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Basic Betta Foods
There are many different
foods to feed your Bettas either live or processed. Some foods can
even be found in both forms live or processed. Choosing the right
one for your particular situation is essential. The following is
a list of names and descriptions of different kinds of foods available
for Bettas, as well as, for other tropical fish. There will be a
lot of foods that aren't endorsed but will be listed simply for completeness.
Most of these foods not endorsed are the different forms of live worms
because it is very hard to find pure cultures that will not infect your fish
or aquarium with harmful bacteria or parasites.
Blood Worms
Brine Shrimp
Brine
Shrimp are small salt water crustaceans. They can be purchased in
their dried egg form in vials and then hatched into baby Brine Shrimp,
which fry and small tropical fish can easily eat; they will then eventually
develop into adult shrimp which is suitable for larger tropical fish.
Brine Shrimp can also be bought in one of many varieties of it's freeze
dried form. Either live or processed Brine Shrimp are a fine treat
for most tropical fish. They should not be fed as a staple diet however,
due to the possibility of the development of a swim bladder disorder or
of a gastro-intestinal problem. Remember that these are salt water
creatures, this means fresh water tropical fish would never come into contact
with them naturally. Generally it is not recommended to feed Bettas
with Brine Shrimp except for the occasional rare treat.
Daphnia
Daphnia,
also known as "water fleas", are fresh water crustaceans which are an excellent
food for tropical fish. They can be found in live or freeze-dried
forms. For some odd reason though, freeze-dried forms of Daphnia
aren't very common in pet and fish stores. There are three main species
of Daphnia, these are Magna, Pulex, and Mini. Daphnia Pulex seems
to be the favorite of the three when it comes to being used as a food for
tropical fish. They can be found in most pools of water that have
been around for a while, as well as, most streams and rivers. Culturing
them is fairly easy but it is suggested that you buy your initial starter
culture rather than catch them from the wild. This is because unwanted
bacteria or parasites could be scooped up with them and infect your fish
and tank. Daphnia seem to be a good staple fish food for live-bearers
and it makes an excellent treat for other tropical fish. Betta fry
especially do well on Daphnia Pulex babies.
Grindal Worms
MicroWorms
Mosquito Larvae
Mosquito
Larvae are the immature stage of Mosquitos. They can be found in
any stagnant water during warm seasons. It is not recommending trying
to culture them indoors for the simple fact that if you forget to catch
them all before they mature to flying Mosquitos, you may get bitten by
one and they are very dangerous when it comes to transmitting diseases.
To culture them outside simply leave a bucket of water out that is dechlorinated
and check the water in two to three days. If you notice any little
black worm like creatures floating just under the water and wiggling to
move when you appraoch then you probably got some mosquito larvae.
Pick them up with a straw or eye dropper and put them in clean water to
remove any dirty particles ... then grab them again and feed them to your
fish.
Red Worms
Tropical Fish Flake Food
There
are many different brands of flake food for tropical fish. They vary
from color and beauty enhancers to enriched mixes. Any of these variations
or brand names are suitable for your tropical fish. Usually the difference
in the varieties in flake food is the cost per enhancement. The average
run of the mill flake food without any enhanced markings on the package
is more then adequate for all tropical fish. These dried flake foods
are specially formulated out of several nutritional sources and live foods.
Flake foods make a great staple food and is probably the main food source
for most tropical fish keepers and definitely should be for any beginners
in the hobby.
Tropical Fish Dried Pellets
Dried
pellets for tropical fish are similar to that of flake food in nutritional
value. Pellets however are not compressed into thin flakes they are
round sticks or spheres of not so tightly compacted vitamins, minerals,
and other nutrient sources. This food when put in water will usually
soften but it is considerably harder then flake food and some tropical
fish will either have a hard time eating it or may disregard it all together.
There are specialized versions of this for different fish. Cichlid
pellets for instance are considerably bigger then pellets for Bettas.
One of these specialized brands of pellets is Hikari's Betta Bio Gold especially
designed for Bettas. This pellet is really only designed for the
male as most female Bettas can't fit it into their mouth. The advantage
of pellets is that most float for a long time and therefore can easily
be removed if they aren't eaten within a reasonable amount of time.
Tubifex Worms
Tubifex
are worms that also can be found as a live or processed food for tropical
fish. They are most popular in their freeze-dried form. Live
Tubifex Worms are generally frowned upon because they can easily carry
unwanted parasites and bacteria into your tank and infect your fish.
Most tropical fish will eat them live or freeze-dried. Bettas like
freeze-dried Tubifex Worms as a rare treat. Tropical fish in general
will appreciate freeze-dried Tubifex Worms as a treat as well, but they
should not be used as their staple diet.
White Worms