atmmachine816

Ok so I have these betta pellets that my last betta never ate, I'd really like this betta to eat them as I don't want to waste food. How's the best way of him accepting them since it doesn't seem like he wants to eat them. Is it fair to make him not eat until he will eat these, it seems cruel to me.

leafgirl115

I would feed him later in the day. Like dont feed him in the moring wate a few hours till he is hungry. You may also wont to try some flake food or alge wafers but dodnt give this to him a lot.

inari

the wafers or flakes?

chickadee

yes it is cruel to refuse to feed him until he eats what he doesn't want. you know that a betta is a picky eater and he could go a long time without eating. ask the petstore what he was eating for them and purchase that if you don't want to go through the trial and error method with the food but there may have been a reason why the first betta did not want the food. Would you want your parent to do that to you??

Also the bettas are not made to eat flakes and/or wafer foods. their mouths are not shaped for it. Pellets or bloodworms are the normal and most widely accepted foods as they are the easiest for them to eat.

Rose

atmmachine816

Thanks that's what I thought, I think he is eating them though because I can't find the remains of them anywhere. I only have frozen bloodworms at the moment, can he eat those. I also have freeze-dried tubiflexe worms are those good for him.

ecnaj143

To go along with this topic. I feed my Betta Sun Dried Brine Shrimp. He LOVES them, but should I feed him something else besides that??

leafgirl115

Well my friend who is going to breed his Bettas son has great sucess with the wafers and pellets. His one Betta goes crazy for the wafers!

And About not feeding his for a few hours thats what your sapost to do. Get up put the light on let them wake up for 1 hours then feed them. This is what i do and the fish dont mined.

ecnaj143

I see that everyone feeds their fish different ways and different things. So by this, I wonder if the fish actually has us on a schedule!! Thats something to ponder!!

leafgirl115

true i some time think if it would be beter to be a dog lol. They get fed, walked, picked up after and so much more! There life must be easy. lol Could be the same with fish.

ecnaj143

Hey, to be honest. I think that pets and babies rule this world. I mean, we clean them when their dirty. You don't see them picking up our poop. You don't see them getting our food or popping me open a beer.

chickadee

To get back on the subject, the frozen bloodworms have to be watched for bacteria as they are not always frozen long enough to kill the bacteria and have been known to cause disease. I have always had the opinion that frozen foods are too expensive and unrealistic for one fish. Tubifex worms are okay but I do not know about them eating them. Good luck not one of mine will touch them. And I am not sure if they contain enough nutrition for a complete diet. Shrimp is very rich and not for a steady diet. It even says on the package for only 2 or 3 times a week.

I have no problem and quite often do make my Bettas wait for a couple of hours to eat after the lights come on in the morning but I do not know that it is a law of any kind and I would hesitate in trying to state it as an absolute fact. There are a bunch of ways to schedule a bettas feeding but as long as he or she is fed something a couple of times a day it does not make any difference how. The question here and the topic here is whether it is proper to fast a betta until he eats a food he does not seem to want. Please do not hijack the post to change the subject to another topic. It is very easy to start another thread to discuss another topic if you wish to.

As I have said in other posts, you may find a betta here and there who will out of necessity eat flakes or wafers, but the shape of their mouths do not lend themselves to that shape of food easily. It is much easier for them t eat pellets and bloodworms or other such shaped foods. I am NOT saying the other food is bad for your betta or that there are NO bettas who will eat them but it is difficult for them to do so on a regular basis and the foods made for bettas (small pellets and worms) make it a much easier meal.

Rose

inari

What I do with Inari since he sits so close to a window that the shades aren't drawn at night is when i get up and start getting ready i feed him 1 pellet then as I'm about to head out the door for breakfast (or work depending how late i got up) I give him the last 1 for his meal. Come dinner time same idea feed him before i go get myself dinner (1 pellet) and then when i get back I've never had the problem of him not eating at all...except when he was constipated but that is another story!! But the idea of letting him/her wake up a bit is a good idea!

hope this helps at all

brent

poefox

Rose swears by the kind she gets, I find that Rusty loves the TopFin "Betta Bits" and won't touch the other kinds I have, mostly because those pellets are either too big or too flakey for him. I'm not even going to bother with the worms for him though I may try the freeze dried ones as a treat for the corys. Rusty is greedy and will attack other foods but doesn't really seriously eat.

The only thing you should do when 'fasting' a betta is either when they are constipated (in which case they need a bit of pea, which Rose can tell you more clearly than I how to prepare) or else if they are refusing to come to you when you feed them. This was never a problem with Rusty.

Just a word of advice: bettas are picky fussy little fish, and they need you to try out stuff on them. Some pet stores have sampler packages, why not find out if that is available? Get a little of this and a little of that and see what he wants.