picky eater

[peaches3221]

so, my boy Lonnie has very sophisticated taste, I guess, because when I feed him flakes or pellets, he spits them out, but if I give him fd bloodworms its NOM NOM NOM!! so wanting to give him a varied diet, I bought fd brine shrimp, (which he LOVED) only to find out that neither fd brine shrimp nor bloodworms are suitable for daily use and should only be given once a week. so what do I feed my betta on the other six days? other than pellets or flakes because it has stuff like wheat and fish meal (which doesn't seem healthy because bettas eat insects in the wild, not fish, right?) and artificial ingredients and I prefer not to feed them to my fish anyway. petco sells flightless fruit flies, are those good for a "staple food"? what else could I feed him that is healthy and not just good for treats? petco also had fd krill, if I broke it into little pieces would that be good? Thanks everyone!

[Alex09]

Betta pellets are probably the best staple food. Sure they may have ingredients like soy or wheat but bettas need fiber too right? Unless you are willing to feed him a 100 different type of thailand native bugs... Just make sure that the first few ingredients are protein sources. Protein is protein whether it comes from another fish or a worm. Just keep trying to feed him pellets until he caves in and eats (he WILL eat eventually when he gets hungry enough) Until then, DONT feed him any other type of food until he starts eating his pellets like a normal fish. It may take over a week for this to happen so dont freak out. I hear that soaking their food in garlic juice makes it more attractive to a betta.

And for the record, Bettas are supposed to love flies. I sometimes swat them at my house and my betta gobbles them alive... Im evil

[Capricorn]

There are brands of pellets that use ingredients other than wheat.. New Life Spectrum and Omega One are the two brands that come to mind. I feed NLS to my own bettas. (:

[JaspersANGEL]

I feed my boy's krill, I break off little pieces and let them soak in a spoon full of tank water.
I heard krill is really healthy for them, promotes deeper colors.

I have a mixture of foods for them, bloodworms, krill, brine shrimp, flakes and 2 kinds of pellets. All of wich I let soak in tank water, except the flakes of course *lol*

But I think he really needs a good staple diet of pellets..u could trye the garlic juice method.
Soaking ur pellets in garlic juice before feeding...

[peaches3221]

is Hikari bio-gold good food? here's the ingredients: Shrimp meal, white fish meal, brewers' dried yeast, wheat flour, soybean meal, wheat-germ meal, carotene, protease, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), vitamin B12 supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, choline chloride, d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K), inositol, para-aminobenzoic acid, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, salt, ferrous chloride, copper sulfate, cobalt sulfate, aluminum sulfate, magnesium sulfate
or omega one: Whole Salmon, Black Cod, Seafood Mix (Including Krill, Rockfish, & Shrimp), Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement,Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Tocopherol (Preservative), Ethoxyquin (Preservative).
I still don't like that they have preservatives and stuff :-/ is there anywhere I can get some kind of all-natural fish food?

[Maryrox247]

Originally Posted by peaches3221

is Hikari bio-gold good food? here's the ingredients: Shrimp meal, white fish meal, brewers' dried yeast, wheat flour, soybean meal, wheat-germ meal, carotene, protease, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A supplement, l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), vitamin B12 supplement, biotin, calcium pantothenate, choline chloride, d-activated animal sterol (source of vitamin D3), folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K), inositol, para-aminobenzoic acid, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, salt, ferrous chloride, copper sulfate, cobalt sulfate, aluminum sulfate, magnesium sulfate
or omega one: Whole Salmon, Black Cod, Seafood Mix (Including Krill, Rockfish, & Shrimp), Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, L-Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Natural and Artificial Colors, Vitamin A Acetate, Vitamin D3 Supplement,Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Biotin, Inositol, Tocopherol (Preservative), Ethoxyquin (Preservative).
I still don't like that they have preservatives and stuff :-/ is there anywhere I can get some kind of all-natural fish food?

That is probably one of the best ones out there! (at least in my opinion)
Believe me its absolutely great for bettas! If you still dont want to feed lonnie that i found this one! It is all natural.
http://www.vitacost.com/Aqueon-Betta-Food

[Posaune]

I personally use New Life Spectrum, and I've heard hikari is great too :) But yeah, soak it in the water for a minute before hand. My betta was picky too, until I switched brands to New Life :P He loves it. I feed them bloodworms on the weekends (sometimes the shrimp, but they have trouble seeing that, and I've heard daphnia is good? But I don't see how they could see let alone eat those tiny things) and the pellets the other five days.