Food For Bloated Betta

HI there,

We have had our betta fish for over a year and he has been a healthy/happy guy (he has a 3.5 gal tank to himself), but recently we have noticed that he is bloated. We fasted him for a day (we figured he is constipated) and then fed him part of a pea. I found some advice on how to handle this issue (pasted below):

Constipation is common in bettas. Symptoms include bloated stomach, lack of defecation and inappetence. It's typically caused by overfeeding, dry food or lack of fiber. First, fast your betta until the bloating subsides or defecation is observed, then adjust its diet accordingly. Avoid foods with fillers and feed pellets consisting mainly of fish or shrimp meal. Soak food in tank water for about 10 minutes before feeding. To introduce fiber, once per week defrost a pea, remove its skin and feed your betta a crushed portion of pea flesh about the size of its eyeball. Fast your betta one day per week to avoid overfeeding in the future.

My question is what foods you recommend feeding the betta after fasting. We have been feeding him mostly Aqueon betta pellets, but I've noticed that the first three ingredients are fish meal, soybean meal, and shrimp meal. When I shop around for other betta foods, it is hard to find any that don't have fish/shrimp meal as main ingredients. Are there any flake foods or frozen foods we should use as main staples? (I am aware that it is good to mix up the foods...any suggestions on primary and secondary foods would be appreciated).

Thanks!

 

Omega One betta pellets are pretty good, in my experience. I give blood worms as a rare treat. Only feed a few pellets at a time...I would suggest feeding them one at a time, no more than four or five pellets a couple of times a day. Once every seven to ten days you skip a day. A round-ish belly is good. If he looks like he swallowed a marble then you're overdoing it

 

New Life Spectrum Betta Pellets and Fluval Bug Bites are also good staple foods to feed. You want to soak any dry foods so that they don't expand while inside the stomach or your betta and cause constipation. Frozen bloodworms and brine shrimps are good foods to also add variety. Frozen daphnia is also a good food to feed because it also acts as a laxative.

 

OP, I think you misunderstood the paragraph that you posted. You actually WANT to feed food with shrimp/fish meal as the first few ingredients.

Anyways, I use NLS and Northfin pellets in rotation, frozen daphnia and bloodworms, plus freeze dried blackworms, as my betta's diet. I never pre-soak any of my food, without any issues over the years. The key is to not overfeed. 2 pellets or 2 bloodworms per day is enough to keep a healthy Betta.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions. I tried fasting the betta for 2 days, fed him a pea (he didn't like it, but ended up eating part of what I put in there), then fasted him for 3 more days since his belly was still large. I tried a second pea and outright rejected it. I've tried giving him daphnia and he goes for that, but I'm worried that he's not getting better. He is less active now than he used to be (he just kinda chills in the cave or next to it, not swimming around often). After he eats, he kinda freaks out (swimming around rapidly for a few seconds) and then goes back to chilling in his area. He does seem a bit interested in food, but his inactivity is a little concerning.

Any ideas to help him recover?

He's in a 3.5 gallon now, but I do have a 5 gallon free (cycled, but no decor in it) and am thinking about whether it would be worth rehoming him or something.