Bede

He made it through the night just fine. I figured he would but since he's a rescue and probably not terribly healthy the fear of him dying on me is going to stay for awhile. He's not only fine, he almost looks like a different fish than the one I brought home. I wish I could get pics but he's in a breeder net and its impossible to photograph him through it.

He's really colored up alot. He's much more pink and pearly and less that awful transparent yellow. His fins are an absolute mess but hopefully with time,good food and good water he'll heal up. We have VitaChem and GarlicGuard. Would those be good to put in his water to help him heal?

He eat a couple bloodworms last night. At first he had NO idea what to do with the dropper we stuck in front of him. It only took about half a second of wiggling a nice juicy worm in front of him before he not only snapped it up, he started banging on the dropper for more! Whatta smart boy!!!

Which leads me to my question, he's hungry, probably half-starved. What would be good to feed him? We have just about every type of fish food known to man and fish-kind here. How much and how often? The last thing I want to do to him is kill him with kindness by overfeeding him.

Wow, sorry that was long and bloggity. Maybe I should just go start a Pongo blog to talk about the new little man in my life!

joy613

The size of his stomach is about the size of one of his eyes. Some people feed their fish 2 times a day (that is me) others as little as every other day (that is to little IMO). Large amounts of dry food will cause constipation on some bettas. I feed mine frozen brine shrimp every couple of days. Feed him a piece of pea at least once a week it keeps him from getting constipated. Bettas are like little puppies that have been fed at the table they learn how to beg just be aware how big his stomach is and when the last time you fed him. He is a handsome little man!

Drea

I only feed Deuce 2 bloodworms once per week, then 2-3 tiny pieces of pea once a week. I feed him once a day, Betta bites. His otto buddies get a shrimp pellet and a algae wafer once a week, and I do see Deuce scouting the bottom for leftovers. Oh, and a small slice of cucumber once a week.
It's so hard when bringing them home, knowing they're underfed....wanting to give them proper nourishment, and yet not over do it.

COBettaCouple

Vita-Chem and Garlic Guard daily added to the water will be good for him (1-2 drops of each per gallon). Fish Protector is very good as well, but would need to be ordered online from a place like www.thatpetplace.com.

The best food for him now would be Hikari frozen bloodworms. Get the package that has sheets in it, then you can break off a small piece and put it in a little container with treated tap water. Shake it up with the lid on and that's how we thaw the worms out. You can store them in that container for up to a week in the fridge and feed him 3 worms per meal, 2 meals a day.

Ocean Nutrition Betta Pro pellets are what we recommend as a secondary food, but our Bettas main food is bloodworms and that's even moreso when they're needing to heal up.

Once a week, I would feed him 3 pellet-sized pieces of a frozen pea, thawed and peeled. That should help keep his digestive system happy.

andy65

We have San Francisco Bay bloodworms cubes. There is no one around here that sells the Hikari brand. I will check out our 45 min drive fish store when we go next and see what they sell. I just thaw a whole cube and then make my own smaller cubes.

Is there anything else that we could feed both of them other than what you said to feed them?

COBettaCouple

Hikari freeze-dried daphnia is a great treat for them.