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	Very Hungry Betta
Amanda11 Small Fry Posts: 2 Votes: 0 Registered: 11-Oct-2004	Hi, Can someone help me? I have had Groper (siamese fighter) for 3 weeks now. I feed him twice daily on frozen blood worms, but he is always hungry, and begging me to feed him more. How many tiny blood worms should I be feeding him a day. He currently gets 4 @ 6.30am, and 4 around 6.30pm. He is a very active fish, but I don't want to over feed him.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
bscal Hobbyist Posts: 116 Kudos: 120 Votes: 5 Registered: 10-Jun-2004	Are you feeding him anything else?? Fish require a more varied diet than just bloodworms. I typically feed my Betta about 3 Betta pellets each day and then add the occasional bloodworm during the week. I normally feed her some daphnia (sp?) and one bloodworm at a time about twice a week (not both treats on the same day, though). I would suggest that you switch to feeding your Betta regular Betta food so that he won't become picky and only want bloodworms. I hope that helps and please let me know if you have any more questions. -Beth
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Amanda11 Small Fry Posts: 2 Votes: 0 Registered: 11-Oct-2004	Thanks Beth, but he wont eat anything else. When we first got him, (rescued from a friends friend) he wasn't eating at all, so after 3 days I tried him on bloodworms, and now it is the only thing he will eat. He ignores everything else that is put on his plate.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
~ Sin ~ Mega Fish Posts: 1252 Votes: 28 Registered: 24-Mar-2003	Betta's are very good at begging for food - Don't be fooled! Just in regards to his diet in general, as Beth said a diet made up wholey & soley of foods like bloodworms really isn't good for them... its kind of like feeding a person nothing but steak - they'd survive, but it ain't pretty . Foods like bloodworms, blackowrks, brine shrimp etc... should be reserved as treat foods once or twice a week & a more complete food used on a day to day bases. IME HBH Betta Bites & Hikari Betta Bio Gold are 2 of the better Betta foods available. In your case i'd probably lean towards the Hikari (if you can find it - it seems to have become rather scarce in Sydney - if you are in Syd let me know & i'll tell you a few places i know of that have it ) mainly because it makes portion control alot easier. Hikari comes in little ball/pellet things so you can quite easily count out say half a dozen balls per day for your fish. hth Sin edit: You posted again while i was typing all that They're known for being fussy, and for not eating when they're first brought home - I've had one that didn't eat for over 2 weeks. Persistance is the key. Remember, he's basically been eating the fishy equivelant of ice cream & cake, so getting him to eat his vegies IS going to take some will power on your part. Last edited by ~ Sin ~ at 11-Oct-2004 22:24
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Light_Bright Moderator Posts: 1156 Kudos: 1403 Votes: 351 Registered: 16-Jan-2002	I second all the information you have been given... If you were getting ice cream twice a day you wouldn't eat your spinach either Honestly...even if he won't eat for 3 or 4 days its okay, it would be good to get him off the bloodworms. Bloodworms are high in protein and tend to constipate a betta when fed too often. I use Hikari Bio Gold pellets. ___________________________________________ If at first you DO succeed, try not to look astonished.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
fry Enthusiast Posts: 243 Kudos: 195 Votes: 3 Registered: 27-Jul-2004	what about when the betta has neighbours? they will probably eat his food too. my betta seems to prefer the tetra flake food i give to his roomeys rather than the worms.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Callatya Moderator The girl's got crabs! Posts: 9662 Kudos: 5261 Registered: 16-Sep-2001	POssibly because its not his. Perhaps he is eaing it out of spite? Or he could genuinely like it. For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
fry Enthusiast Posts: 243 Kudos: 195 Votes: 3 Registered: 27-Jul-2004	or maybe he eats it because he sees the others enjoy themselves so much, and thinks he should enjoy it too... well, when my barbs are going veggie, why not have a flake-loving betta? btw, it's pretty funny seeing my betta chewing on the flakes. very clean and polite eater. Last edited by fry at 13-Oct-2004 13:31
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
girlunderrainbow Big Fish Posts: 323 Kudos: 230 Votes: 0 Registered: 22-Aug-2003	I'd stick it out and get him to eat other things.. I got a dog once that was used to being fed cat food (very bad for them)..she literally did not eat for like 3 days.. Now that she's been on dog food for years..she STILL whines and begs when I'm getting cat food out for the cats.. I feed my betta bloodworms maybe once a week..brine shrimp maybe 2x..flake once or twice a week..and good betta pellets the rest of the time.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
fry Enthusiast Posts: 243 Kudos: 195 Votes: 3 Registered: 27-Jul-2004	is it that bad for the betta? that food has lots of meat ingredients as is, and the betta seems to get bigger and stronger and has beautiful fins that are growing and having a full body. is there any other way than to take my betta out of the tank? this is a major problem for me now. maybe i could let all the fish eat the worms? tetras can take it for less than a week, right?
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48


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