If your betta is
bloated or constipated offer him a small portion of
blanched pea. This vegetable acts as roughage to help clear out his
system. Only give him a small bit about the size of one of his
eyeballs. For more severe cases of constipation, daphnia acts as a mild
laxative.
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Live
food is the best thing to feed your betta but make sure you get it from
a fish store
and not your own back
yard. Self caught insects, like mosquito larvae
or tubifex worms may harbor parasites or dangerous bacteria. If you're
going to start your own culture at home, purchase the initial
supply from a reputable source.
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Article:
Breaking the Rich Food Myth | HTML
PDF
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What Should I Feed my Betta?
Bettas are carnivores and need food high in protein. Bettas
cannot survive off of just vegetables or plant roots.
There are many foods available for your betta that can be bought at
your local fish store or cultivated at home. Here's a quick list to get
you started. Remember that like people, a variety of foods allows your
fish to get a balanced diet.
+ Frozen or live
bloodworms or bloodworms in gel
+ Frozen or live
brine shrimp or brine shrimp in gel
+ Frozen or live
daphnia
+ Frozen glass
worms
+ Frozen beef
heart (can be purchased at your supermarket or butcher)
+ Frozen tubifex
worms (live tubifex often carry parasites or bacteria and
is better
avoided)
+ Frozen mysis
shrimp
+ Live white
worms
+ Live grindal
worms
+ Live
flightless or wingless fruit flies
+ Live black
worms.
Frozen foods should not be confused with freeze-dried. Freeze-dried
foods can cause digestion problems leading to more serious medical
issues.
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What Should I NOT Feed My Betta?
If possible, try to avoid dried pellets,
flake or
freeze-dried food. Some foods are marketed as “For Bettas” but often
cause digestion problems due to indigestible fillers and low moisture
content. You will usually find these in packages near where bettas are
sold. These pellet foods absorb water and expand in the fish's stomach
2x or 3x their original size. Some bettas react badly to them, often
suffering from constipation, bloating or even swim-bladder disorders.
If you're unable to feed your betta anything but dried food, you should
soak the pellets in a glass of tank water for about 10 minutes before
feeding them to your fish. This will give the pellet a chance to expand
to its full size before your fish ingests it.
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How
Much Should I Feed Him?
One of the most common mistakes people make
with their betta
is either overfeeding or underfeeding their fish. A betta should be fed
every day or nearly every day. (If you keep a betta in the office and
you can't feed him on the weekends, he will be just fine as long as you
feed him the other 5 days a week) It takes a betta about 2 weeks to
starve to death so if your fish doesn't eat for a few days due to
illness or adjusting to a new home, don't panic.
A good rule of thumb at feeding time is this… A betta’s stomach is
about as big as his eyeball and should not be fed more that amount at a
time. This translates to about 3 bloodworms or brine shrimp per
feeding. If you feed pellets, this equals about 2-3 soaked pellets per
feeding. A betta can be fed this amount once or twice a day.
Fish pellet or flake food containers often say “Feed what your fish
will eat in 5 minutes or until he stops eating.” This DOES NOT apply to
bettas. In the wild their instinct is to eat as much as possible
because they don't know when their next meal is coming. In a tank,
however, we DO know when their next meal is coming. It is up to us to
not overfeed our fish. Overfeeding can lead to water quality problems
and illness not to mention obesity.
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Why
do Bettas Spit Out Flakes?
Sometimes bettas will suck up food and spit
it out again to break it up. Observe your betta to see if he is eating
the food after breaking it up. Disinterest in flake or pellet foods can
occur because Bettas don't always recognize the flakes as food. Usually
breeders prefer to feed live foods to promote rapid growth and strength
in their stock, so new Bettas may have never seen flakes before being
purchased. In nature, bettas eat wiggly worms and insect larvae whose
movement is an attractive lure to them.
Being consistent with feedings can help your picky eater learn to
recognize the flakes as food. Try feeding just the flakes for a few
days. Eventually, your Betta will realize that those funny floating
wafers are nutritious and delicious. If after three days, he is still
turning his nose up at the flakes, you may want to consider something
else. Few Bettas can resist live and frozen fish foods like live black
worms, white worms or grindal worms. Black worms can often be found at
ma & pa local fish stores. Worm cultures, like white worms, can be
purchased online or through local aquarium clubs. An easy alternative
to live foods are frozen. Reputable brands like Hikari and San
Francisco Bay Brand are free from bacteria and parasites and can be
purchased at most local fish stores including PetSmart and PetCo. Try
bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp or beef heart. A combination
frozen fish food offers a balanced diet and are usually consumed with
gusto.
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