Ideal Betta Diet?

Hi all,

I haven’t posted in the forum in quite some time as I have been doing really well with starting my first fish tank up. The parameters have been doing super well and I managed to get a good setup going!

That being said, I have been unsure about my fish’s current diet and feel concerned that he should be getting some better nutrients in his system.

Some background info to start:
I purchased a male Blue Mustard Betta from my local PetSmart around end of August 2018. I purchased a few different varieties of foods including:

Omega Betta Buffet Pellets
TetraColor Tropical Fish Flakes
Omega One Freeze Dried Tubifex Worms

The issue however, is that my fish refuses to eat the pellets or fish flakes listed above— he will ONLY eat the freeze dried Tubifex worms! I have tried to avoid feeding him for 2-3 days in hopes he will be hungry enough to generally eat anything I give him, and even then he actually spits back out the few pellets I give him. He also pays no mind to the flakes, I do not even think he recognizes that they are food.

With the freeze dried worms I feed him, it requires me to stick them against the inner glass of my aquarium so he can eat them himself. He seems
to enjoy this, and I think he likes the visual of the worms moving in the water once getting wet. He often flares up excitedly whenever I give him this food.

Lately I have let it slide and have been lenient on letting him just eat his freeze dried worms, as I was still trying to settle his tank and get it the way I wanted it. But now, I am becoming more concerned about the nutrients he needs and I am unsure of what to do.

Are there any suggestions on Betta fish food that have worked better for you? I’m open to all types, even frozen.

And, are these tubifex works okay to continue as a general diet or should they be kept as a special treat? I cannot get him to eat anything else!

Thanks for the time!

 

A lot of bettas do this, bettas are more on the carnivorus side of the spectrum. Generally, they do not like all the added fillers in foods....nor can they digest them well, which is why if you look on the betta and fish health forums you'll see TONS of posts about bettas with bloat.

For my bettas, I try to invest in a high quality pellet. I prefer New Life Spectrum, they have a betta formula. The main part of my bettas diet tho is frozen food. I feed frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp the majority of the time. Personally, I don't feed freeze dried because some of the nutritional value is removed from them in the freeze drying process AND if you aren't soaking them before feeding them then you're risking bloat issues. So for those reasons I just feed frozen even if its a little less convenient.

 

Also try frozen bloodworms-only one worm per feeding. You could really go all out and start a live daphnia culture. He'll looooooove that!

 

I had picky fish too. I ended up returning a can of food they wouldn't eat.
You should try bug bites, they are smaller and float a bit longer.
Frozen foods like blood worms can be fed as a treat. They are too fatty to be the main diet. You can also try raising live daphnia.

 

I am in the same boat, mine does not eat except peas and frozen bloodworms.
I am afraid that he will starve. Pellets and Flakes are ignored, tubifex are ignored, brine shrimp is ignored. What can I do to get him to eat a balanced diet?

 

I had a picky fish too. You need to fast it for a longer period. Fast 3 days, give it a pellet, if he doesn't take it, fast for another 3 days. I fast mine for abit more than 2 weeks, and he finally took the pellet ever since

 

I had a picky fish too. You need to fast it for a longer period. Fast 3 days, give it a pellet, if he doesn't take it, fast for another 3 days. I fast mine for abit more than 2 weeks, and he finally took the pellet ever since

Wow, but it makes sense.
Just noticed that he has Ich, which throws a new challenge. Treatment started...
If he survives all the challenges, he will be a trooper.

 

If you haven't tried it, you can soak his food in either Garlic Guard by Seachem, or just get some garlic that is soaked in juice from a grocery store (bottled garlic). That works sometimes.

I hope he gets better! I have never battled Ich, but I have had a lot of other issues that I have had to deal with....

 

If you haven't tried it, you can soak his food in either Garlic Guard by Seachem, or just get some garlic that is soaked in juice from a grocery store (bottled garlic). That works sometimes.

I hope he gets better! I have never battled Ich, but I have had a lot of other issues that I have had to deal with....

Garlic, yes I believe I read that some time aho. Thanks for the tip.
First dose of Aquarium Ich-x is in the tank. He ate a couple of bloodworm before we started. I cross my fingers, and I hope I got it in time. The big tank is still free of white sprinkles, wonder if my UV Lamp can take the honor for that?

 

I feel like I may have l lucked out with a non-fussy Betta! I feed Hikari Betta Pellets, stick on tablets, freeze dried daphnia and bloodworms and he also nibbles at any veg/algae wafers put in for my snails/Shrimp.