Betta overfeeding

[Bender81]

Just wondering how many pellets your bettas eat in a day. Mine was barely eating for the first week, but now he seems to have grown a big appetite. He eats 4 in the morning and 4 at night (Hikari Betta Bio-Gold)! I drop in four and he eats them easily in less than 30 seconds, sometimes eating two in one bite! I bet he could eat 5-6 if I fed him that much. I read you should feed 2-3 pellets twice a day though, so could this be bad for him?

Edit: Also, he loves the Hikari's, but spits out or ignores the freeze dried blood worms I give him. Any way I can get him to eat those?

 

[JimMelAddie]

that's about what my betta eats(4-5 morning&late afternoon). occasionally i give him "lunch." can't get him to eat bloodworms either.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Bettas have different tastes. I have one betta who absolutely refuses the pellets, and will only eat freeze dried bloodworms. My female will try anything that falls into the water. If yours doesn't like the bloodworms, there's no real reason to force him to eat them. You could try fasting him until he takes them, but if you're offering them as a treat then he will probably still refuse as long as he's eating regularly.

I feed my male betta 5-6 pellets once a day, and my female about 4 and whatever bloodworms escape from the frog. The other male gets a little pinch of bloodworms. They've been fine like this for over a year.

 

[CatsFishes]

I found with my newest betta that he would only eat the freeze dried bloodworms if I soaked them first. I just dip a spoonful of water out of his tank and let them soak in it for 10 minutes or so. Then he gobbles them up. Of course, maybe yor betta just doesn't like them. I feed 2-3 pellets in the morning (also soaked first, he wouldn't eat those either) and 3 or 4 worms or shrimp at night. They seem happy.

 

[Iggy]

Egads .... I feed my bettas once per day, flake food (Nutrafin Staple) because it has the best ingredients (fish meal is #1 ingredient) and is the most digestable.

I had too many overweight bettas from Hakari Brand, and sickly bettas from HBH *bits* brand. Now, with just flakes, once per day, they are active, colorful and healthy.

Bettas will and DO overeat. They will eat themselves sick if you let them.

 

[Bender81]

Ya, I'm mostly worried that he'll overfeed himself. He definately wants more even after I feed him 4 pellets. He still swims around staring at the surface where I feed him. But he's sorta grown a gut. Stomach has definately grown since I got him, which is why I'm thinking of cutting down a bit, even though he always seems hungry.

 

[revfred]

Bettas are "pigs" and may literally eat themselves to death or into constipation. Once a day is more than enough . . . skipping a day a week won't hurt them either. I think that those betta gold "balls" ... are recommended only 5/day. I agree with Iggy ... I feed mine 1x/day ... a staple food (TetraMin) and when I give them blackworms ... it is only 1-2 worms a day.

 

[cheovanna]

ack.. I noticed my bettas stomach has grown a lot.. I think he's maybe constipated.. do i just not feed him anymore or what

 

[mcshell]

try feed him pea. it may help his consipation.

 

[CatsFishes]

I have read that daphnia are a natural laxative, but I don't know how true this is.

 

[animal lover]

I feed my guys 4 pellets 2x a day but I also skip feeding once a week or at least once every 2 weeks, not only to make sure they digest but because sometimes I get lazy and don't want to feed them or because I'm really busy and can't find the time to do it at the regular intervals so I just skip it....I know it's horrible to say I get to lazy to feed my fish but if it helps the matter any I sometimes get to lazy to even feed myself....lol.....