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Aquarium guides/What to feed a betta, and how often

What to feed a betta, and how often

Bettas are carnivores: feed a betta pellet as the staple once or twice a day, with frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp or daphnia a few times a week. Base the amount on the food's label and the fish's size, and give only what it finishes in about two minutes. Overfeeding is one cause of a swollen belly, but not the only one: infection and organ disease can cause it too.

What to feed a betta, and how often
Photo: ivabalk (Pixabay), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The staple

Choose a small floating pellet made for bettas, with fish, shrimp or insect meal high in the ingredients. Bettas feed at the surface, so floating food suits them. Soak freeze-dried foods before feeding; dry foods swell in the stomach.

Pellets differ in size, so go by the food's label and your betta's size, and remove what it leaves after about two minutes. Some keepers skip one day a week for an adult betta; that is optional, and not for young fish.

Treats and variety

Frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp, mysis and daphnia add variety. Thaw frozen food in a little tank water and feed a few pieces, not a whole cube.

A betta that stays swollen needs more than a change of food: bloating and dropsy.

When a betta will not eat

Check the temperature first: a betta in water under about 76 °F gets sluggish and stops eating. Then test ammonia and nitrite. A new betta may refuse food for a day or two while it settles. Betta care.

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