Betta Listserv - Betta Care : Feeding your Betta

Feeding your Betta :

Ok, so now you know what kind of homes we like and how we like out water. Now, what about our food?
	Betta Splendens are carnivorous fish, which means we are meat eaters. This is one reason why those little Betta/Plant things being sold are a crock. We don't live off of plants, we live off of meat.
Most betta owners will probably not be into feeding live foods, but many do especially breeders. Live Bloodworms & Tubifex worms are the most common live food available. You can usually get them at you local fish store. We also enjoy Live Brine Shrimp. Some Fish Stores carry these. You can also buy Brine Shrimp eggs and hatch and grow your own. We will also eat the baby brine shrimp, but we would prefer the big ones. Some people may not agree with this, but many of our owners feed us live baby guppies. Those are excellent! Makes me hungry just thinking about all this live food!!
	If you can't find live food in you area, you can often find frozen food. The same ones listed above can be frozen, later thawed and fed. There are also freeze-dried forms of these foods.
When it comes to dry foods, there are many choices. Most bettas will eat any of them, but you are very likely to get a finicky one. The favorites out there are Hikari Betta Bio-Gold. You get a very small amount of them in a package, so I recommend using Hikari Cichlid Gold-baby size. It is the same thing except you get a lot more for your money. HBH Betta Bites is also another popular choice. Flake foods are definitely not our first choice, but we will eat them if forced to.
	Now, we have a great reputation for being piggy-fish. We will eat as much as you will give us, so feed us only what we need. If you notice us getting rather pudgy, cut us back a little bit. There is no set rule on how much to feed, it all depends on your betta.