Better Betta Food?

Hello everyone!!

My betta seems to have a hard time digesting his current diet. He gets a big belly and goes a long time between poops ((see full previous thread here Full Or Bloated Betta))

Current food is a pellet called Essentials Pet Expert Approved Betta Food (bought at Pet Valu - maybe their store brand?) The first 3 ingredients are grains though, followed by poultry by-product meal - even though crude protein is min 35% - I am now figuring out it is not the best for him!! I am learning not to listen to (most) pet store employees! One today told me I could keep clown loaches in a 20G tank and they will only grow to be 4" long, but I digress!

So I just purchased Omega One Betta Buffet pellets and Nutrafin Bug bites. Should these be better? Can I use them interchangeably?? I also have freeze dried bloodworms, but know that these are a treat only (and also need to be soaked prior to feeding) - once per week or once every 2 weeks.

The Bug Bites have copper sulphate as an ingredient - is that I problem if I add shrimp in the tank?

I also know that I should get frozen food for him (will do, but store to purchase at is an hour away).

As always, thank you for all your guidance!!

-Leticia

 

The food should be fine. Soaking the pellets like you do bloodworms will help it go down easier. Once a week, a fast and a shelled pea will help constipation issues. As far as the cooper sulfate, I don’t feed any food with copper in there since I have inverts in all my tanks. I don’t know what the long term effects are per se but when I used to feed foods with copper sulfate in them, they didn’t die instantly if that’s what you’re asking. I’ve switched to copper sulfate free foods since I don’t want to take the chance.

 

ive tried Essentials Pet Expert Approved Betta Food, and my betta liked it but its not the best quality. omega one and the bug bites are both very popular foods, are also much healthier and better for your fish. yes you can use them interchangeably. the amount of copper in foods and ferts are way too low to hurt shrimps and inverts. they also need low amounts of copper in their diet but not in huge amounts. you don't have to get frozen, its just a nice treat and a bit healthier then freeze dried but not a big deal

 

My Betta after eating my ghost shrimp won’t eat flakes or pellet food. So I exclusively feed him shrimp (soaked). I never encounter constipation problems. I think it’s the grain/wheat/ and other binding agents in the food that cAuse it.

 

I work at pet valu and abosolutly hate our fish food. Very low quality. Yes it is our store brand. Some other very good foods are cobalt flakes and new life spectrum flakes or pelleted diets(my personal favorite). The copper sulfate should be fine as he will absorb it. Those foods you picked up are of much better quality. And yes I recommend feeding them interchanging, variety is the route to healthy fish. If you do make it up to the store for the frozen food get a lot so you don’t have to buy t for awhile. Also they will eat very little so it’ll last a while.

 

the only fish food I like at petvalu is NorthFin XD

 

If you make sure the Betta eats all of the Bug Bites and none sinks to the bottom, there will be no danger to shrimp or snails. It also will get eaten quickly before any copper can leach into the water. Give the fish one piece at a time and make sure he eats it before giving any more. My Betta loves the stuff and gets about 3 pieces in a feeding. I also use HikarI Betta Bio-Gold minI pellets and he loves them too. Sometimes he gets crumbled Omega One tropical flakes or TetraMin tropical and once a week a few frozen bloodworms. Any so called Betta food that does not have meat as the first ingredient is useless and not good for them. I had Tetra Betta pellets at first but they had wheat as the first ingredient and also seemed too big for my fish to eat easily so I trashed them. I do not soak the pellets or bug bites before giving them to Benny and he has never shown any bloating.

 

You guys are beyond amazing!! Thank you so much!!

I will stop feeding the Essentials food today and switch to one of the others! My betta (and my son's betta) loved it, it's just not agreeing with my guys' digestive tract! My son's betta is fine with it, but I will probably switch them both.

Lchi87 - thank you! Yes, I do always soak the pellets, and do a fast day every week, and a shelled pea - and he still has issues!! He's a sensitive man apparently!! My son's betta seems fine, and we even feed her more - she's so active, maybe that has something to do with it?? I don't know, but thanks for the tips!! I will see if I'm gutsy enough to use the Bug Bites when I actually have shrimp in the tank! I won't get them until after my tank is cycled though.

JamieXPXP - thank you! I hope that he will be okay with frozen as just a treat - I am getting to the store, but it honestly might be a couple weeks! Thanks for making me feel better about that! I will check out NorthFin at Pet Valu when I am there too! Makes sense about the copper being only low levels in the food, I will use it until then for sure though!!

georgelee1000 - I hope that doesn't happen when I add the ghost shrimp that I am planning to the tank, but I know that is a very really possibility - I am going to try to have a talk with him and let him know that shrimp are friends, not food, but we shall see!! Thank you!

jacob thompson I am sure you are one of the great employees that actually know about fish and give people lots of great advice from the get-go! You don't make the food, don't feel bad!
Thank you for all your recommendations!!

Thanks again everyone!

 

You’re welcome! Some bettas are just more predisposed to bloating than others but the good thing is you’re already aware of this and can act accordingly. Best of luck, bettas are one of my favorites but I traded the betta tank in for a saltwater reef

 

My Betta tolerated 2 Ghost shrimp for a month. They had doubled in size but last week, in the space of 3 days, they both disappeared. I caught him eating some white meat right next to a shed shrimp shell. I guess he just waited for them to molt and then attacked while they were still weak and helpless. He had been getting a little perturbed when they swam to the surface during his feeding time and had chased them away. I was a little upset but realized it's just nature. I had bought them as a test of his aggressiveness and they only cost 39 cents apiece so no big loss except that I was getting interested in them and making sure they got food. I'm sure the fresh meat was good for Benny.

 

My Betta tolerated 2 Ghost shrimp for a month. They had doubled in size but last week, in the space of 3 days, they both disappeared. I caught him eating some white meat right next to a shed shrimp shell. I guess he just waited for them to molt and then attacked while they were still weak and helpless. He had been getting a little perturbed when they swam to the surface during his feeding time and had chased them away. I was a little upset but realized it's just nature. I had bought them as a test of his aggressiveness and they only cost 39 cents apiece so no big loss except that I was getting interested in them and making sure they got food. I'm sure the fresh meat was good for Benny.

HahahahHhahahahaj. That was by Betta. Although he’s a baby, he is absolutely brutal on other fish or shrimp. Fine on snails and adf.

 

I questioned pet valus food too. Get some omega one pellets for sure! I use the mirco ones and my bettas love em! Maybe try some frozen brineshrimp?

 

If you are getting frozen food in the future, I would suggest frozen daphnia for your little guy. It's a natural laxative. I feed mine frozen daphnia once a fortnight instead of peas.

 

If you are getting frozen food in the future, I would suggest frozen daphnia for your little guy. It's a natural laxative. I feed mine frozen daphnia once a fortnight instead of peas.

I would like to try it but the PetSmart here doesn't carry it. They only have brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and bloodworms. My Betta is not crazy about frozen brine shrimp but he attacks the bloodworms with gusto. I haven't fed my Betta a pea or fasted him for at least 2 months if not longer and he's fine. When I did give peas, he spit them out for the most part.

 

The best and most easily digestible betta food I’ve come across is Dennerle Betta Booster.

 

Lchi87 - I really do love our bettas, but a saltwater reef would be amazing! Maybe someday! I bet yours is gorgeous!!

Dch48 and georgelee1000 - I have a feeling mine may do the same! He's seems super aggressive at feeding time! That is not the first I have read about Bettas tolerating the shrimp for a bit, and waiting until the shrimp molts to help themselves to a fresh meat dinner! Oi! I will probably get attached to the shrimp by that time too. Maybe I will try snails instead.

imba , thank you for that tip, I didn't know daphnia was a natural laxative! Hopefully one of our stores will carry it!!

scarface -good to know!!! I checked out the ingredients and it looks great too!


I have a long list of great foods to try with these guys now, thank you so much for everyone's help!!

CanadianFishFan -my fish loved the Omega One pellets too!! I fed them this evening after soaking, and they loved them!! They were both looking for more! I will look for frozen bribe shrimp too!

 

My understanding of daphnia is that they are animals but also provide vegetable matter when eaten because they gorge themselves on algae. People raise cultures of them so they always have some. The pet stores when I was young always had some live. Now I can't even find them frozen.

They do have laxative properties which also can cause problems if they are given too often.