Food Options

[TotallyTropical]

Hello, it’s me again
So things are going well with James! He’s eating (sort of, hence the need for a post), swimming lots, sometimes flaring, just looking 100% better overall! He loves his new 5.5gal like his buddy Marmalade has.
The only issue is the food. He wasn’t eating pellets while I was monitoring him in the 1.8gal so I put him on Tetramin flakes (all I had on hand), and he seemed to love them. I also fed James some frozen brine shrimp, and eventually moved him to the 5.5gal after using some BB to boost the cycle. I switched him off of Tetramin after I moved him because I don’t like the quality of Tetra’s foods and wanted a food that was actually meant for bettas so I could make sure he could get all of the nutrients that he needs, and moved him onto National Geographic’s betta flakes which have been discontinued in my local Petsmart unfortunately, but gave me a good price when I went to pick up the last container! They seem to be a good quality flake with salmon, halibut, and kelp as the first 3 ingredients. It smells a lot fishier than the Tetramin too, which seems like a good sign to me.
James says no though. At most, he’ll eat 2 small pieces of the flake and leave the rest for me to clean up. I’ve been sucking up to him and feeding him frozen brine shrimp and bloodworms, which he likes, but it’s very hard to portion out and not very cost effective.
Do you think it’s just the specific flakes that he doesn’t like? I’ve tried pellets again in the 5.5gal and he still can’t seem to wrap his head around how to eat them. Is there an alternative I can feed him? I know Tetra sells a worm-shaped pellet for bettas, but it has lukewarm reviews and again, not a fan of their food.

 

[NickAu]

James says no though

And you say yes, stop feeding him anything but pellets, offer him a pellet if he refuses to eat it remove it from the tank and do not give him food for 24 hours, next day offer him a pellet if he refuses remove the pellet and try again the next day and so on, he will eat eventually.

 

[TotallyTropical]

He struggles with pellets though. It looks like something neurological almost?
I can try just feeding him the pellets, but what if he doesn’t eat the pellets for a week or more?

 

[NickAu]

It looks like something neurological almost

Whats that mean?

He struggles with pellets though.

What type of pellet is it? Have you tried crushing the pellet a bit firs or pre soaking it?

but what if he doesn’t eat the pellets for a week or more?

Then he will go hungry, simple.

 

[TotallyTropical]

Whats that mean?

I don’t know how to explain it, but he acts (for the most part) fine around most foods, but when it comes to pellets he wiggles a bit in front of it and then completely misses it 9 times out of 10. Even if it grazes his mouth, it won’t make it in. Perhaps I take that back then, rather than something neurological (since it doesn’t affect anything else he’s doing), maybe his mouth is just too small to take in pellets?

What type of pellet is it?

I’ve tried Hikari Betta Bio Gold (a smaller floating pellet), Northfin betta pellets (small, dense, somewhat sinking pellets? They sink after a bit in the tank), and a generic no name brand called Essentials (large, floating, more similar to the Hikari). None of them work.

Have you tried crushing the pellet a bit firs

I tried crushing pellets but found it had made quite a mess in the tank afterwards with all of the pellet dust. And, speaking of pellet dust, there isn’t much big enough for James to recognize as food whenever I feed that way, even when I crush 3-4 pellets, so it just leaves a mess and presumably a half fed betta.

pre soaking it?

I was thinking about this while responding to the previous quotes. This could work if his problem is a small mouth. Maybe the softer, waterlogged pellet could squish into his mouth? I will have to try this tomorrow.

Then he will go hungry, simple.

I’m just wondering when I should step in and give him sustenance is all. I don’t want him to go 2-3 weeks on maybe 4 pellets total, for example.

 

[NickAu]

I don’t want him to go 2-3 weeks on maybe 4 pellets

And thats what it might take to get him eating pellets.

Northfin betta pellets

Stick with Northfin.

You could try using a pepper grinder to grind a few pellets

 

[TotallyTropical]

Soaking the pellets seems to have worked!!
And here I was overreacting over nothing haha. Guess I’ve got a lot of leftover flakes now...

Stick with Northfin

I think I will. They’re easy to get around here and good quality.

 

[pov]

have you tried micro pellets hikari makes these , also zoo med and picies .
also therers goldfish treats they really are messy though. you need to have snails with them. guppies bettas love it it kinda breaks up into millions of pieces ,they are soft and stick to the side of your tank.

 

[NickAu]

Soaking the pellets seems to have worked!!

Good to hear.

Feed him 3 pellets in the morning and 1 or 2 at night