Currently I feed my betta Denarii a pinch of Omega One Beta Buffet Flakes every other day. Is that enough or does he need to be fed daily (omitting one day for digestive rest)?
Bettas, to my knowledge and experience, should be fed daily. Most feed, and recommend, two smaller meals per day, once in the morning or once at night. Some keepers fast one day per week, though I don't ever purposely fast and have never had any issues so based on my experience this is optional; likely won't do any harm, but I've never seen or experienced any significant benefit from it.
Any particular reason your feeding flakes? Generally a good Pellet brand like New Life Spectrum or Omega One is better to feed because its a little easier to control the amount you're feeding as bettas do tend to be a little prone to bloating and flakes can sometimes mess with the water quality.
Flakes were the first thing I saw at the pet store. Also, I heard that pellets can cause problems due to them expanding in the stomach of the betta, is that true?
Not at all true.. same with freeze dried. Their digestive tract doesn't work like that. Nothing "expands" in their bellies that has anything to do with a particular type of food. What causes bloating/constipation/SBD is the quality of the food and how much of the low quality food you feed them.
Flakes are fine to feed, people often prefer pellets as it's easier to not overfeed, and easier to remove any uneaten pieces (all uneaten food should be removed within an hour after feeding).
Daily feedings are ideal, 2-3x a day is good.. just keep in mind not to over feed per meal.
I used to hear about the pellets expanding as well, but based on my own experiences and after several years of feeding various pellet brands without any trouble so long as I didn't over-feed, I've determined that thats likely mostly a myth. If you pay close attention when your betta is eating, you'll notice they sort of look like they're chewing....and with pellets you can hear them crushing their food if you listen closely enough. Assuming that they therefore don't swallow the pellets whole, the pieces aren't going to take on much water, if any, in the stomach before they're digested and passed.
So long as the flakes are made for bettas and the ingredients meet nutritional requirements(the first couple of ingredients being some kind of meat, fish and/or fish meal with filler ingredients like wheat and soy as low on the list as possible)and they are fed carefully, there isn't much harm in feeding them.....but most, including me, would generally recommend pellets over flakes because of the previously mentioned reasons(hard to regulate amount/may cloud water/mess with water quality). I do also believe pellets have a bit of a better nutritional value.
As soon as this bottle of flakes run out I will pick up some pellets. By the way the flakes I am feeding him have the first couple ingredients as Whole Salmon, Black Cod, Seafood Mix (Krill, Rockfish, & Shrimp) so I think that's good. Another good thing is it says "Omega One Formula will not cloud water". Thanks for your input and help ;-)
Haha, that'll probably be quite some time with just one little betta... :lol:
Personally I would recommend a complete switch over to pellets soon, perhaps feeding the flakes every once in a while for some variety, but its not the end of the world if you don't. Omega One is a pretty good brand over all nutritionally, so so long as you're careful with feeding the flakes you should be alright.
Alrighty, thanks a bunch! I will start to feed him twice a day, but I do want to do the one day of fasting per week. I also crush up the flakes before I feed them to him because I'm afraid he might choke or not eat them because they're too big.
Sure thing.
The decision to fast is all up to you. As I mentioned previously, many keepers purposely fast one day a week and will often recommend it, though I don't and haven't for a couple of years since acquiring a couple of boys that shredded their tails if their regular feeding schedule was interrupted. I've never had any problems not fasting, even on the rare occasion that I did over feed someone so personally while I doubt it will do any real harm, I haven't found that it makes any sort of difference in the health or well being of the fish.
Ahh yes, thats another problem with feeding flakes....some are too big, some are too small, if they're crushed too finely the betta can't eat them and then they sink to the bottom where they rot and foul the water if they're too big the betta might have trouble eating it all(though I highly doubt they could choke on flakes, they're very soft), and over-all because of the variety of sizes with the flakes its hard to regulate the amount fed.
...Which is generally why pellets are a little more highly recommended. xD
But so long as you're careful with feeding him and you make sure he eats everything, though it may take a few extra minutes of sitting there and feeding him one carefully prepared flake after another, it is do-able.
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