prefered food and feeding times?

[FishyFriend1]

Hi everyone,

I am a new betta owner and i have a few concerns regarding feeding.

So I bought some tropical fish flakes from petsmart and he eats them and everything, but many people say that you should feed them pellets because flakes lack protein. I also give him one feeding of frozen bloodworms a day.

I also wanted to know the best times for feeding, I feed him twice a day currently, one in the morning and once around our suppertime (5-6pm)

Any hints or tips?

[fleetfish]

Yes, flakes don't have as much protein in them as pellets and also cloud the water and create more waste in the tank. I use a high quality pellet such as Omega One as a staple, feeding around three to four pellets once a day. Three times a week I also suppliment with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Twice a week they are fasted and the night before they are given some thawed frozen pea to clear anything out. Just remember that variety is the key their diets, and jut like us, they love to have different foods. :) Hope this helps, here is no magic formula on how to feed. Just use your judgement.

[FishyFriend1]

He loves his frozen bloodworms but i also heard that is a way to introduce disease into an aqaruim. Which is better? freeze dried or just thawed from the freezer?

[Jupiter]

Flakes designed for bettas are okay, not tropical flakes. Tropical flakes contain vegetable matter which bettas cannot digest well...

So if your betta accepts flakes, you can get him either pellets for bettas or flakes for bettas.

As for bloodworms...they're good to feed moderately (like once a week) as a treat. Live bloodworms carry the risk of disease or parasites, whereas freeze dried don't. I use freeze-dried, a lot less icky for me...I have no experience with frozen, though.

[Moldau]

Your feeding times sound fine. I think the guideline I've seen most often for the type of food is that the first ingredient should not be wheat or vegetable based. I use New Life Spectrum Betta Formula because it is available at Petco. My fish seems to really like it, anyway. It seems more expensive but if you just have one betta to feed, it will last for a long time, and it's only a few dollars, anyway. Its first ingredient listed is krill meal or something like that. You want to stay away from foods that list wheat as the first ingredient.

Originally Posted by fleetfish

Yes, flakes don't have as much protein in them as pellets and also cloud the water and create more waste in the tank. I use a high quality pellet such as Omega One as a staple, feeding around three to four pellets once a day. Three times a week I also suppliment with frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. Twice a week they are fasted and the night before they are given some thawed frozen pea to clear anything out. Just remember that variety is the key their diets, and jut like us, they love to have different foods. :) Hope this helps, here is no magic formula on how to feed. Just use your judgement.

I would be careful about feeding peas to bettas. A lot of people on here say that it can even damage their digestive tract.

[1fish2fish]

I feed twice a day, with the exception of my breeders who get fed 3 times a day when they are being conditioned.

I feed a mixture of Omega One Betta Buffet, Attinson's Betta, New Life Spectrum Betta, and New Life Spectrum Grow.

I feed frozen 2-3 times a week, alternating between blood worms or mysis shrimp. I don't feed any freeze dried foods whatsoever.

If I have issues with bloat (which is extremely rare for me) I fast for 1-2 days and then feed mysis shrimp or frozen daphnia (if I can find it).

I fast at least once a week. Usually on water change day.

[FishyFriend1]

Ok then, so right now i have special formula Betta flakes and they are like 90% meat and he like them just great, and he also get feedings of frozen bloodworms some days too. I was planning on getting him some color enhancing pellets from petsmart because many say that their betta prefers it over their treat. So i was thinking i could use those for a treat or freeze dried brine shrimp?