I've tried various things, but she just doesn't like pellets. She'll act like she's going to eat them, then spit them out. Since pellets are supposed to be healthier for bettas, I try every now and then just to check if she'll do it, but nope, I always suck them off of the bottom of the tank. I have tried just giving her pellets for several, and she still won't eat them, she'd rather be hungry than eat them.
Oh well, I do supplement her flakes with bloodworms and the occasional fruit fly.
How big are they? They might be too big for her to eat. Have you tried soaking them in garlic juice? That's supposed to make it smell and taste better.
They are very small, she can suck them into her mouth completely. She just spits them out everytime. I have tried them in garlic juice too, same thing. I even tried cutting them into small pieces after soaking them thinking maybe they really were too big, she still spit them back out.
Yes....you may need to try a different brand, or even a couple different brands, all together. Some bettas are just a little extra picky for no real reason. Have you tried NLS or Omega One?
What are you feeding her now? You may need to just try the tough love approach....not offer her anything but pellets until she starts to eat them. Its not easy, and it may even take a couple of weeks, but she will eventually get hungry enough and eat the pellets provided they're not too big for her to eat and she is just being picky. Once she is eating the pellets regularly, you can start to introduce other foods back into her diet.
It took me four brands and a lot of tough love, but I eventually got my picky Balthazar to eat Omega One pellets. He'd do the same spitting it out after a few tries, be they in garlic juice, cut up, etc, and it ended up just being a matter of time. After a few days (about a week, if I remember right) of feeding twice a day with the pellets only, he eventually got hungry enough to eat them and I haven't had a problem since.
I would highly suggest picking up some NLS or Omega one....not only are they smaller and would probably be easier for her to eat(especially NLS), but quality-wise they're much MUCH better then the brands you listed. I'd say try one of those brands and the tough love approach and I bet she'll start eating pellets. ;)
Does she really need them? I know they're supposed to be healthier. but the flakes I'm using now have fish ingredients as the first 3 things. They are Nutrafin Max flakes, and the first 3 ingredients are krill, fish meal, and fish protein concentrate. Also included in this but further down the list are squid, fish liver meal, freeze dried shrimp, salmon oil, shrimp meal, squid liver meal, freeze dried blood worms and tons of vitamins. There are very few ingredients that are yeast, or wheat. Mostly they're made of fish products. They have more fish products in them than than the pellets I have do (don't know about the hikari ones because I threw the package out when the few pellets were gone).
Last edited by sainthogan; 10-10-2012 at 10:18 AM.
Reason: forgot some information
I'd still vote on the side of pellets as a staple diet, though those flakes sound like something great to add variety. However, flakes are messy and difficult to measure out proper amounts and since bettas can be prone to bloating and SBD, its always a good idea to be safe then sorry when it comes to feeding with them IMO. Also, flakes need to be snatched up and eaten almost immediately.....once they sink and start taking on water, which is generally very quickly, they start to loose their nutritional value....at least, as far as I've always read.
I, personally, don't think anything short of something homemade can replace a good quality pellet brand as a staple diet. I could be wrong, opinions change and new information is always coming out, but thats what I've always read and been told since I started keeping, so I'm going to stick with that.
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