Please help! soaking pellets

[peaches3221]

I've heard that if you feed your betta pellets you need to soak them in water, or they will swell up in the fish's belly and make him/her sick. is this true? if so, do I need to use bottled/conditioned water, or just tap water? how long should I soak them? thank you for your help!

[KukaaKatchou]

I have the floating pellets and they swelled up even before the fish noticed them. I am curious as well to how to presoak.

[Capricorn]

Yes! This is true.

I just take a plastic spoon (I use the same one each day) and a small dish. Take a teaspoon of water from the tank, put it in the dish and then just add the pellets. I wait for about two-three minutes or until they're soft. (:

I didn't soak mine the first couple days and Nettle was very bloated, but now that I do he barely bloats at all.

[Ajones108]

On another note, if your betta stops eating pellets for any reason like distaste or just generally disinterested, you could soak them in freshly crushed garlic juice. :) Not only does it give them a nice taste, but it's a natural anti-parasitic.

[KukaaKatchou]

Can they overdose on garlic juice? I mean, is there an optimum amount?

[Ajones108]

I don't think so. OFL soaks her pellets all the time and recommends it to others but never specifies how much, so I don't believe you can OD on garlic juice. :p

[peaches3221]

thanks everyone! i will make sure to soak pellets from now on!

[KukaaKatchou]

Woohoo Sam ate his first pellet!! I pushed it a bit in the water so it was moving and he did a fairly good shark impression and gobbled it up. Since they like live food I thought maybe if the pellet was moving it might look more "food" like. So he's had a bloodworm and a pellet. Is that enough for today or should I try another pellet later?

[Lilpeanut]

I have been using the Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets for years, and I have never presoaked them. My bettas have always done fine with these pellets, and they really do enhance their color. My bettas are faily large, so I feed them four pellets twice a day, so a total of eight pellets every day.

[JaspersANGEL]

Yea u should always soak ur pellets, all drie food for that matter should be soaked. Freeze dried bloodworms should be rehydrated (I'm soaking bloodworms for my puppie's now, I can't beleive I forgot Jet's birthday), if not it will cause bloat..and if never soaked over time will affect ur bettas system, I never knew that with my first betta and by the time I knew he was already too far gone to fix.