I first started off feeding my Betta flakes as it was what I had home. But I read on multiple places that flakes were not the best as they contained too much air and are not nutrient dense at all. So I then bought the color sticks as seen and he does not seem to like them at all. Keeps spitting out the same piece multiple times before abandoning it.
Should I go back to flakes, see if he get used to the new food, or go buy some pellets?
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Posted by BullEKorV
6 Comments
Best foods : live, frozen
Treats once a week : bloodworms
Base that can be fed most of the time : protein rich (40% protein or more, ideally insect or crustaceans ) minimally processed
e.g. pellets by Fuval Bug bites (smaller ones)
Attisons Betta pro
Hikari Vibra bites /Bio gold
Ultra fresh Betta Pro Shrimp patties
Best pellets will be made with e.g fly larva + herring
Flies and salmon
Shrimp/crustaceans
I have never seen flakes recommended for bettas, but I have only started my research about 6 months ago, and got my tank 3 months ago
Ok so its less about the shape of the food, and more about the ingredients! Bettas are insectivores, so anything that’s high in stuff like wheat meal is just filler that lacks nutrition.
Prioritize foods with stuff like Soldierfly larva, blackworm, and shrimp – those are really good for bettas!
The reason flakes aren’t/shouldn’t be recommended is because they break into tiny pieces that end up in the water column and feed bacteria when the fish ingests it.
And because they have such high surface area to volume ratio, they tend to leech nutrients into the water (and oxidize) quicker than pellets do.
If you can get live blackworms, that is an excellent diet- highly nutritious and encourages hunting behaviors. They are easy to culture too.
I’d really recommend against bloodworms, they lack nutrients and can cause impaction (digestive) issue because of the exoskeleton.
It’s really about the ingredients! Flakes that are almost entirely bugs and all and not veg and fillers are okay. Fluval makes bug bite flakes that are good. There are others out there as well. Flakes are fine, just the vast vast majority aren’t appropriate ingredient wise.
Well, I won’t go into percentages and fillers and such people said those already. They break apart more quickly in water compared to little round pellets and could turn your water parameters into shit way quicker. That being said if you can be really careful about the amount and you have your regular water changes, syphoning, strictly regulated light, lots of live plants , and not an over populated aquarium you’ll be fine. Plus It’s a little cheaper but you’ll have less room for errors. Over feeding with pellets or flakes still going to have the same bad effects but with flakes it’ll be a bit faster. Also like everyone says neither pellets nor flakes are good enough by themselves for your fish to have a nice working digestive system. Frozen brine shrimps are working for me with hikari pellets. I thaw the shrimps and give them to the fish by tweezers for more control. I saw people throwing a whole little frozen pack, just don’t do that.