[RandomWiktor]

Introduction
___There is much talk within the fishkeeping community regarding issues like tank size, stocking, water quality, and species compatibility. One of the most important aspects of fish husbandry, however, has been largely overlooked: nutrition.
___Captive fish - regardless of if they are wild caught or fully domesticated - seldom have the opportunity to eat the foods they would be exposed to in their native or ancestral habitats, and rely primarily on a variety of processed foods to survive. As with all animals, these balanced processed diets have their positive and negative attributes that vary based on brand, ingredients, and feeding schedule.
___In this guide to betta nutrition, a few common types of betta foods will be explored, pointing out the strong and weak points of each. Good feeding practices will also be addressed, with the goal of helping betta owners choose the best way to maximize nutrition for their pet. This topic can also be used as a place for members to exchange experiences regarding different betta foods.

Betta Nutrition
___Bettas are classified as carnivores (or insectivores), and in the wild consume a diet of primarily zooplankton, mosquito larvae, and other insects/invertebrates. They may also prey on the fry and eggs of their own or other species of fish. Because of this, a betta's diet should be high in protein and animal products, and low in fiber and vegetable products. Pelleted and flake diets are often composed of ingredients that do not mimic the natural diet, but do offer a favorable balance of daily nutrient needs. Live, frozen, or freeze-dried insects, on the other hand, more closely mimic the natural diet, but may not be nutritionally complete unless fed in great variety. To better understand the differences in foods, as well as their pros and cons, please read the section below.

Which Food is Best?
___A question often posed to pet nutritionists is "which food is the best?" Though it seems simple, this is actually quite a loaded question, since nutrition is individual and based on circumstance! Regardless of the species, a bare minimum of health, body condition, activity levels, and owner budget must be considered. Additionally, with cold blooded animals like fish, temperature strongly influences metabolism, and thus feeding schedule. Finally, proper nutrition for breeding, growth, critical care, and recovery must also be considered. So, the answer to the question of "which food is best?" is, "it depends..." As a starting point, here are some descriptions of foods for average, healthy, adult bettas.

Flakes
___Traditionally, many species of fish have been fed flake diets. Fish flakes are convenient for community aquariums with a variety of species, as they are easy to chew, can be broken into sizes suitable for any species, and are very inexpensive to buy. Not surprisingly, there are many brands of flakes for bettas on the market. There are positives and negatives to these products; on one hand, they are wonderful for small bettas or bettas who have trouble chewing pellets, and have a long shelf life and low cost. However, they also have several serious negatives; flakes have more air than substance, and are thus not as nutrient dense as pelleted foods. They absorb moisture readily and can thus cause constipation and other digestive difficulties. And compared to most other foods, they have a low palatability.
___There are easy ways to cope with the down sides of flakes if they are to be fed as the primary dietary simple. First, all flakes should be pre-soaked.* Pre-soaking will allow moisture to enter the flake, reducing the trapped air and the swelling of the flake in the betta's stomach (which could contribute to swim bladder disease). When flakes absorb moisture in the water rather than in the gut, they are less likely to cause constipation. Soaking will also increase the palatability as it will improve the texture and release more of the scent and flavor. Finally, treats of richer foods can help combat the slight nutritional inferiority of flakes. *Please note: pre-soaking should be done in only enough water to moisten the flake. Water soluble nutrients are easily lost from flakes due to their broad surface area. A single drop of water from the aquarium is typically sufficient.
Pellets
___Pellets are increasingly the staple diet of choice among fishkeepers. Pelleted foods tend to be more nutritionally complete than flakes, more gentle on the digestive tract, and are often more palatable to fish. There are a variety of brands of pellets available to betta keepers, from very inexpensive generic brands, to higher quality (and price!) brands. These foods do not swell as badly as flakes in the digestive tract, and are readily accepted by most fish as they have become the dietary staple of many fish stores.
___This is not to say they lack any negative attributes. Because of the wide range of sizes observed in adult and sub-adult bettas, not all pellets are suitable for all individuals; female bettas, younger fish, and small specimens in general risk starvation, jaw injury, or choking if fed an oversized pellet. Selecting small pellets, and pre-soaking to prevent injury, can greatly reduce this problem If all else fails, most pellets can be easily crushed for smaller fish.
___There is also an issue among some fishkeepers regarding the use of preservatives in many brands of pellets. Because pellets can have a higher fat and protein content than freeze-dried flake foods, many manufacturers use preservatives to prevent spoiling. While there is no conclusive scientific evidence suggesting that these substances are harmful or benign, personal experience on both ends of the opinion spectrum leaves plenty of room for personal choice when selecting a pellet brand.
Freeze-Dried Foods
___Many invertebrates can be found in freeze-dried forms; blood worms, daphnia, and tubifex worms are among some popular freeze-dried foods used by hobbyists. Like flakes, freeze-dried foods have a long shelf life, are inexpensive, and convenient for the owner. What's more, some chain stores feed freeze-dried foods exclusively to bettas due to their cost effectiveness, so new bettas are normally pleased to eat what they are familiar with.
___Unfortunately, freeze-dried foods have many negative traits. They are notorious for creating constipation and swim bladder problems as they absorb moisture quickly in the gut. Some nutritional value is lost during the freeze-drying process, and in the case of tubifex worms, it is possible for cheaper brands to harbor deadly bacteria. Many hobbyists will not feed freeze-dried foods for these reasons, though with adequate pre-soaking, freeze-dried blood worms and daphnia are an enjoyable treat for your betta.
Frozen Foods
___Many fish stores have frozen foods available for a reasonable price to the public. They are typically insect-based, which is perfect for bettas, which are insectivorous by nature. Blood worms, brine shrimp, midas shrimp, and other foods are available from a variety of manufacturers, as are mixed-ingredient carnivore diets. These foods are beneficial because they mimic the natural diet more accurately, are extremely rich, highly palatable, and may be fairly inexpensive based on the number of fish you own.
___However, one must keep in mind that frozen foods are not nutritionally balanced, and unless fed in great variety may lead to nutritional deficiencies and excesses that can be harmful to your betta's health. Furthermore, the richness of these foods promotes obesity, particularly in fish kept in colder aquariums with less swimming space. Finally, frozen foods can be a source of deadly bacteria if stored incorrectly, so always look for signs of re-freezing, and dispose of any excess thawed food after each feeding.
Live Foods
___Most betta fry start out on a diet of live foods, such as baby brine shrimp or vinegar eels. Well, adult bettas can certainly have live foods as well! Blood worms, blackworms, brine shrimp, wingless fruit flies, and other readily available invertebrates can be cultured with relative ease or purchased in some pet stores as a supplementary portion of your betta's diet. These foods have the benefit of also serving as behavioral enrichment, as they encourage the betta's natural predatory behavior. They are also highly nutritious as they have not lost any of their value from protein-degrading processes like freezing, drying, or sterilization.
___Unfortunately, live foods have a dark side: it is very easy to make bettas ill with contaminated cultures. Blackworms in particular are notorious for causing deadly internal infections, and should only be purchased from a highly reputable source or cultured at home. What's more, live foods can be pricey, either due to the costs of buying and culturing, or the price in pet stores. Because of this, many betta owners choose sterilized frozen foods instead.
Home-Made Gel Based Diets
___An increasingly popular fishkeeping phenomena is the creation of home made gel based diets. Gel based diets can be tailored to the individual species' nutritional needs, and are a convenient way to incoporate a wide variety of high quality nutrient sources in an easy-to-feed format. Betta gels are typically made by combining gelatin and a wide variety of frozen, freeze dried, or pre-killed insects. They keep well in the freezer and are generally highly palatable.
___Gel foods are not perfect, however. A gel diet with an insufficient variety of nutrient sources runs the same deficiency risks as feeding unsufficiently varied frozen or live foods. A mixture that is too heavily gelatin based may result in deficiencies in certain amino acids based on lab studies involving other species on gelatin diets. It is also part luck and part practice to get a smooth, favorable consistency and even mixing of ingredients - and that trial and error can lead to a big feeding bill! To help reduce the chance of a bad batch, keep reading for a fun and simple "how to" guide later in this thread.
Vegetables and "Human Food"
___One of the more controversial aspects of betta nutrition regards feeding "human" foods to bettas. Some fishkeepers promote the use of finely chopped organ and muscle meat from terrestrial mammals and birds as an inexpensive alternative to frozen and live foods due to their high fat and protein content. The presence of bi-products from such animals in some commercially available foods has helped back the stance that this is an acceptable feeding practice - as it may be.
___However, one must consider the fact that bettas were never intended to consume cattle, turkeys, chicken eggs, or anything larger than invertebrates. Because of this, it is possible and likely that such foods may be difficult to digest, and more worryingly, may contain bacteria bettas are simply unable to handle. I would also caution fish owners against the feeding of any dairy products to any species of fish; dairy products were intended for infant mammals only, and are known to cause severe digestive problems in virtually any species - even other mammals! As thus, it would be wisest to avoid feeding "human" foods, or only buy them if they are included in a frozen or processed diet that has been specifically designed with carnivorous fish in mind.
___Also included in this category is vegetables, such as peas, cucumber, and other popular foods given to aquatic omnivores and herbivores. While bettas have no dietary need for these foods, they may have some healthy benefits if fed occasionally and appropriately and in moderation; cucumber and de-shelled, cooked peas are a popular remedy for constipation, for example (Note: constipation should always first be addressed via fasting, raising the temp, and physical activity. Daphnia are equally as effective as peas). They do not need to be a part of a betta's regular diet, but when fed sparingly for treatment purposes, appear to create no adverse side effects.
A Brief Note on Variety
___If you read the above, snorted, and thought "well that doesn't help me; I still don't know what to feed!" since every food type's positives and negatives were explored, please consider the following. Most animal nutritionists agree that the best way to ensure complete nutrition for your pet is through variety. Because each food as its fortes and failings, it is best to feed multiple foods; this will magnify the benefits and reduce the negatives. What's more, feeding a great variety of foods is more enriching for your betta, providing a valuable source of stimulation that is lost when we stick to just one type or brand of food. That's right - I said brand. Even if all you can afford to feed is flakes or pellets, feeding multiple brands will offer much-needed variety; I myself feed fourteen brands of pellets in addition to frozen and live foods!
Brands & Quality of Processed Diets
___A worthwhile concern, when deciding which foods to feed your betta, would be which brand you ought to select. Every fish food claims to provide excellent nutrition, but can the packaging on a product designed to encourage your purchase really be trusted? Yes and no.
___Part of a fish food's packaging is indeed very useful to the prospective buyer - though it isn't the part of the label promising excellent nutrition. Rather, the nutritional analysis & ingredients list are your best resource for determining the quality of a food - even better than how popular the brand is. If you know what to look for, you can easily spot good foods vs bad foods.
Deciphering Labels
Here are some key points to investigate when reading a fish food label:
Nutritional Analysis: These are the percentages that indicate the nutrient profile of the food. Because bettas are insectivores, you should seek a high protien, low fat food. Fat between 3-8% and protien between 35-45% is very favorable. Higher moisture and lower ash and magnesium, when possible, are also preferred for kidney health.
Ingredients: The source of nutrients matters almost as much as their percentages. Try to avoid foods that use large ammounts of low quality "filler" ingredients such as corn, wheat, and soy. At least the first two ingredients and preferably the first three ingredients should be animal protiens, as ingredients are listed in order of % composition. When possible, also seek betta foods with some invertebrate protiens, and try to avoid foods whose ingredients aren't easily recognizable whole food products.
Making Your Own Gel-Based Food
Gel based diets, as mentioned above, are a favorable alternative to processed diets for bettas. One huge benefit of making a gel diet is that your fish can consume invertebrate based foods rather fish, poultry, and soy-based foods - which deviate strongly from their natural diet, possibly with long term health implications.
Coming soon
Feeding Schedule
___Once you've decided which food (or hopefully foods) you'll be offering your betta, there is one piece of the puzzle remaining: how much and how often to feed. Unlike dogs and cats, which thermoregulate internally and can thus have their daily energy requirements computed through a simple equation with relative accuracy, bettas are ectotherms - their body temperature and thus metabolism are dictated largely by the temperature of their external environment. Because of this, feeding is affected not only by age, activity level, food nutrient content, health, and reproductive status, but also by the temperature of the environment.
___It is also noteworthy that nutritional needs are always greater when dealing with an animal that is growing, reproducing, sick, injured, or recovering from illness and trauma. Across the species board, a greater need for fat and protien from easily digestable sources is observed in these special conditions, and bettas are no different. Keep this in mind when feeding under special conditions, and adjust the diet and feeding schedule accordingly.
___So how do you figure out your betta's daily energy requirements? Trial and error. You can safely assume that your betta should be fed something every day, but figuring out what he or she needs to maintain a good body condition is an art of "guestimation" and adjustment. You can safely assume, for example, that an elderly male halfmoon in a one gallon aquarium at 74 degrees eating only frozen blood worms needs to be fed very little. A growing, egg-laden female plakat in a 20 gallon sorority at 82 degrees eating just pellets, on the other hand, would need quite a bit of food to stay at an acceptable weight.
___It is also suggested that bettas be fasted at least one day weekly. Because bettas tend to have a dry food as their staple, and a very high-protein diet, they are prone to constipation. While the feeding of a mashed frozen pea is good for clearing up constipation, prevention is always the best medicine; fasting once or twice per week typically offsets digestive problems in average bettas.
Conclusion
___Betta nutrition is an inexact science influenced by a variety of factors. There is no easy answer to the type, quantity, and frequency of feedings. Hopefully after reading this guide, however, you have a better understanding of the food options available to you, and can also better grasp what factors influence a betta's daily caloric needs. Remember, when fed a variety of healthy foods relative to temperature, activity levels, and physical condition, most bettas will remain healthy... giving you plenty of time to focus on water parameters and other fishkeeping worries!

Rules for Distribution:
I welcome you to share this information and any other articles I have written with other forums and websites under the following conditions:
1. Do not claim this work as your own.
2. Provide credit to RandomWiktor somewhere in the posting.
2. Provide a link back to UltimateBettas.com

[Lee]

Great post!

[SquishyBetta]

Excellent post Ren! I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on how often your "staple" food should be fed in comparison to veggies, live foods, and all the other types you listed; for example, would a schedule of 4 days staple, 1 day live, 1 day veggie, 1 day fast be preferable to a schedule of 3 days staple, 2 live, 2 veggie? The staple I'm referring to in specific are my Hikari pellets, but I would imagine you could insert any flake/pellet food here :).

I'd also be curious to see your thoughts on the impacts of a scheduled fasting day on a betta's overall health and well-being. :)

This post has been edited by SquishyBetta: 05 January 2007 - 08:37 PM

[RandomWiktor]

Ah, I should mention something about fasting in the sheet - better go do that!
As far as staple diet vs. frozen/live vs. veggies? I personally see no need to feed veggies more than once a week, and honestly, I only feed them when my fish are costipated, since carnivores have no dietary need for them. In terms of frozen/live stuff? That all depends. When I have sick fish, I feed almost exclusively frozen and live. If I was conditioning, I'd do the same. I feed about half of the meals as frozen/live to growing fish. And for my mature, healthy adults? I feed frozen/live maybe twice weekly, less if I haven't the time (you have no idea how long it takes to hand feed 38 bettas, lol), and fast 1-2 days per week.

[RandomWiktor]

Okie dokie, fixed any typos I noticed (that doesn't mean there are none now, heh) so it should be slightly less crappy now.... feel free to discuss anything regarding betta feeding guys ^^

[sammyblot]

thanks sOOO much random ... this is so helpful as i am trying to get a good schedule going for my fish kids.... so this is very cool...

buying betta food (pellets flake) is a nightmare. I do have attisons pellets, and frozen bloodworm, so whilst in petsmart the other day it took me ages to decide on another food to get.. i ended up with omega one betta buffet flakes!! .. but the info on soaking them before feeding is great .. thanks ..

Izzy decided he wasnt going to eat them at first though .. he likes to check out new food before just eating it.. the girls are just piggies.. they scoffed the lot!! ...

i was already feeding peas on saturday and fasting on sunday, 2 nights a week they have frozen bloodworms, and the other days they have pellets or (now) flake...

I also feed them twice a day .. even if its only 1 or 2 pellets in the morning and then a few more pellets or worms or whatever in the evening...

i actually find it to be a really nice bonding time, and although i do watch them fairly regually i do enjoy feed time!! .. so cute to see them munching on thier dinner!! ...

so anyway .. i will get other makes of pellets too...

oh and in petsmart the other day i saw these 'medication foods' and they did say you could feed them as a preventative but im not sure if thats a good thing to do.. (i dont feed myself or my dogs any preventative stuff!!) .. but wasnt sure if its a good idea for fish kids!!

like this :::
http://www.petsmart....t...030063&Ne=2

[RandomWiktor]

I would not feed that food as a staple for prevention purposes... I *do* always treat all incoming bettas for parasites, but after that they recieve normal food. There is no need to continually medicate a healthy fish.

[sammyblot]

ok .. so when you buy pet store fish you treat for parasites .. would medication or the anti parastite food be best... ??

[Elizabeth]

Hey there! I've got a quick question about food. I bought a new betta at Walmart yesterday evening and he seems like he doesn't like the food I bought, Wardley Essentials Betta Food. It's in pellet form and the last couple of times I dropped a little bit into his bowl, he just ignored them until they soaked up so much water that they fell apart.

Today, I dropped in a baby shrimp my roommate had in her fish supply box and he nibbled on it for a bit, but started to ignore it again. He hasn't eaten since I brought him home and I'm a little concerned. I've had issues with my bettas not liking Wardley food before (my betta at home, Mugsy, wouldn't eat it unless I broke each pellet in half before I dropped it in), and I'm wondering if he just doesn't like the food or if he's not feeling well.

I had issues getting him from his cup into his new home - he jumped from the cup and landed on the desk, where he flopped around a lot and kept jumping out of my hand until I finally got him back in - so could it just be stress? Or should I buy some new foot and give that a try. Is baby shrimp okay for bettas to eat?

[RandomWiktor]

It is normal for bettas to refuse to eat for a good week after coming home, depending on the animal's stress level. Since he had an exceptionally stressful arrival, I wouldn't be shocked if he takes a few days to get a normal apetite.
By "baby shrimp," do you mean a baby brine shrimp or a regular 'ol shrimp?
And, as for Wardley, it tends to have large pellets and be slightly less palatable; it isn't exactly reputed to be the highest quality food, so some bettas may not be willing to eat it. It is very cost effective and is basically nutritionally complete, but it is lacking in some of the qualities more expensive foods offer. So, you could try another brand, or just wait and see if he warms up to the Wardley pellets.

[Elizabeth]

On the cup it says "BabyShrimp Sundried Gammarus".

[Gilraen Took]

Those are the regular ones. Not sure if you're still watching this or not. . .

Other than that, it seems like the hikari(the only high quality pellet I've seen locally) has a lot of poor quality ingredients in it. Like meals instead of whole products(fish meal instead of whole ground fish etc) or wheat and corn gluten meal(cheap fillers) Is that still okay?