Very Picky Eater

[Nezabyte]

So my new betta fish seems to be a very picky eater. I've tried feeding him Top Fin pellets, Top Fin freeze-dried blood worms, and HBH flakes. He sucks them all up in his mouth but spits them back out. I've tried pre-soaking the food, but he doesn't seem to care. Is he just being stubborn? I've heard that it may take a couple days for the betta to get used to its new diet.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Just by sucking it in & spitting it out, he does get a fair amount of nutrition for the day.... He is indeed fooling you....

 

[newfishy]

its like dealing with kids that are picky eaters, you offer healthy food choices, they can choose to eat when they get hungry, or stay hungry. I have never seen a fish go long enough to starve themselfs.

 

[Syphoniera]

Hi, Nezabyte,
I happened to notice all the foods are dried - have you considered picking up some frozen foods?
Not for daily use, of course, but a couple of times a week?
And I don't know if you do this already, but a lot of us feed our bettas bite-sized bits of pea weekly - they nearly always love it, and it helps to clean out their systems as well.
Just thought I'd mention as sometimes bettas fed a lot of dried foods seem a little more prone to constipation.
The peas and (thawed, of course) frozen additions seem to help with that.

 

[Nezabyte]

Well, he stopped being stubborn and gave in to eating the floating pellets. I'm gonna try getting him to eat flakes and worms tomorrow for variety. He even seems to try nibbling on the Hikari sinking pellets that I drop in the tank for my 2 mystery snails - is that ok? I've heard about peas, but I figure I can have a break day with no feeding once a week, only feed once a day, and make sure he gets a variety of food (flakes/worms/pellets). If he still gets constipated, then sure, I'll feed him a pea. I heard live food can be dangerous and frozen food only lasts a few days.

 

[azulfire24]

sometimes the pelets are too big and they dont like that, if they are a larger size try smashing them with the back of a spoon. you can also try soakin them in garlick juice then putting one or two in the tank,, some bettas realy like that.

 

[Syphoniera]

Lots of people do that, have a fasting day weekly - personally, I do a pea-feed day rather than a fasting day, but everyone's different, and mine also tend to be fairly active so I'd rather not cut back on their food.
I just prefer to give variety in their diet and the pea-feed also helps provide that.
Thought I mention.

 

[LionMom]

Personally, I feed mine New Life Spectrum Small Fish Pellets on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. The small size of these pellets allow them to float quite a bit longer than the their larger pellets I use for my cichlids. In case you don't know, the NLS pellets have a touch of garlic in them.

On Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday I feed them Golden Pearls.

On Sunday they fast.

They get an occasional treat of frozen brine shrimp - thawed, of course!!!

I only feed once a day.

 

[halfmoonbetta]

I would be careful feeding to much of the freeze dried bloodworms, or freeze dried anything. The occasional treat (once or twice a week) but too much will cause constipation. I also feed pea's once a week, but I don't fast.