Betta Won't Eat Pellets?

My betta will only ever eat my bloodworm cubes, I can't get him to eat the pellets I bought him
He'll just spit them out

It's really getting kind of annoying, I don't like to use my frozen cubes too much because they pollute the water a bit. The only other thing I see him eat are my algae wafers, like, aren't they carnivores?

I was considering getting freeze dried bloodworms instead to minimise pollution. He's so picky and it's so annoying. Anyone else have this issue? What did you do?

 

I have one Betta that literally would spit out everything, it was really frustrating until I figured out that he'd eat if the food was soaked in water beforehand so that it was softer. Another thing that you could try is soaking the food in garlic juice to make it more appetizing.
I hope you can get him to eat the pellets, bettas can be so picky sometimes

 

Mine ate betta flakes, dried blood worms and every fish I have ever had LOVED frozen bloodworms! But yeah they are messy!
Might give the dried blood worms and see if he takes that. They are definitely not as messy as the frozen cubes

 

I have one Betta that literally would spit out everything, it was really frustrating until I figured out that he'd eat if the food was soaked in water beforehand so that it was softer. Another thing that you could try is soaking the food in garlic juice to make it more appetizing.
I hope you can get him to eat the pellets, bettas can be so picky sometimes

I can't even describe how picky he is haha, he's such a fusspot. I have to feed him out of the pipette too otherwise he won't eat. It's so frustrating.
I'll try soaking, if it doesn't work, I'll try garlic. Not sure what I'm gonna do after that.

 

Try fasting, everyday throw in a few pellets, if he doesn't eat with 5-10 minutes just take them out. Eventually he will start to eat. They can go one days without food.

 

Mine ate betta flakes, dried blood worms and every fish I have ever had LOVED frozen bloodworms! But yeah they are messy!
Might give the dried blood worms and see if he takes that. They are definitely not as messy as the frozen cubes

Didn't even know you could get betta flakes. I'm going to my LFS today so I'll check it out.

I have tropical fish flakes that I feed to my other fish, he won't eat those either. I'll try dried blood worms. I feel so bad since he's clearly hungry. But at the same time I find it funny because it's his issue for being such a fussy baby. It's not really his fault, and I'm a picky eater too, so I can relate.

Try fasting, everyday throw in a few pellets, if he doesn't eat with 5-10 minutes just take them out. Eventually he will start to eat. They can go one days without food.

I always give them certain days to fast, he just... Won't eat. It's so annoying!!! You're hungry!! Eat your food omg. Why are they so fussy anyway?

He just eats the algae wafers that are for the cories or the blood worms I sometimes give them.

 

I always give them certain days to fast, he just... Won't eat. It's so annoying!!! You're hungry!! Eat your food omg. Why are they so fussy anyway?

He just eats the algae wafers that are for the cories or the blood worms I sometimes give them.

You can feed him a bunch of those and then stop, change water, then try the pellets. It's call will power. Either he give in or you. Changing the water more frequently will trigger hunger. Try it for a week and don't give in.

 

My betta will only ever eat my bloodworm cubes, I can't get him to eat the pellets I bought him
He'll just spit them out

It's really getting kind of annoying, I don't like to use my frozen cubes too much because they pollute the water a bit. The only other thing I see him eat are my algae wafers, like, aren't they carnivores?

I was considering getting freeze dried bloodworms instead to minimise pollution. He's so picky and it's so annoying. Anyone else have this issue? What did you do?

Hello!
I have a picky Betta as well. I soaked his pellets with his aquarium water for a few minutes and that helped. Also, maybe you could not feed him for a couple( or more! ) of days and then I'm sure he would probably eat.

 

I understand too! Yes I got them at Walmart but if he isn't eating tropical flakes I would think there's a fairly high possibility he won't eat those either! But they are fairly inexpensive so worth a shot. I fed all mine frozen vegetables once too but can't remember the proper process of that but could research it a bit. And it will pollute the water too but good option if nothing else works and you get desperate, pretty positive I did peas and had to remove the outer shell but I can't completely remember. The betta flakes I used were called bettamin I believe by tetra. Good luck!



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Hello!
I have a picky Betta as well. I soaked his pellets with his aquarium water for a few minutes and that helped. Also, maybe you could not feed him for a couple( or more! ) of days and then I'm sure he would probably eat.

I'll try that but I do fast them and he just won't eat haha

 

I've run into the same issue with my betta. However, he likes frozen bloodworms and cubes of freeze dried things like shrimps. Easy and cheap! I bought my on eBay.

 

Are you using the pipette to feed the pellets? If not, maybe try feeding pellets with the pipette?

I have a betta that would only eat pellets (probably that's all he ever got at the pet store?) and was deeply suspicious of anything else, including bloodworms and brine shrimp. I use a toothpick to drop pre-soaked food onto the water surface, and after the betta started trusting the toothpick (following it around instead of ignoring it), he started to eat brine shrimp.

Anyway, I agree with the garlic recommendation. Alternatively, do you ever alternate food for a meal? Rather than two pellets, try one pellet and a tiny bit of something else once or twice a week, and adjust the balance for more pellets if your betta takes well to it?

 

I found that the pellets were too big/hard for my last betta.
I'd take three, crush them on my counter under a butter knife, and then he had no hesitation

 

I have one guy that used to be super picky. He wouldn't eat anything except flakes, and I have omega one betta buffet flakes. I tried freeze dried blood worms, pellets, soaked pellets, etc. flakes only! Then I went on vacation for a week. He was a little hungry when I got back! I also bought the HikarI betta bio gold micro pellets (super small, now I don't know how they eat the regular sized ones) and soak them in tank water until soft. He devours them!!! He will still eat flakes if offered, and frozen blood worms, but not freeze dried. They also have a product called brine shrimp nutri-treats that he ate one time, then my dog ate the whole can. He won't eat freeze dried shrimp and I keep forgetting to find frozen brine shrimp.

 

I recently purchased a very young juvenile male betta for my 10 gallon tank. It had two albino Corycats two ghost shrimp and a large mystery snail. He became confused and follows the albinos everywhere sifting through the gravel like them. He is very curious so when I put freeze dried Mysis shrimp or bloodworms he investigates. But if I poke at it he will swim away. I have also tried pellets but he only gets half of them in his mouth (they are not big at all) and sucks on it before spitting it out. Now he has given up on the pellets and doesn’t even try to eat them. Do you think I should let him continue sifting through the gravel? I feel it is unnatural as bettas are surface feeders and he may not get enough food. Also the pellets for my cories are not really made for bettas do I am afraid he will lack nutrients. My betta is a really small guy.


Water conditioner: Seachem Prime
Temp: 77
Decor: fake coral hide, five silk plants, three huge rocks, gravel, betta log
Food: bottom feeder cucumber wafers by PlecoWafers and Omega One marine minI sinking pellets with garlic
Water parameters: good
Age of tank: 2 weeks +
Health of current fish: perfect and active

 

My bettas seem to prefer flakes over pellets. I use omega one flakes.

 

try feeding him a different brand or flakes, some bettas can be pretty picky about what they eat

 

Well for one, you're feeding the wrong foods as staples to both your fish. And why the marine pellets? These are freshwater fish. Both are mostly carnivorous so I would feed the cories some sinking catfish pellets or shrimp pellets and the betta foods made just for them like Northfin Betta Bits. My betta loves these as they float long enough for him to eat them all. I would also feed them frozen food instead of freeze-dried.

 

ah I didnt notice that bit. yes it would be better to feed then freshwater foods since their diets are slightly different. omega one has betta pellets and flakes that your betta should eat or you can try other brands

 

Ok thanks. I have different foods. I do have Bottom Feeder Cucumber Wafers, 2 other types of betta foods ( those were the ones I mentioned my betta didn’t eat), and frozen food. But I will look into flakes.

Any flake brands y’all recommend? My pellets are Zoo Med betta pellets. My bettas have always loved them in the past.

 

ive never tried zoo med but ive always had luck with Northfin betta bites. omega one better food and hikarI are also popular

 

Try frozen blood worms. Bettas love frozen blood worms. Thaw them in room temperature water. hold them in the water with a toothpick and wiggle it. Only feed your betta one at a time. Don't feed the large blood worms. If you can find a good medium or small sized worm try cutting one in have but make sure it still looks "wormy". If that's still not enough try putting some garlic in the water.

 

I wouldnt feed only bloodworms since they are fatty and more of a snack

 

My bettas seem to prefer flakes over pellets. I use omega one flakes.

flakes aren't good for betta fish. Flakes loose their nutrition almost immediately after they hit the water. They also fall apart much easier and is a large unnecessary bio load. Flakes also increase the risk for swim bladder disease.

I wouldnt feed only bloodworms since they are fatty and more of a snack

I'm not saying only, just to start out.

 

I'm not saying only, just to start out.

I know ^.^ but it would be a good idea to try some bloodworms since they are usually a bettas favourite treat

 

I know ^.^ but it would be a good idea to try some bloodworms since they are usually a bettas favourite treat

I got a variety pack of frozen food because I wanted to feed my betta many types of frozen foods and it turns out the only 2 things bettas would eat in there was brine shrimp and blood worms... my betta hates brine shrimp. So now I have 2 packs of blood worms for my one fish... Why am I so dumb >_< lol

 

I got a variety pack of frozen food because I wanted to feed my betta many types of frozen foods and it turns out the only 2 things bettas would eat in there was brine shrimp and blood worms... my betta hates brine shrimp. So now I have 2 packs of blood worms for my one fish... Why am I so dumb >_< lol

haha yes it sucks when something like that happens but at least you have extra

 

Ok thanks. I have fed my bettas frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp in the past. We just recently did a big move, so I had to throw them out for more space. Today I took your advice and purchased frozen bloodworms again, betta new life spectrum pellets, and corycat shrimp and potatoe minI wafers by tetra. Again, thank you!

I have tried Zoo Med, Omega One, and New Life Spectrum. He only TRIES to eat the algae eater wafers lol. He does eat the frozen bloodworms and freeze dried dalphina and brine shrimp. He will suck on the pellet before spitting it out. I’m sure they are the right size from him. Is there any other alternatives to this? All my other bettas are thriving on New Life Spectrum.

Tank size: 10 gallon
Other fish: two brine shrimp two albino corycats and a mystery snail
Food for other fish: Tetra PlecoWafers Algae and ZucchinI enriched and Catfish and loach shrimp and potato 47% protein PlecoWafers by Tetra
Parameters: perfect
Temp: 78
How long I’ve had betta: 5 days
Tank age: 2 weeks +
Tank decor: floating log, filter, heater, thermometer,5 silk plants, coral hide, three large rocks

 

Have you tried softening the pellets by presoaking?

 

I believe we've covered this topic on your other thread.

 

Yes but with the same results... he will suck on it it before spitting it out. I want him to continue to eat pellets. I know flakes have little nutrients and with him on a pure freeze dried and frozen food diet he won’t get the same vitamins. But is there any nutrious diet for an anti-pellet betta?

 

Your tank not cycled? Have you tried soaking it in garlic juice

 

Yes it is fully cycled. Would garlic juice just be garlic boiled I water?

 

I never had to use the garlic method before since my fishes aren't picky. Even my pleco took algae wafers on the 3rd day I bought him

 

Maybe try crushing a pellet and see if he'll accept smaller pieces?

 

I know I’m new here, but from experience, my betta didn’t eat for over a week after I first got him. I see you’ve had this guy 5 days. Mine was pretty jumpy too and didn’t like me near the tank.

Eventually he was hungry enough he ate what I was giving him and now he tries to eat the frozen brine shrimp right off the toothpick. But at first he was even spitting out the freeze dried blood worms that Petco said he’d been eating up to that point. I don’t know if others would agree, but the LFS said he’d be okay not eating for well over a week and he should eat eventually if he’s not ill.

 

I know I'm a bad person but I feed mine omega one flakes. They don't seem to eat the pellets the cories love them.

 

Yes but with the same results... he will suck on it it before spitting it out. I want him to continue to eat pellets. I know flakes have little nutrients and with him on a pure freeze dried and frozen food diet he won’t get the same vitamins. But is there any nutrious diet for an anti-pellet betta?

HI'm sucking on the pellet is him eating it, just little bit at a time versus the whole pellet.

 

Ok thanks.

 

I have a community tank with a Betta male. I feed the community fish in the tank the flake food and I try to feed the Betta the pellets.
At first he would eat the pellets with little problems, but now I can't get him to touch them.
I know flake food it not a good diet for a Betta, so I have started grounding them up into powder so that only the other fish will eat them, and have been persisting with the pellets for him.
I've tried about 3 different types of Betta pellet now, he won't eat any. He will put them in his mouth, then spit them out again and doesn't bother chasing them. The other fish will then usually attempt to eat them (but the pellets are too big for the Neon's mouths.

I won't and can't feed live/frozen food because often someone-else cares for my tank for a long period of time and I have to use a pill pot so they don't over feed my fish. They also would not be able to soak the food in tank water and definitely not in garlic. So I NEED him to eat dry.

I've been persisting with the above method for about 4 days now, so he hasn't eaten that much flaked food, and he is definitely looking for food, but he's still not eating the pellets.
Should I persist with grounding the flakes so he can't eat them, or just give up and feed the flakes. I really hate them because they are messy in my tank, I don't usually have to feed much flake food if it's only for the Neons, so it's not so bad. But it was a problem when I was feeding my Betta flakes also.