Video:Tips for Feeding Betta Fish

Transcript:Tips for Feeding Betta Fish

Hi, I am Dan Thornton, the owner of Reef Encounters in Erie, Colorado. I am here today for About.com to give you some tips on feeding Betta fish.

How Betta Fish Eat

When feeding your Betta fish, there are some important factors to consider. In the wild, the Betta fish eat a lot of insects and insect larvae. If you look at how their body is shaped, their mouth kind of points upward towards the surface. They are used to eating things that hit the surface of the water. The trouble that a lot of people have when feeding Bettas is they won't accept a food that is real light, like a flake food, that normal fish accept. And that's because their instincts are to hit something that hits the surface of the water and kind of makes an impact.

Feeding Betta Fish Live Food

Pellets work well, but sometimes you need to feed them live food and some people believe that live food is the best food for them. Live brine shrimp, live worms, black worms. This is newly hatched brine shrimp. This is great food for newly hatched, very young Betta fish. There are a variety of live foods. You may need to find a good store that is a good source for your live foods because you do take the chance of introducing parasites and polluting the water when you add live foods.

Frozen Food for Betta Fish

One alternative to live food is frozen food. When you feed frozen food, you want to make sure you take out enough right for that feeding. You want to make sure with live or frozen food that you are feeding them a variety of food. If you only feed them one thing, such as brine shrimp, they are going to have some nutritional deficiencies, because nothing eats just one thing in the wild.

How Often to Feed Betta Fish

It's important to feed your Betta the proper amount of food. Two to three pellets per day is plenty for one Betta. You can feed them a couple of times a day if you want. If you have a Betta in a community aquarium with other fish, then that can present a little bit of a problem because they are not the fastest eaters. Sometimes, you may want to put a couple of different types of food, some flaked food over in one area. Your Betta will get to know you and recognize you and you can train them to come to a certain spot in the tank were you can drop a couple of pellets and they will come up and eat those.

Thanks so much for watching. For more information on fish, please visit us on the web at About.com.