You are right. There are a lot of different opinions. I use Omega One pellets feeding 4 or 5 each morning. I have two bettas at home that I feed every day with no problems, then I have two at work that don't get fed on weekends. All are healthy and active.
It sounds to me like you are already doing right and I wouldn't bother with the fasting thing IMO.

 

I've been feeding mine NLS pellets, 2-3 pellets, twice a day, but now that there are not one but two essentially renewable food sources within my tank (nematodes and molly/platy fry) I only feed him 2-3 pellets just once. On Friday, I replace that meal with one small chunk of frozen blood worms (I chisel off a piece the size of his eye). I fast every Saturday, plus any other day that he may happen to have a full belly (usually the day after a platy or molly gives birth, he typically goes on a fry-gorgefest and gets a pretty full tummy).

He also eats a small bit of the other fishes' flake food (Aqueon Tropical Flakes) but I've learned to feed him his pellets at the same time, "luring" him away from where I put in the flakes, dropping his pellets in slowly, and leading to another corner, like Hansel and Gretel lol. I've started to alternate their food with crunched up algae wafers to offset this issue as well.

ETA- Mine is super active, he is swimming all the time, "stalking" for fry, playing in the currents (dashing back and forth through them) and running his "exercise drills" (he has little patterns he swims through like an obstacle course, he'll do it for hours...). Once he gets an obviously full belly, he usually loses it (assuming he poops, which I rarely ever find, it's a 20 gallon, lots of plants) within 12 hours. His poop, when I do find it, looks normal, red curls.

 

I feed mine 5 pellets 2x per day for the ones that are at a normal activity level, the 3 I have that are more active get about 7 2x per day. They get a good mix of different foods, New Life Spectrum betta formula, Attison's, and Attisons betta pro. They also get either frozen Bloodworms or live daphnia 1x every other week. I personally dont fast unless they look bloated, which very rarely happens. I just hate feeling hungry so I dont want my betta's to feel that feeling either, and yes, I know how weird that sounds lol.

 

I feed all my bettas (except the females in the community) 3 pellets twice a day. I feed Hikari Bio Gold and I also give them Life Spectrum to eat. Not to mention the bloodworms, daphnia, and baby brine shrimp as treats throughout the week.

 

Sorry if im off topic. But I have my betta in a 2 gallon tank he is very small I would like to know first is there any way to tell my fish's age and second will he grow and if so at what rate and how can I help him grow? Sorry also how can I tell his gender.? Thanks and Thanks to everyone for taking the time to share their knowledge.

 

All mine are fed different.. according to their size, activity, breeding, etc.

Yours seems to be on a good schedule, if you are wanting to fast, I would skip 1 meal a day once or twice a week.. but it's not really needed as long as he is eating a high quality pellet food.


KwL -

There is no way to tell a fish's age - fish continue to grow their whole life, it just slows doing greatly once they get to a certain age. All you can do is guess basically.. pet store bettas tend to be sold anywhere from (on average) 3 months of age to a year - but usually closer to the 3-5 months. Some will be bigger than others, it all depends on the breeder - what the fish ate as fry and juvies, how long they stayed in the grow out tanks, warmth of water, etc etc. So you can have a runt, or one that is really large for it's age. Just no true way to age any fish precisely.

The rate will depend on what you feed him, how much, water change and warmth of the tank - high quality food (good pellets such as Omega One, New Life Spectrum.. frozen foods such as blood worms, brine shrimp, etc.. live foods such as mosquito larvae and daphnia) will help him grow quite a bit.
Good, clean water will also help him grow up quicker and healthier - weekly water changes with a good water conditioner will help with that.
And make sure he is kept warm with a heater - a 25w heater will keep him at the appropriate temp. Cooler water will slow down his metabolism, which will cause him not to eat as much and in turn slow down his growth.

As for gender.. the long finned varieties (halfmoons, veiltails, crowntails, etc) will have longer fins on the males, and females will have short fins.
Plakat males will have short fins as well as the females having short fins - you will want to look at the ventrals (the 2 long skinny fins by the stomach), the males will have longer ventrals, the females will have a shorter, stubbier ones.

You say he is very small - did you purchase a Petco baby betta? If so, their care is a bit different than an adult.

Examples of males/female - the male has the longer fins.. the very bottom picture is of a plakat male, notice the longer ventrals that you don't see on the female.

 

Many Thanx

Great info. Thank you so much for taking the time...

 

Hello! I feed all my bettas a mixture of freeze-dried bloodworms, daphnia, mysis, crushed krill, brine shrimp, and flakes. I mixed it all in a zip-lock bag, and serve Neil(m), Chappy(f), and Blind Willie(m) one pinch each, twice a day, every day. They all finish their food in a minute!

 

Would you know if Aqueon makes quality betta food or should I toss this and buy something more healthy
Many Thnx

 

My guy turns his nose up at Aqueon and prefers Omega One. I'm a beginner myself, but looking at the jars side by side Aqueon has more fat and fiber and less protein by comparison. Its second ingredient is wheat flour, versus wheat flour being the fourth ingredient in the Omega One food. Since bettas are carnivores, having a lot of flour in it makes Aqueon look...less than impressive. It's like instant ramen instead of beef stew.

If you've got a juvenile, I'd go for whatever packs the most protein. He'll need it to grow. I got my .61 oz jar of Omega One for about four dollars at the local pet shop. More expensive than Aqueon, but not too bad. You could always keep the Aqueon around for emergencies.

 

Good stuff. Best of luck and many thnx