New Betta is to small to eat pellets!

[candymoon]

Hi there! Yesterday I got a new little Betta. I had been wanting her for a few weeks, and I finally broke down yesterday. She seemed to be doing fine last night, though a little confused about this big new space she has, but when I fed her the pellets were to big for her mouth! They also sunk very quickly, which bothered me, but she kept trying to eat them anyways. Then this morning I fed her again and the same thing happened. I left the food in there while I went to breakfast and when I got back when it was gone, but then again it might be sitting there in between the rocks. So I was wondering how I could help her get some food! Should I crush up the pellets or get new ones or what? Thanks!

Also, on a side note for future reference, how can you tell if a female betta has clamped fins? I just want to make sure I can tell since that is a big sign of illness.

[sainthogan]

There are smaller pellets that you can buy that may work better for her. You can also soak them in garlic juice to make them softer so that she can take bites off of it. I use Hagen Nutrafin Betta Max Granules which are very small and my small male does quite well with them. My female is a big girl and doesn't have any problems at all and can actually eat 2 or 3 at the same time.

There are varying degrees of of clamped from the fins not looking as full as normal to looking like a thin string. When my girl was sick, it looked like someone hat literally twisted her fins into a long thin string.

[Hershey]

Mashing would work.

[candymoon]

Okay, I will give those a try! She is just so darn tiny and skinny that I want to make sure she gets properly fed. <3

Okay, thanks! I was just confused on how they might look, since already their fins are so much smaller than the males. Thank you for your help. ^^

[SinX7]

Just crush the pellets :p

[candymoon]

Thanks everyone! I will try crushing them and then if that dose not work I will go with the other brand of food. I just wanted to make sure that crushing the pellets would not mess up her water~

[finnfinnfriend]

Just curious... What kind of pellets are you using?

[babystarz]

I use .5 mm New Life Spectrum pellets for my smaller bettas :)

[candymoon]

Well I found a SUPER tiny pellet today in the mix, one I thought the would have no problem eating, and she swallowed it...then spit it out. I know Bettas can be picky, put she kept trying to eat it and then kept spitting it out. Then finally I think she ate it all. It was just very weird....

and I am using a new brand I found from Aqueon.

[sainthogan]

They will spit them out if they are too hard to chew initially, this is their way of softening them up so that they can swallow them easier.