# My Betta only eats bloodworms?



## xjessicar9 (Jun 28, 2015)

My new betta fish seems to be a bit of a picky eater. When I bought him from the pet store, at the bottom of the cup were the small pellets the shop were feeding him which he didn't eat. I kind of blew it off until later when I tried to feed him for the first time. He wouldn't eat, and I wanted to make sure that he was eating. The food the pet store gave me was the food that they said they fed them and should've worked fine. Instead, since he wasn't eating, I gave him blood worms and ate them no problem. The lady at the pet store I went to (a different one) said that betta fish are fine living off of them, but I heard online from multiple sources that it isn't a good idea. I can't find a food that he'll eat, I tried 2 different types so far and he won't eat them. I don't know what to do!! And I know he's hungry, because it's been about 2 days and he comes up to the bowl and wiggles his head back and forth like he usually does. What should I do? I was thinking of not feeding him the blood worms and keep trying to feed him the regular food he should be eating, and eventually I guess he'll learn to eat it.. :-?


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## Zuu (Jun 23, 2015)

I would try other 'real' food frozen or freezedried for variety and forget the pellets... Like brime shrimp and other.
I am no expert but I am pretty sure he can live well on real frozen foods instead of pellets.


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

first you mentioned that he is in a bowl. How big and is it heated? Heaters are required for bettas and not having a heater can be your first problem. 

Next, stop feeding him bloodworms all together. You need to practice some tough love. Bettas can be taught to eat any food. You need to get a good quality pellet - Omega One and New Life Spectrum are recommended since they are low in fillers. If you can find New Life Spectrum, then gets those because they have added garlic and garlic tastes good to fish. 
At feeding time, offer one pellet at a time. If he eats it, then offer another. If he does not eat it, ignores it, spits it out, etc then remove it from the tank and try again at the next feeding time. Bettas (as well as most fish) can go weeks without food. Keep doing this at every feeding time until your betta eats the pellets without a problem. Don't worry, he will eat them. Your betta just needs to learn that pellets are food and that they are the only food that he will get. A betta will not let itself starve. Once you've gotten him to eat pellets for a few months without a problem then you add bloodworms once a week or so back into his diet. 

A betta cannot survive on bloodworms alone. They do not have all the nutrition a betta needs. Bloodworms are like the equivalent of feeding your child chef boyardee or pizza for every meal.

Edit: in regards to frozen foods. Never feed freeze dried as they can lead to bloating and constipation. Yes you can have your betta on an all frozen food diet. Mine are on one now. However, it is incredibly expensive. You need to buy as many varieties of foods as possible. I use bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, daphnia, mosquito larvae, beef heart and a carnivore mix and also any other frozen foods my local fish store has. Each pack is about $10 USD a piece after tax and at a minimum I buy all of the above which comes out to around $60 USD. And just to be safe, I end up replacing the food every few months. To feed, I slightly defrost all of the food, mix it together, and then refreeze it in thin sheets in small plastic sandwich bags. Then I break off a piece at feeding time and defrost in a small cup of tank water and feed. It is much easier to just buy a good quality pellet and train your fish to eat them.


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## Zuu (Jun 23, 2015)

I am trying to find the links I read about as I am thinking feeding my betta as natural/ real food as possible ( my dog ans cat eat raw meary bones and humans here cook from fresh first ingredients and avoid transformed foods so it's a bit the same thung for the fish...) .
For sure just bloodworms alone is not great but I am sure if you feel like doing the reasearch there are ways to feed a betta without pellets...

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=52856


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

There are. If you read my post above, I explain the all frozen food diet that my bettas are on.


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## Zuu (Jun 23, 2015)

Oh great, thank you for adding this info !! 

I found this link, does it seem quite right to you forum betta experts here? :
http://nippyfish.net/bettas-101/feeding-bettas/


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

I'm gonna disagree with the 2 weeks to starve to death. I fought my guys for a month to eat pellets, and unless they were eating ALL of the detritus worms, they didn't eat anything during that time.

I switched to frozen after that though. So much easier. Expensive but easier.


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

Yes i disagree with 2 weeks. It would take a lot longer than that for a betta to stave.


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## xjessicar9 (Jun 28, 2015)

Vivian, I think you posted on my previous post, I can't remember though. I decided that I needed to buy my fish a heater which I'll be buying soon and a bigger tank, Ive just been so busy lately ! ):
I bought him omega one pellets. right now I can't remember the name of the pellets that I bought with him, but they were MUCH larger and he didn't eat them. I tried feeding him the Omega ones, but he won't eat them either. He puts them in his mouth, chews it up a little, and then spits it out again. I tried this a few days ago by trying that first then giving him a blood worm, and he ate it just fine. So I know he's eating and CAN eat, he just doesn't want to. Are pellets really the best way to go?


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## VivianKJean (Aug 20, 2013)

Bloodworms do not offer complete nutrition.

Frozen food diets are expensive

Flakes and freeze dried foods lead to bloating and constipation

so yes, pellets are the way to go. It can take a few weeks to get him to eat pellets. The key is to keep at it and do not offer any foods.


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