Everything You’ve Wanted to Know About Betta Fish Food

Rohan Mathew

Updated on:

You’ve recently brought home a betta fish and placed it in the tank you so carefully planned out. What’s next? Feed it, maybe? This handy post gives you a quick overview of the dietary requirements of a betta fish, regardless of whether you are a recent betta owner or a semi-experienced one.

Is Frozen or Live Food Better for Betta Fish?

Speaking from a nutritional point of view, it is best to feed live foods to betta fish. They contain essential nutrients that your betta needs to live a healthy and long life. The only problem here is that live foods may not always be available. Plus, they can be costlier than the other types of betta fish foods.

Frozen food for betta fish is about the same as live food, except the former is frozen. The nutritional content from frozen foods is slightly lesser than live foods, but the former is easier to source and store.

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Live Food for Betta Fish

Under live food for betta fish, you’ll find brine blackworms, shrimps, bloodworms, and daphnias. These are foods that a betta fish eats when it is out in the wild. So you understand what we mean when we say that feeding these live foods to your betta fish is the most ideal.

You can purchase these live foods in various forms – living, freeze-dried, or frozen. We’ve already established that feeding living food to your betta fish is ideal. However, there’s a catch – though high in nutritional content, living foods are possible disease carriers. There are cases where pet bettas contracted illnesses from living foods. To prevent this, ensure that you only buy living foods from trusted retailers or sellers.

With living foods such as live blackworms, your betta fish has the chance to hunt them down before devouring them – an enjoyable exercise for them. Plus, these worms can live in the aquarium for a while so there’s no chance of them decaying in the water and polluting the tank.

The Betta fish is a colorful species of small fish with their brilliant orange fins and bluish-green luminescent body scales. It is an attractive addition to a red sea aquarium that encases a variety of small non-predatory schools of fish.  You’ve recently brought home a betta fish and placed it in the tank you so carefully planned out.

Frozen Food for Betta Fish

Frozen betta fish food is typically available in cube form. The size of the cube varies. However, it is never a good idea to feed your betta fish an entire cube of frozen food, no matter how small it may seem to you. Instead, cut the cube up into quarters. Then further divide each quarter into four pieces. These four pieces are enough for betta fish in one sitting. Remember to always defrost the food before feeding it to your betta fish.

Other Popular Food Types for Betta Fish

Pellets

Pellets for betta fish contain the vital nutrients that it needs to function healthily. Good-quality pellets don’t dissolve easily in water and will instead float at the tank’s surface. It’s always good to test the quality of the pellets before feeding it to your betta fish. To do this, place the pellets in water. If they expand almost immediately, they are likely to do the same in your fish’s stomach, thereby causing digestive issues and bloating.

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Flakes

Flakes for betta fish are cheap and are easily available – factors that contribute to their popularity. It’s okay to feed your betta fish flakes every once in a while. However, they do not contain enough nutrients as the other types of foods for betta fish. You can feed flakes as a treat and not use it as the primary source of food for your fish. Also, be sure to immediately remove excess flakes from the tank after feeding.

Freeze-dried Foods

These are essentially foods whose moisture is stripped, and fillers added to increase their shelf life. They do not need to be kept in the freezer. Freeze-dried foods are a good option, but they are not better than live or frozen betta fish foods. Soak these foods in tank water to rehydrate them before feeding them to your fish. Also, remember that feeding only this type of food to your fish can cause bloating and illness.