Fussy eater...

[cathy_n]

I mentioned this in another thread, but in hindsight I mentioned it in the wrong place. So I'll create a thread for it here.

Does anyone have any ideas on what else I can feed a betta who absolutely refuses to eat betta pellets/flakes? He will only eat blood worms. He ate bite-sized pieces of mysis shrimp for a while, but now he rejects those, too. He dives after the sinking food I feed the snail, then spits it right out again.

Since he's not eating enriched fish food, I worry his nutrition is not complete. All the betta sites say that blood worms and other freeze dried foods are a "treat" to be fed along with a balanced diet.

Anyone else have a really picky betta? If so, did you manage to convince him to eat other foods? Should I be soaking the shrimp/pellets a bit to see if it's just the texture he is rejecting?

Thanks in advance for any advice,

[kaoticice]

Those frozen blood worms from Hikari is pretty staple food with the added vitamins and minerals.
Fasting the betta for a couple of days to make him hungry will do the trick. If the dry foods are still not excepted try it for a week without feeding.

[cathy_n]

Those frozen blood worms from Hikari is pretty staple food with the added vitamins and minerals.
Fasting the betta for a couple of days to make him hungry will do the trick. If the dry foods are still not excepted try it for a week without feeding.

Thank you for the tip! I will fast him for a couple days and then see if he will take half a soaked pellet.

I'm afraid he has trained me to feed him nothing but blood worms, and I am going to have to teach him that I am in charge...

[Gemstone]

I have the same problem...my one also only wants blood worms...dried or frozen is fine by him...the pellets? He just ignores them...although lately...I;ve started giving him a grain or two tropical fish flakes...and he now takes a bite or two...

[cathy_n]

I have the same problem...my one also only wants blood worms...dried or frozen is fine by him...the pellets? He just ignores them...although lately...I;ve started giving him a grain or two tropical fish flakes...and he now takes a bite or two...

My local fish shop (instead of a big chain pet store) offered some freeze-dried tubifex worm cubes in a quantity that was affordable ($2 for a small can instead of 100 years of fish food for $7). He seems to like them... for now. I give him a little pinhead off the edge of a cube.

If I find tropical fish flakes in a similarly small quantity, I may try them as well. Thank you!

I wonder if there are groups out there who will swap fish foods? I've got so much fish food I'm about ready to offer it in little baggies on Craigslist to betta owners like myself.

[Nick_Pavlovski]

Are you in the Northern Hemisphere?

Try getting mosquito larvae (either stage) from puddles and ponds. You can net them with a fine mesh net or the ol' discarded-stocking-on-a-wire-coathanger home-made net.

Rinse the live larvae well with tapwater, then feed to Betta. Watch your Betta hunt each one down!

[cathy_n]

Are you in the Northern Hemisphere?

Try getting mosquito larvae (either stage) from puddles and ponds. You can net them with a fine mesh net or the ol' discarded-stocking-on-a-wire-coathanger home-made net.

Rinse the live larvae well with tapwater, then feed to Betta. Watch your Betta hunt each one down!

That sounds like a fun thing to do, thanks for the recommendation! I Googled for some info on how to identify the larvae and the best places to find them.

I've noticed that my betta has taken an interest in the slow-dissolving Hikari algae wafers I feed to the apple snail. I break off a very small piece of wafer and sink it to the bottom at night to supplement the snail's diet of uneaten fish food and decaying plant matter. My betta will pick it up, lip it for a while, spit it out, repeat. He plays hockey with it all around the tank! The wafer is baked hard as a rock and therefore he can't swallow it, but I think he's letting it dissolve slightly in his mouth and eating the dissolved stuff before he spits it back out.

I have to say this about Hikari: If their fish food is so good it can convince an insect-eating top-feeder to suck on algae wafers off the bottom, they have my brand loyalty. It is truly hilarious to watch a betta go picking around through the gravel on the bottom of the tank, attempting to make off with the snail's food.

[DragonGoby]

You can try other pellets like (all by hikari, that's the brand we found around here): micropellets, fancy guppies pellets. Our betta don't like his "betta pellets very much.
You can try the nicrowafer, but I'm not it's small enough for his mouth.
You can try to find frozen brine shrimp, our little buddy like them so much!

We fed him only once a day and we fast him once a week. And for now it work for him, he's active (even if he's shy....) and jump on his food like crazy...

Good luck with your little friend!

[ehjsne]

hmm.

Try not feeding him. them feeding him pellets. If he is hungary enough he will eat. He wont like it. but he will have to.

[cathy_n]

You can try other pellets like (all by hikari, that's the brand we found around here): micropellets, fancy guppies pellets. Our betta don't like his "betta pellets very much.
You can try the nicrowafer, but I'm not it's small enough for his mouth.
You can try to find frozen brine shrimp, our little buddy like them so much!

We fed him only once a day and we fast him once a week. And for now it work for him, he's active (even if he's shy....) and jump on his food like crazy...

Good luck with your little friend!

Thanks again to everyone for their suggestions.

I found some Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets that he will eat. Initially, he spit them out, but then he'd grab them again, spit them out, and finally eat them. I guess he associated the pellet shape in his mouth with the other pellets that he didn't like the taste of. It took him a few tries to realize that the new pellets were tasty. Now he will eat the Hikari pellets without spitting them out.

Hikari is good stuff, it seems!