Best shrimp for betta?

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Live mosquito larva, scuds, baby brine shrimp if they care (I've had some like them, some not), can try harvesting grindal worms. Some others do flightless fruit flies.

I stick with mostly frozen and pellets, because I'm limited on live food options. Used to do live mozzie, but shared backyard and neighbours kept dumping my mozzie water bucket and then decided to start spraying pesticides so I'm out of luck on that front now lol

I've heard of some people even doing ant larvae. I raise ants as pets, but too slow a process for it to be a sustainable food source imo so hey could be easier collecting wild on that front. Ants themselves, some have stingers so best avoid those, and might be a little iffy for bettas. My old rainbowfish went bonkers for ants though lol

Thank you lovely!

What do you think about live mealworms, if I find one in there that's small enough for a betta mouth?

Not culturing them (yet, although I did culture some as a kid for a different pet, with my dad helping, and they were easy!) just picked up a container of live mealworms at the reptile section of a chain store while I was getting other pet supplies, thinking I'm sure some of my fish can handle and would enjoy them, even if I need to dice them up first. But would like to try some small whole ones on Levi and the mollies at least, see if they go for them!

 

[sharkweek178]

Live mosquito larva, scuds, baby brine shrimp if they care (I've had some like them, some not), can try harvesting grindal worms. Some others do flightless fruit flies.

I stick with mostly frozen and pellets, because I'm limited on live food options. Used to do live mozzie, but shared backyard and neighbours kept dumping my mozzie water bucket and then decided to start spraying pesticides so I'm out of luck on that front now lol

I've heard of some people even doing ant larvae. I raise ants as pets, but too slow a process for it to be a sustainable food source imo so hey could be easier collecting wild on that front. Ants themselves, some have stingers so best avoid those, and might be a little iffy for bettas. My old rainbowfish went bonkers for ants though lol

Mine will eat baby brine shrimp. But not as enthusiastically as he does mosquito larvae or frozen bloodworms. His favorite is wingless fruit flies. He is outright vicious with how he charges at them. He practically breaches like those great whites on Shark Week going at a seal.
They're easy to culture and don't take up a lot of space. Grindal worms don't take up much space either. I keep mine in plastic food containers. I'm looking forward to setting up a daphnia culture next. Since they're truly aquatic. So my betta can spend time hunting them. I mean, mosquito larvae are too. But that's seasonal and not consistent.

 

[sharkweek178]

Thank you lovely!

What do you think about live mealworms, if I find one in there that's small enough for a betta mouth?

Not culturing them (yet, although I did culture some as a kid for a different pet, with my dad helping, and they were easy!) just picked up a container of live mealworms at the reptile section of a chain store while I was getting other pet supplies, thinking I'm sure some of my fish can handle and would enjoy them, even if I need to dice them up first. But would like to try some small whole ones on Levi and the mollies at least, see if they go for them!

I've seen people say that the size and hard exoskeleton of mealworms isn't good for most fish. Grindal worms and blackworms are good though.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've seen people say that the size and hard exoskeleton of mealworms isn't good for most fish. Grindal worms and blackworms are good though.

Ah, that makes sense, thank you!

Might have to humanely euthanise the mealworms then, peel the exoskeletons, feed the rest, then just look for culturing other foods. Thank you!

 

[sharkweek178]

Ah, that makes sense, thank you!

Might have to humanely euthanise the mealworms then, peel the exoskeletons, feed the rest, then just look for culturing other foods. Thank you!

Grindals are good food for your pygmy corys too.
Funny story. I walked in on my betta face down in the moss carpet I made for his tank. Startled me until I realized that he was digging around for some of the grindal worms I fed him earlier and he had missed.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Grindals are good food for your pygmy corys too.
Funny story. I walked in on my betta face down in the moss carpet I made for his tank. Startled me until I realized that he was digging around for some of the grindal worms I fed him earlier and he had missed.

They can give us a scare now and then like that, right? The cories and my spotted hoplo are great at "playing dead". They often sit, sleep or lie in weird positions, convince you that they're dead, then zip away the moment your hand or net gets close to them.

My old fish store at one point had a huge tank below their service desk that housed a single giant gourami. They said they couldn't sell him because the moment anyone wanted to buy him and a net came anywhere near him, he'd "faint" and lie on his side on the bottom, looking as if he'd died until they removed the net, so the buyer would back out. Then once net was gone, he'd pop back up, nothing wrong with him. Eventually they decided they were stuck with him.

 

[Jinx_]

Fish can have such attitudes!