Photostory: Feeding VP a minnow

[aokashi]

I swear bettas eat anything that moves and that they can get their mouth around :P

i mean bettas are really a "manmade" fish...
what on earth is natural for them anyway....

[Oldfishlady]

I raise guppies for my Bettas to eat as well as feeding Betta culls to my Angelfish.

As long as you take precautions-QT and gut load-IMO using feeder fish on occasion would be safe.

I also like to feed mass amounts of native aquatic life that form in my water buckets outside. It is mainly mosquito larva, daphania, bloodworms and a larva that grow up into a small black fly looking creature. Except for one aquatic critter that I haven't been able to figure out and won't feed since it is pretty creepy looking and the fish won't eat it anyway or the larger dragonfly and damselfly nymps-I do feed the small ones-but watch to make sure they eat it-otherwise, it grows up and eats the fish.

[LittleBettaFish]

I guess I don't really like the process of feeding live feeders to fish that will otherwise willingly take commercial foods as well as more natural foods such as worms and insects.

I think if someone came on here saying they used bettas (I'm not talking about using this as a method of culling fry) as feeders there would be an uproar, but because it is a cheap minnow everyone is a lot more accepting.

Really the only fish I could see bettas eating regularly in the wild, would be fry and small juveniles. Also there is usually a heck of a lot more space for prey to get away from than an aquarium can offer. That poor minnow really didn't have a chance to escape so don't know how much sport was in it.

Foods such as live blackworms, white worms, bloodworms and mosquito larvae are going to give you a more natural predatory behaviour. Especially since there have been studies done that have shown fish may feel pain on at least a basic level. Can't imagine being eaten while still half-alive would be a very pleasant way to go.

Of course this is just my opinion but I just don't like seeing live fish being fed as food when there are other alternatives available.

[Kuronue]

I keep my guy with a small school of white clouds so feeding him minnows wouldn't be a good idea. Last thing I want is for him to start attacking his tank mates.

I usually rely on the staple pellet diet with the weekly treat of a blood worm. My usual choice for supplementing his diet is usually beef heart or brine shrimp.

I generally go the frozen or freeze dried route as opposed to live feeding. I know live is considered loads better by some, but I'm not sure I could handle live worms. I see live wrigglies and first reaction is far from "feed it to the fishie" ._. So thaw or rehydrate just work better for me. If you can, more power to you, if not, luckily there are a few options.