their size of their eye ball so feed them just enough to make them full. I happen to have a Sea Monkey feeding Spoon that I use that is the perfect size.

As for diet... I personally use pellets, and I have never had issues with them. But I try to spice his diet up once in a while with something awesome, such as frozen blood worms.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[trennamw]

I love how NLS has been for my fish, except the betta pellets! They're too big for every betta I've had. And when I break them up I notice a sullen betta for a few days and then a happy betta and a big glob of poo, like he had been constipated.

So now he gets a sprinkle of the NLS Thera A .5mm pellets. All is well.

Feeding multiple pellets isn't necessary, it's no more beneficial than you eating 3 flavors of power bars Instead of 1.


Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.