# Am I overfeeding my bettas????



## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

I have been keeping bettas for a couple of years now and my oldest is 22 months & second oldest is 20 months. I THOUGHT I was feeding a pretty good diet till I read how many people only feed 2 - 4 pellets a day. 

All of my food is high quality - I REFUSE to feed ANY of my fish (bettas & non-bettas) any food that has "Fish Meal" as a first igredient!!! 

Anyhoo, this is my feeding scheduale:

Mon. - 5/6 Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets
Tues. - Sm. pinch of Brine Shrimp Plus Flakes by Ocean Nutrition
Wed. - 5/6 New Life Spectrum Pellets
Thurs. - Brine Shimp Plus Flakes
Fri. - 5/6 Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets
Sat. - 3/4 Omega One Freeze Dried Blood Worms
Sun. - Fast

The freeze dried blood worms are actually a new addition in the past month because I had read good things about them. However, I have read on here that the freeze dried foods AREN'T any good!!! 

Two of my 6 males are in Eclipse 3 tanks, 2 are in 5 gal. tanks & two are in 10 gal. tanks (everybody has their own tank - none of the tanks are divided). Everybody gets 50% partial water changes with gravel vac once a week. All tanks are heated, filtered & have a combination of live & silk plants. 

So, AM I overfeeding???? :-?


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

Not necessarily. It depends on the betta and how much exercise they get. Because your bettas are in larger tanks they probably have a higher activity level than those kept in 2-3 gallon tanks, and therefore use up more calories. 

I feed my boys 3 pellets a day because a few of them are halfmoons with heavy tails that live in 3 gallon tanks. These fish don't use as much energy, so I cut back on food to keep them from getting obese. My veiltail is in a 5 gallon tank because he swims around a lot more than the others, he gets an extra pellet per day for that reason. 

A lot of nutrition is lost when a food is freeze-dried so they are not as nutritious as frozen, live, or other prepared foods. They also are very difficult to digest--I tried them once when I was just starting out. It was terrible. One of my poor halfmoons didn't poop for a week.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Gosh, I was afraid of that with the freeze-dried!!! Grrrrr......... That's why I feed it on Saturdays - the day before their fast day. No problems so far, but, like I said, I have only been using it for 3 - 4 weeks. Think I should just get rid of it? Would it be ok as a treat for my cichlids (African, South American & Central American)?

I DID lose a betta to bloat about a month ago, but I knew I was overfeeding. He was with some young platys & I wanted to make sure they got all the food they needed. Dumb, dumb, dumb - I know!!! 

Thanks for the info - maybe I should cut back just a tad?


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

I would get rid of the freeze dried foods, personally. I got rid of mine. I suppose you could feed them to your fish if you re-hydrated them in tank water and broke them into smaller pieces.

If your fish look normal and are active, then I don't see a problem with feeding them like you are now. 

Platys aren't very good tankmates for bettas--I hope they have been relocated by now. If they haven't I hope you consider it.


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Nope - no more platys with a betta. He killed all but one.  Anyhow, he has passed on now & the one platy & 5 new ones are in another tank. I no longer keep bettas with anything. I have found over the years that they are either bullied or are bullies!!! 

Yeah, think I will stop feeding the freeze-dried bloodworms & give them a second feeding of the New Life Spectrum pellets on Saturday. 

Thanks again for your help!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I always rehydrate freeze dried food before feeding.


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