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Chickadee · 07-07-2009, 05:11 PM

Planning food for your betta...

There are a lot of really good foods out for bettas now but there are some that while they are stated that they are made for bettas and some are very expensive do not seem to work well for them. They all seem to have about the same nutritional value with a few exceptions but some are not good choices for the reason that they just do not fit a bettas mouth or the way the mouth is made to work well.

If you look at most fish in the fish stores, and then watch a betta open their mouth, you will note that the betta has a hinge type of jaw that opens at the bottom of his head. Most fish are able to attack food head on and grab food front first but bettas need to come at it from different angles. They need it to be thicker and narrower to grab on to it well but not so long or thick that it will not go into the bucket shaped mouth that they have. Some of the pellet foods that are being put out with the word Betta in the title are actually too large for the betta to get into their mouth. Bettas are not only usually picky eaters but not very patient ones either. Let them try something a couple times and not have any luck with it and they will usually give up and not try it again. I have nearly gone bankrupt with a couple of my spoiled little darlings trying to find things that they would put in their mouths and if they put them in there did not spit right back out at me. Two things I have found that I have never seen a betta refuse...bloodworms and surprisingly the pea treats once they have tried them the first time. The bloodworms I will have to make an exception to, there is only one brand that I have seen them need help with that is the loveliest brand of all. I love the looks and nutritional value of the OmegaOne freeze dried foods, but they are about 3 times the size of the Hikari freeze dried bloodworms. So when I got the OmegaOne brand I thought I was doing the bettas a big favor as they are a premium brand but they could not swallow them they were so big. I had to cut them up and then they would not try them. So I boxed them up and sent them to a friend in Florida whose bigger fish loved them. My guys love the Hikari brand and the other smaller types. They also love the smaller pellets like the Atison's brand made by Ocean Nutrition, Hikari Betta bio-gold and pellets of that size. I will say that if you purchase a betta that you think is less than 6 months old the preferred food for a fish that age is Atison's Betta Pro formula pellets as this food does contain a formula that will sustain and maintain the health and growth of younger fish from the fry stage to the age of 6 months after that they can start with any of the other betta formulas they will eat.

The important thing to remember is that the betta is absolutely the piggiest fish there is. They have no selfdiscipline and to put enough food in for them to consume in two minutes is an invitation to disaster. They will have themselves eaten to a point of illness in a matter of days. Swimbladder disorder or constipation or worse can happen and cause them to die. They need to be handfed and each and every mouthful needs to be seen to be chewed up and when the chewing stops then they can have another mouthful until they have had an amount equal or less than what it would take to fill their eye size. That is the size of the fish's stomach and you should not overfill that stomach. Adult fish can be fed one time a day and fry and young fish can be fed 2 to 3 very small meals a day but not more often. I do not go along with the idea of fasting a fish one day a week if you give them one meal a day. They need the contact with their human like they need food. Talk to them while you feed them and it helps to develop their personality and make them a better pet.

My views on talking to bettas are a little controversial. I believe that you pay attention to them and they will become a pet in the real sense of the word. I put my hand on the front of the tank and talk to my fish several times a day and he gives me the Betta dance and responds and puts on a show for me. If I put my hand on the tank and call his name he comes to the front of the tank and it is not solely for food. Sometimes he gets food and sometimes not. He will stay and listen to me as long as I am there talking and act very cute and happy. This does not happen with the other fish. I really believe that bettas in some way do not know that they are fish. They live the first few months of their lives in a solitary place and pretty much unless they are put in a community setting or have a few tankmates do not learn how to get along with other fish at a young age so they do not have good manners where other fish are concerned but they do love their humans and I believe identify with them. Humans have been the ones that have provided for them and been the only ones who have had contact with them and I think they see us as their parents.

As with any pet and bettas are pets, the more time you spend with them the better they get. I really believe that if you want to have a pet it is worthy of your care and attention.
Betta owners as a group tend to spoil their pets and want to give them great homes. I have seen more spent on betta things than necessary. They really just require a tank and a heater, and a filter (cycled) and conditioned water. They love real plants or silk ones. Plastic plants are usually not recommended as they tend to have sharp edges.

One thing about things going into betta tanks and this includes everything in their tank you need to check for safety in a few ways.

1. Run a nylon stocking over everything going into the tank and any time it snags the stocking, it needs a bit of sandpaper or an emery board to smooth it out or it will snag a bettas fins. Torn fins will cause a lot of problems.

2. If you use anything including terra cotta pots or caves or anything having holes or openings in the tank, please use the "rule of thumb". Every opening of any type has to have every opening of any type big enough to have your thumb go in and out of easily or your betta could get into it and get stuck. If they get stuck and cannot go through and cannot swim to the surface they will drown. Openings can sometimes, as with terra cotta pots, be made larger with sandpaper and a little work. Other decorations just have to be passed by and some other choice made if they are made of resinous materials. Other things that need to be considered is please do not get things with only one entrance unless there is plenty of room for the fish to turn about inside. I have known of fish who have panicked trying to get out of things like glasses put in tanks and torn their fins or bodies badly.

3. If you want tank mates be cautious with the choice. There are some fish that are just not going to work for nature's reasons and no matter what you do it is not a good idea. When they are out in nature and they are given unlimited room to get away and find hiding places that is one thing but when there are artificial walls of an aquarium limiting the fighting area it is cruel to put fish together that you know are uncompatible and ask them to coexist. This is my opinion and you are free to do what you want with your fish but it is not something that you will find any really compassionate hobbyist that will agree with you on if you have an injured fish or a dead one when you do this knowingly. Bettas are related to gouramis and if they meet head to head in a tank there is going to be a fixation on their part until one of them is hurt or dead. They are listed on the compatibility charts and not compatible and any of the experts will tell you that while some people have gotten by with them in the same tank it is really not a fine idea. It is like having two male bettas in the same tank. Bettas do not normally differentiate in most fish that have long flowing fins like Mollies, Swords, Fancy tail Guppies, and others with long fins and will attack them as though they are bettas. Platies are generally confused with female bettas and not treated well. Goldfish are an entirely different class of fish and are not compatible for this reason. Fin nippers include all types of tetra but the Cardinal, guppies of most types, danios, and barbs. As far as others that are not a good idea, any other fish that is considered an aggressive or semi-aggressive fish is not a good idea as bettas have full finnage and are not a competition for most of them due to the inability to swim swiftly compared to them. They could not hold their own in a fight in a large tank compared to the fish without the large fins holding them back. Also I need to mention the inappropriate action of putting shrimp in with a betta as this is the first food that bettas are given to eat. The shrimp is okay as long as their shell is in place but when they molt and are out of their shell, it is going to be lunch time for the betta and goodbye for the shrimp and neither needs that.

There are appropriate and workable tank mates for bettas. They are not many but they do work. Colorful and active, the Cardinal Tetra makes a nice addition in a school of 6 or more. Any type of cory cat is more than able in a tank of the right size in a school of 3 or more. (Pygmy cories need 6 or more) Otocinclus cats make great companions and I have pictures of one of my bettas taking naps with his otos he loved them so much. They do need at least one real plant in the tank to do well. Dwarf or Chain Loaches fascinate the bettas with their activity (same fish different vendor). Kuhlis seem to work and don't irritate them. Plecos work well if your tank is big enough. Snails work okay if you get a Big one like an Apple or a Mystery snail that they cannot intimidate. (one)

I will think on this a bit more and see if there is anything else.
Thanks for your attention

Rose

07-07-2009, 05:11 PM	#2 (permalink)
Chickadee Banned Chickadee's Photo Gallery Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 1,323 Name: Rose Location: Nebraska, USA My location Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Welcome to Aquarium Forum" 426 Times Said "Thanks" 707 Times Was Thanked 681 Times in 466 Posts	Re: For anyone who has never had a betta... Planning food for your betta... There are a lot of really good foods out for bettas now but there are some that while they are stated that they are made for bettas and some are very expensive do not seem to work well for them. They all seem to have about the same nutritional value with a few exceptions but some are not good choices for the reason that they just do not fit a bettas mouth or the way the mouth is made to work well. If you look at most fish in the fish stores, and then watch a betta open their mouth, you will note that the betta has a hinge type of jaw that opens at the bottom of his head. Most fish are able to attack food head on and grab food front first but bettas need to come at it from different angles. They need it to be thicker and narrower to grab on to it well but not so long or thick that it will not go into the bucket shaped mouth that they have. Some of the pellet foods that are being put out with the word Betta in the title are actually too large for the betta to get into their mouth. Bettas are not only usually picky eaters but not very patient ones either. Let them try something a couple times and not have any luck with it and they will usually give up and not try it again. I have nearly gone bankrupt with a couple of my spoiled little darlings trying to find things that they would put in their mouths and if they put them in there did not spit right back out at me. Two things I have found that I have never seen a betta refuse...bloodworms and surprisingly the pea treats once they have tried them the first time. The bloodworms I will have to make an exception to, there is only one brand that I have seen them need help with that is the loveliest brand of all. I love the looks and nutritional value of the OmegaOne freeze dried foods, but they are about 3 times the size of the Hikari freeze dried bloodworms. So when I got the OmegaOne brand I thought I was doing the bettas a big favor as they are a premium brand but they could not swallow them they were so big. I had to cut them up and then they would not try them. So I boxed them up and sent them to a friend in Florida whose bigger fish loved them. My guys love the Hikari brand and the other smaller types. They also love the smaller pellets like the Atison's brand made by Ocean Nutrition, Hikari Betta bio-gold and pellets of that size. I will say that if you purchase a betta that you think is less than 6 months old the preferred food for a fish that age is Atison's Betta Pro formula pellets as this food does contain a formula that will sustain and maintain the health and growth of younger fish from the fry stage to the age of 6 months after that they can start with any of the other betta formulas they will eat. The important thing to remember is that the betta is absolutely the piggiest fish there is. They have no selfdiscipline and to put enough food in for them to consume in two minutes is an invitation to disaster. They will have themselves eaten to a point of illness in a matter of days. Swimbladder disorder or constipation or worse can happen and cause them to die. They need to be handfed and each and every mouthful needs to be seen to be chewed up and when the chewing stops then they can have another mouthful until they have had an amount equal or less than what it would take to fill their eye size. That is the size of the fish's stomach and you should not overfill that stomach. Adult fish can be fed one time a day and fry and young fish can be fed 2 to 3 very small meals a day but not more often. I do not go along with the idea of fasting a fish one day a week if you give them one meal a day. They need the contact with their human like they need food. Talk to them while you feed them and it helps to develop their personality and make them a better pet. My views on talking to bettas are a little controversial. I believe that you pay attention to them and they will become a pet in the real sense of the word. I put my hand on the front of the tank and talk to my fish several times a day and he gives me the Betta dance and responds and puts on a show for me. If I put my hand on the tank and call his name he comes to the front of the tank and it is not solely for food. Sometimes he gets food and sometimes not. He will stay and listen to me as long as I am there talking and act very cute and happy. This does not happen with the other fish. I really believe that bettas in some way do not know that they are fish. They live the first few months of their lives in a solitary place and pretty much unless they are put in a community setting or have a few tankmates do not learn how to get along with other fish at a young age so they do not have good manners where other fish are concerned but they do love their humans and I believe identify with them. Humans have been the ones that have provided for them and been the only ones who have had contact with them and I think they see us as their parents. As with any pet and bettas are pets, the more time you spend with them the better they get. I really believe that if you want to have a pet it is worthy of your care and attention. Betta owners as a group tend to spoil their pets and want to give them great homes. I have seen more spent on betta things than necessary. They really just require a tank and a heater, and a filter (cycled) and conditioned water. They love real plants or silk ones. Plastic plants are usually not recommended as they tend to have sharp edges. One thing about things going into betta tanks and this includes everything in their tank you need to check for safety in a few ways. 1. Run a nylon stocking over everything going into the tank and any time it snags the stocking, it needs a bit of sandpaper or an emery board to smooth it out or it will snag a bettas fins. Torn fins will cause a lot of problems. 2. If you use anything including terra cotta pots or caves or anything having holes or openings in the tank, please use the "rule of thumb". Every opening of any type has to have every opening of any type big enough to have your thumb go in and out of easily or your betta could get into it and get stuck. If they get stuck and cannot go through and cannot swim to the surface they will drown. Openings can sometimes, as with terra cotta pots, be made larger with sandpaper and a little work. Other decorations just have to be passed by and some other choice made if they are made of resinous materials. Other things that need to be considered is please do not get things with only one entrance unless there is plenty of room for the fish to turn about inside. I have known of fish who have panicked trying to get out of things like glasses put in tanks and torn their fins or bodies badly. 3. If you want tank mates be cautious with the choice. There are some fish that are just not going to work for nature's reasons and no matter what you do it is not a good idea. When they are out in nature and they are given unlimited room to get away and find hiding places that is one thing but when there are artificial walls of an aquarium limiting the fighting area it is cruel to put fish together that you know are uncompatible and ask them to coexist. This is my opinion and you are free to do what you want with your fish but it is not something that you will find any really compassionate hobbyist that will agree with you on if you have an injured fish or a dead one when you do this knowingly. Bettas are related to gouramis and if they meet head to head in a tank there is going to be a fixation on their part until one of them is hurt or dead. They are listed on the compatibility charts and not compatible and any of the experts will tell you that while some people have gotten by with them in the same tank it is really not a fine idea. It is like having two male bettas in the same tank. Bettas do not normally differentiate in most fish that have long flowing fins like Mollies, Swords, Fancy tail Guppies, and others with long fins and will attack them as though they are bettas. Platies are generally confused with female bettas and not treated well. Goldfish are an entirely different class of fish and are not compatible for this reason. Fin nippers include all types of tetra but the Cardinal, guppies of most types, danios, and barbs. As far as others that are not a good idea, any other fish that is considered an aggressive or semi-aggressive fish is not a good idea as bettas have full finnage and are not a competition for most of them due to the inability to swim swiftly compared to them. They could not hold their own in a fight in a large tank compared to the fish without the large fins holding them back. Also I need to mention the inappropriate action of putting shrimp in with a betta as this is the first food that bettas are given to eat. The shrimp is okay as long as their shell is in place but when they molt and are out of their shell, it is going to be lunch time for the betta and goodbye for the shrimp and neither needs that. There are appropriate and workable tank mates for bettas. They are not many but they do work. Colorful and active, the Cardinal Tetra makes a nice addition in a school of 6 or more. Any type of cory cat is more than able in a tank of the right size in a school of 3 or more. (Pygmy cories need 6 or more) Otocinclus cats make great companions and I have pictures of one of my bettas taking naps with his otos he loved them so much. They do need at least one real plant in the tank to do well. Dwarf or Chain Loaches fascinate the bettas with their activity (same fish different vendor). Kuhlis seem to work and don't irritate them. Plecos work well if your tank is big enough. Snails work okay if you get a Big one like an Apple or a Mystery snail that they cannot intimidate. (one) I will think on this a bit more and see if there is anything else. Thanks for your attention Rose