Betta 2

Betta fish is well loved for their bright colors and elegant fins. To keep them in tip top conditions, their diet plays a big part in keeping them looking beautiful with their bright colors and fins. Well, you guess it – it is important to know about feeding betta fish. This article shares about the facts and tips about feeding betta fish and also on how often to feed betta fish!

Let's begin…

What to Feed Betta Fish

By nature, they are carnivores and eat insects and insect larvae in the wild, so they require protein in their diet. In choosing their food, it is essential to make sure that it contains enough protein, preferably more than 30%.

Choices of food for Betta Fish:

Pellets

Pellets are great as it's convenient to store and feed. To Betta Fish, they look like insects on water surface resemble their natural habitat. However, if unfinished, it sinks to the bottom and too much of it would make your water cloudy if unattended. Be sure to choose pallets specifically for Betta fish as these are created to float.

Flaked Food

Betta fish doesn't seem to prefer flaked food in our experience. They do not seem to eat much and often have plenty of unfinished food. It's hard to tell why but perhaps it's the size of the larger flakes and how it looks to them on the surface and may not look like food to them.

Live or Freeze-Dried Food

Bloodworm, brine shrimp and daphnia are probably their favorites as these are exactly what they eat in the wild. These can come in live, dried and frozen-dried, and really depend on whether you want convenience or have a spare tank to keep the live ones. Giving them these are definitely a good option as you can be sure that they would enjoy a good meal!

It's recommended to swap pellets with live or freeze-dried food about 1 or 2 days per week.

How Often to feed Betta Fish

Betta Fish may not know when to stop and may just eat whatever amount you are giving. This can cause health problems like bloating, constipation, and obesity. Even if your Bettas don't over-eat, the unfinished food will sink to the bottom of the tank, resulting in cloudy water and you may have to clean your filter more regularly.

Starting with 2 meals a day with intervals around 10-12 hours

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Betta Fish

How Much to Feed Betta fish

It depends on what you are feeding your Betta fish. If it is pellets, about 2 pellets per serving would be sufficient. Most Betta fish keepers will also use the size of the Betta's eye to judge as that's about the size of their stomach. This would be particularly useful when estimating the portion for live or freeze-dried food.

Tips

If your Betta fish is overeating

If you find your Betta over-eating and has signs of bloating, you may want to change your feeding schedule to include 1 day of fasting per week. Do not worry, your Betta can last about 2 weeks without food. After all, they do not get served twice daily in the wild!

If your betta fish is not eating

It could be that your betta fish may be stressed by the recent water change or tank cleaning. Do check the water condition and temperature by using an aquarium water testing kit. Normally, they would resume eating after 1 day but if they continue not to eat, they may be ill and you may want to consult a vet or your local fish store expert.

Conclusion

The key to a healthy betta fish is really through their stomach, if you have fed them with the right diet and their digestive system is in order, this may prevent some illnesses. It is also important to act if you see that your betta fish is showing signs of over-eating.

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