Feeding

[trotfox5]

Hi,
I just got my first betta about an hour ago. He seems very happy in his tank and photos are coming, but I have a question. When and how much should I feed him? I got the top fin betta bits pellets. On the container it says four pellits twice daily but i've other instructions elsewhere. Also, should i be feeding him anything else to suppliment the pellits?

[Ariel1719]

i feed mine 3-4 pellets in the morning once a day.
there all healthy and fine =D
sometimes as a treat i will get them bloodworms :)

[Campbell]

I feed mine 3 pellets in the morning and 2 in the evening. I also give them rehydrated freeze dried bloodworms or brine shrimp once or twice a week. If your betta is really small daphnia is another option.

[trotfox5]

Thanks
all of that sound in line with what i've read exept for the brine shrimp. I heard about bloodworms though. The shrimp does make sence. BTW i've decided on a name, Geddy in honor of the band Rush's bass player.

[MarieBettaMom]

I've had George for 5 days now, and I also picked up the Top Fin brand pellets. I was confused by what the package said and what I've been reading here and there. Right now I'm letting DD feed George 2 pellets in the morning and 2 pellets in the evening. He's warmed up to his new environment and sorta "begs" for more food, but some others here mentioned that Bettas are real piggies and will keep eating what you give them. So it's up to us to regulate how much they consume so they don't over stuff themselves.

I've got some Hikari Bloodworms and Hikari Brine Shrimp on the way and will be feeding them as a treat now and then.

Please show us a photo of Geddy soon!

[dramaqueen]

I feed mine 2 pellets twice a day and I feed freeze dried bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia once a week each. Mine seem to be doing well on this schedule.

[hunniebeenikki]

Ok, now I'm really confused lol. My 4yr old won a red Betta and at the tip of the fins are white. They told me to feed Red,the name of my Betta, flake food, so I got some BettaMin food. They told me to feed them every other day and they only eat within the 1st couple of minutes. He put it in his mouth then spit it right back out. The pet store said the food should be ok, probably not the kind it was use to.
Help Please

[onekatietwo]

Originally Posted by hunniebeenikki

Ok, now I'm really confused lol. My 4yr old won a red Betta and at the tip of the fins are white. They told me to feed Red,the name of my Betta, flake food, so I got some BettaMin food. They told me to feed them every other day and they only eat within the 1st couple of minutes. He put it in his mouth then spit it right back out. The pet store said the food should be ok, probably not the kind it was use to.
Help Please

Mine wouldn't eat flake food for the first couple days I had him, but now he'll eat anything I put in there pretty much. He even tries to eat my fingers.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You can either go out and get some pellets, or keep trying to feed him. I would probably recommend trying to feed him one or two flakes once per day and unless he's sick, he'll start eating them. As long as you don't notice anything odd, he's probably not sick, so I wouldn't worry about that too much either.

Anyway, in the long run, it's going to be best if you feed him a bit of a variety, so try some of the things other people have said above (shrimp, worms, etc), pellets, and flakes. Of course, if you feed him one thing one day, don't also feed him another thing that day. It's very important not to over feed.

As far as feeding him every other day, that should be fine. I prefer to feed mine very small amounts once or twice EVERYday.
I've also learned that it's a good idea to let it go with out food every now and again for a day or two (again, they're easy to overfeed)

So, good luck and I wouldn't really worry about it right now. :) He'll eat once he's settled in. Just don't offer him too much right away or you'll dirty up your tank with old, uneaten food.

[dramaqueen]

BettaMin flake food is fine but you can also feed him pellets. I use Hikari betta bio gold. I feed 2 pellets twice a day.You can't believe everything they tell you at petstores. I fast mine one day a week.

[MarieBettaMom]

What is daphnia and where do you find it? I keep seeing people mention daphnia. I don't know what it is. I don't remember seeing it at the store. And I just did a search on PetSmart's & PetCo's websites, neither of them sell it.

George was slow to eat for the first 2 days, prolly acclimating to his new home. I was starting to get worried too. But by Day 3, he quickly figured out where the food was.