Hikari Betta Bio Gold

[TotallyTropical]

I’m back again! (Although not for any big issues this time )
My Nutrafin betta pellets recently expired and as I have recently picked up a job at my LPS and started training, I have learned that fish food past its expiry date has nutritional value equal to cardboard. I looked this up on here an other forums to confirm that the training information was correct, and so it was.
I immediately tossed the Nutrafin pellets (such a waste too, there was like half a container left), and picked up some Hikari Betta Bio Gold, which I remember being a fairly good betta food. Now I know their quality has gone down since I last used it, but I’ve run into a different issue; compared to my bettas, these pellets are like crumbs. Seriously, they’re so much tinier than I remember! I don’t mind the ingredients used but the size is just crazy. I’ll use the rest of the package since I dont want to waste food, but does anyone have any good betta pellet recommendations? Preferably ones that are a bit bigger in size, and that you can get at LPS/LFS locations, such as Petsmart or Pet Valu. I’m just not so sure about ordering food online at the moment.
The Nutrafin Bug Bites betta pellets look promising, but I’ve only ever tried their tropical micro pellets for my neons and barbs when I still had them
The only reason I’m not picking up the regular Nutrafin betta pellets is because there’s too much food for me to go through with my bettas before the expiry date (hence the issue at hand).

 

[Colin_T]

I haven't got a clue about different sized dry foods for Bettas but dry fish foods are not necessarily stuffed after they go past their expiry date. If the packet is air tight and sealed up, it still has some value. If you get a big packet you can divide it up and seal it up in smaller packets and freeze them. You can add a moisture absorbing pack to the food to help keep it dry but if it is sealed up air tight it should be fine. Vacuum sealing is best.

If dry fish food is kept in a humid environment it will deteriorate faster too. Most dry fish foods are designed to absorb moisture and in a humid environment (near an aquarium) they become soft and squishy. The moisture in the air is absorbed by the food and causes fungus and mould to grow on it, as well as breaking down vitamins in the food.

You want to keep dry fish food dry and use it all up within a few weeks if possible. If you have dry fish food open to the air for a month it is pretty much cardboard too

 

[TotallyTropical]

The food was open, and the container didn’t really seal too tight. That’s why I was worried about it not being good anymore. I could go with Nutrafin again and freeze most of it until I need it, but I’d prefer to just go through foods more regularly to know I have some of the fresher stuff.
Now, the Hikari food doesnt come in a resealable package. Should I put it in one to preserve it for longer while I’m still using it?

 

[Colin_T]

Zip lock bags are great for fish food. Put some food in a zip lock bag and lay it down on a flat surface, then zip it up. Put that bag inside a couple more bags and seal them up too. Then put them in the freezer. Keep a small amount in another zip lock bag to use.

 

[Phil Fish]

Right now I am feeding Phil the Betta the National Geographic Betta Pellets. They are made by OmegaSea. I got them at Petsmart. I don't know if they are the size you want since they're pretty small. My Betta isn't a big guy though and he gobbles them up.

 

[NickAu]

Hikari Bio Gold is rubbish none of my Bettas have ever wanted to eat it.

 

[TallPaul]

Mine loves them and he seems to do fine on them. I usually give 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. Them being tiny is a good thing, less likely to cause bloat

 

[TotallyTropical]

Hikari Bio Gold is rubbish none of my Bettas have ever wanted to eat it.

Weird, my bettas eat it fine. I just don’t like the switch they made to fish meal and such. Just a terrible drop in quality imo

Mine loves them and he seems to do fine on them. I usually give 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening. Them being tiny is a good thing, less likely to cause bloat

That’s a good point, but one of my bettas is a lot bigger than the other bettas I’ve had. I don’t believe he’s a “giant” or “king” betta, but I don’t remember my other bettas ever getting this big. I’m just concerned about his food intake compared to his size, I suppose.

I was looking at Northfin betta pellets (which is usually only available online) and New Life Spectrum betta pellets, are either of these any good?

 

[Essjay]

My current betta was being fed on Atisons, then I got some Northfin Betta Bits, and the difference! He virtually launches himself out of the water when I drop the first pellet in, and chases the rest down much faster than with Atisons. I can definitely recommend the Northfin, the small pack is the right size for just one betta. I got mine off Ebay, but I am in the UK and Northfin is a Canadian product so there are very few sellers here.

 

[NickAu]

I just don’t like the switch they made to fish meal

All fish food is made from fish meal it has to be because its dry food, There is nothing wrong with fish meal as long as its whole fish meal.

I prefer to feed my fish live and frozen food.

Never had problems with fish bloating on fresh live or frozen food

 

[Essjay]

Northfin betta bits - whole Atlantic krill meal, herring meal, whole sardine meal, organic kelp, spirulina etc etc

 

[TotallyTropical]

I got mine off Ebay, but I am in the UK and Northfin is a Canadian product so there are very few sellers here.

I swear I saw it in a LFS somewhere near me... I might be able to get it in stores if it’s Canadian, considering I’m Canadian myself!

All fish food is made from fish meal it has to be because its dry food, There is nothing wrong with fish meal as long as its whole fish meal.

Ah, that’s what I meant. Sorry for being so vague. I remember Hikari using whole fish meal before, or something along those lines. I can’t quite remember now.

I prefer to feed my fish live and frozen food.

If I were to just feed live and frozen, could earthworms, brine shrimp, and bloodworms work? I can get earthworms live (obviously) and know to let them sit in a clean, damp substrate, such as wet paper towels, for a couple of days so that they can get rid of all of their foreign wastes. Then I split them into small chunks and my bettas gobble them right up! (If this is not advised though, I’ll make sure to stop feeding them worms)
As for brine shrimp and bloodworms, I have no clue where to get bloodworms live and I have the worst luck raising brine shrimp. Would frozen still work? Also, are these complete enough diets for fish? I know it’s what they eat in the wild and all but part of me feels theres still something missing.
Sorry for all of the questions, but I’m just happy to learn whats best for my fish!

 

[Colin_T]

The old saying "variety is the spice of life" is quite accurate. Fish and all animals need a varied diet. The more types of food they ingest, the more different types of beneficial bacteria they develop in their intestine and the healthier they are.

Bettas naturally eat small insects and insect larvae, shrimp, fish and anything else (small worms, etc) that washes into the pools of water they live in. In an aquarium they can be fed a dry fish food as their basic diet, and supplemented with frozen (but defrosted) or live foods like prawn/ shrimp, fish, squid, brineshrimp, daphnia, bloodworms, mysis shrimp. They can also be fed small insects like aphids, annoying flies & wingless fruit flies, moths, mosquitoes & mozzie larvae, weevils & weevil larvae, ants & ant eggs, termites and most other small non toxic insects that have not been exposed to bug sprays and chemicals. Lots of live foods can be cultured at home and fed to all fish.

Earthworms are fine and you can put them in damp porridge or bran for a couple of days rather than using paper towels. They eat the bran and within 24-48 hours it has removed most of the gunk from their gut. The bran should be wet and then squeezed so no water comes out, then spread loosely in a container. The worms can be put on top and will work their way into the mixture.

If you can get white worms or grindal worms they are smaller than earthworms and can be kept in peat moss or potting mix (without fertiliser) and fed on dry baby cereal a couple of times a week.

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Live bloodworms (Chirominid midge larvae) can be an issue for fish they don't chew their food and it is best to cut the head off live bloodworms before feeding them to fish. The head is hard and has a set of pincers on the front for catching food and the live larvae have been known to bite fish whilst in their stomach.

Bloodworms appear in containers of water with rotting leaves. I have a couple of 100 litre plastic storage containers of water outside under a tree and they have a layer of leaves covering the bottom. The leaves produce infusoria and mosquito larvae regularly appear on the surface so get scooped out and fed off. The bloodworms live in the leaf litter on the bottom and make a small silk tube that they stick bits or leaf and mud to. They live in these tubes for month before they turn into adults and fly around. The adults do not bite and are small (2-3mm long) and make great fish food.

In spring and summer you regularly see swarms of midges flying around and can use a fine mesh fish net to catch them. I put them in a plastic bag and put that in the freezer for an hour to kill them. Then feed them to the fish. You can feed them live to the fish if you like but freezing them lets you feed a few each day over a period of weeks.

There is some info at the following link about culturing daphnia in green water or infusoria cultures if you are interested.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/back-to-basics-when-breeding-fish.448304/

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Frozen brineshrimp can be enriched with algae or not enriched. Check the packaging and try to get the brands that have been enriched. Basically they feed the brineshrimp on algae before freezing them and the fish eats the brineshrimp and gets a little bit of nutrition from the brineshrimp and a bit from the algae inside the brineshrimp.

Newly hatched brineshrimp (less than 2 days old) are very nutritious and will be eaten by most small fish. Most Bettas usually take them once they work out they are food but some don't.

There is info about brineshrimp eggs at the link above.

 

[NickAu]

Hi

Sorry for all of the questions

Please do not be sorry for asking questions, the only silly question is the one that is not asked.

If I were to just feed live and frozen, could earthworms, brine shrimp, and blood worms work?

Like Colin said variety is the spice of life.

I have 15 Bumblebee Gobys ( they refuse to eat anything but fresh or frozen ), 5 Female Bettas, 1 grumpy male Betta, 15 Harlequin Rasboras, 15 Rummy nose Tetras 30 Kuhli Loaches and 3 BN plecos ( one is a baby ) so I have lots of live and frozen food on hand.

I also live on 5 acres of land and have a number of fruit trees a shed thats the size of a small house and a basement so I have lots of room for growing live food.

These are the foods I feed my fish,

Live extra small crickets
Glass shrimp,
Red Cherry Shrimp. ( I breed them)
Baby Brine Shrimp ( I breed them)
Mature gut loaded brine shrimp ( I breed them)
Mozzie larvae.
Endler fry. ( I breed them)
Earth worm. ( I breed them)
Live Black Worm.
Fruit fly when in season
Maggots ( I breed them)
Flies, Moths, Butterflies ( I catch them )
Ants
Grindal Worms ( I breed them)

I also feed frozen food
Brine Shrimp
Daphnia
Krill
Blood worm
Shrimp, ( I buy a whole large ocean shrimp/prawn and use a grater to portion it out)
Squid
Fish fillets ( My fish love Barramundi )

If you want to go down the path of fresh live and frozen it can be a pain in the a** especially if you only have 1 fish.

I used to feed my fish New Life Spectrum but I always wanted Bumblebee Gobys and knew what I was getting into when I got them so its live or frozen food for everyone now.

 

[TotallyTropical]

Thank you guys so much for your replies!
Since winter is coming up fast and furious in Canada, I wont be able to get any wild love foods for a few months starting in a couple of weeks, but I can certainly try some of the other foods mentioned if I really need to. One of my big problems is I’m leaving for university next year, so my parents will be left to take care of my fish, and anything live they probably will not want to feed, and they may see frozen as difficult/a pain to do, so it may be hard to convince them to feed it.

If you want to go down the path of fresh live and frozen it can be a pain in the a** especially if you only have 1 fish.

Yeah, I suppose 2 bettas don’t really call for millions of live and frozen food on hand like your fish do. I’ll test out what I’m capable of getting my hands on and see if my fish like it. If not, I’ll stick to pellets and maybe frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, with a few other seasonal treats when the time comes around.