# How many pellets?



## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

How many pellets do you normally feed, and how often? Obviously a question for those who feed via pellets. xD

I see people that say they feed one or two a day, people who feed six.

I'm asking because my Calder seems to be a pretty big boy-- he's a 'king' from petco (just a kind of big plakat I think) and he's about the length of my little finger. I've been feeding him 4 pellets in the morning and four at night-- but he still lurks around the top begging for food so sometimes I cave and give him a few more. He doesn't seem bloated or anything. 8|


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

Bettas will ALWAYS beg for more, lol...we just have the be the better person and resist. It is hard sometimes though...

I feed my bettas about 4/5 pellets a day. Since Albatross is a bit bigger, I usually give him 5/6. It's reasonable to say that the smaller fish need less pellets while bigger ones will eat more, so I think 6-8 pellets should be okay for a king...but I'm not really sure since I've never owned one.


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

I always cave... 

I can't help it! If Drax see's me handling the food containers he starts darting along the glass where I normally feed him frantically opening his mouth doing a "MEEP MEEP!" Sorta thing with his mouth... it's so cute! 

He's an active one so I feed him 3-4 pellets twice a day and if I cave... I give him a treat of a blood worm (Freeze Dried).


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## crezelda (Dec 17, 2010)

i give mine 2 pellets and enough flake to cover a girl's pinky fingernail twice a day, and sometimes a pellet as a snack. once and awhile i'll give him half rations or fast just to be safe. I think alot of bettas on here can be fed a bit more than the instructions say, as most bettas are kept in a small tank at room temps, and my guy is nice and warm and swims around all day.

and yes he begs. i had no idea fish could learn to beg. i cave. i babytalk to him when i feed him.


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## toledoll (Dec 30, 2010)

I only do 2/3 pellets a day because I've noticed that he tends to swim to the bottom to eat the pellets I feed my cories.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

I have learned my lesson with overfeeding. My s/o would feed him 2-3 pellets if not more 2x plus a few freeze dried bloodworms and now we have a QT'ed, miserable fish that has been a mess for over two weeks. Once he pulls through this it is diet time for his own good... and my wife got a swift kick in the ass for creating a buffet atmosphere for him.


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

How BIG are your pellets. I bought these "New Life Spectrum Betta Formula" and they are "1mm semi-floating pellets" I can't imagine that 2 or 3 is enough. The jar does not say.

I was just coming to ask how many how often when I saw this thread.

Bo just came home to us yesterday and always looks hungry. As a matter of fact he is always poking at the gravel trying to find food, and biting things.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

We were using the Nutra Fin I think, problem was even though they started off semi-small, they expanded hella big. They were not pre-soaked which made it worse so Marco was essentially gorging on these pellets and they inflated in his tiny stomach and it went south from there. It eventually caught up with us. Stupid pet store really doesn't know their ass from Adam. This was before I hit the forums hard on the topic. I wish I had done so first. I was at PetSmart recently and caught the person in the fish section selling a guy a small cube, telling him to use plain tap water and no treatment since they live in dirty water anyways and to feed him as many pellets as he can eat twice daily. I promptly yanked the prospective fish owner aside after the PS tool was done with him. These people make it seem like you can simply throw them in a Dixie cup with toilet water and a bunch of food and they tend to themselves just fine. And don't get me started on the conditions of the poor Bettas at the Wal-Mart up the road. OMFG I want to choke the crap out of someone when I see the poor fish there.


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

These pellets are the size of a head of a pin. They don't seem to get huge later.....

Sigh, I still don't know how much to give him. 

I thought I read once to not feed them the first two days....but he seemed so hungry and I forgot to ask at the store. (I got the equipment at Petco but the fish at a local pet store where they specialized in fish.) The fish guy seemed to actually care about them, and his bettas weren't in cups, or not huge containers but big enough for them to swim a bit and look perky.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

At least they cared enough at the store to take care of their Bettas, or at least give the impression they do. I was horrified at the conditions I saw at this Wal-Mart. I was going to take pics and post them but it was so absolutely pathetic I did not want to upset other people. Add insult to all of this they have a number of Bettas that are kept on a shelf with the discount items they are trying to get rid of, these are in conditions worse than the others which leads me to think these are the soon to be disposed. One of the little containers looked like they poured freaking dirt into it! I had to leave the store.

GAH! Now I have upset myself all over again.


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

My lord. I'm so glad my Walmart does not sell pets.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

I wish I had the space to take them in, hell I would buy them all and donate them to good homes if I could find them.


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## dragonfair (Sep 21, 2010)

I found thru experimenting that the magic number for my fish is 3 pellets in the morning and 3 in the evening. I feed them one pellet at a time and wait until they finish that one before dropping in the next pellet. Same with bloodworm treats - a little at a time.


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## toledoll (Dec 30, 2010)

On a Wal-Mart rant, the fish at my store are so neglected that EVERY TANK had a sign on it that said "Fish Have Ick: Will Not Sell." They let ick spread to 20 tanks! Every betta cup was...well dumped. It's terrible, they didn't even want to treat the bettas so they just trashed them, and the workers could give to flips about any of it.


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

dragonfair said:


> I found thru experimenting that the magic number for my fish is 3 pellets in the morning and 3 in the evening. I feed them one pellet at a time and wait until they finish that one before dropping in the next pellet. Same with bloodworm treats - a little at a time.


Heh, I caught my wife one morning with a 1 tsp scoop.. NoOoo!!


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## DormDrax (Dec 1, 2010)

Well Drax does have a 10gallon all to himself and as I've said he uses every inch of it so... I think 4 pellets a meal is ... ok. What? He's like that one friend who can finish off a whole Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust then still want to go out and get icecream... cept he's a fish version (I have a friend like that).


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## demonr6 (Dec 27, 2010)

DormDrax said:


> Well Drax does have a 10gallon all to himself and as I've said he uses every inch of it so... I think 4 pellets a meal is ... ok. What? He's like that one friend who can finish off a whole Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust then still want to go out and get icecream... cept he's a fish version (I have a friend like that).


 Heh, I remember those days. It will eventually catch up with him though. 

When I feed ours, it is one or two pellets and I would go after the smaller ones. I would drop in a freeze dried bloodworm or two but that was it. The fd bloodworms are off the diet now and I am switching to frozen, also adding frozen Daphnia to the menu as well.


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## dragonfair (Sep 21, 2010)

I read somewhere that fish and horses don't have an "I'm full" off switch to tell them to stop eating. Don't know if that's true, but bettas certainly always seem frantically hungry, don't they?


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

Grundylady said:


> How BIG are your pellets. I bought these "New Life Spectrum Betta Formula" and they are "1mm semi-floating pellets" I can't imagine that 2 or 3 is enough. The jar does not say.
> 
> I was just coming to ask how many how often when I saw this thread.
> 
> Bo just came home to us yesterday and always looks hungry. As a matter of fact he is always poking at the gravel trying to find food, and biting things.



That's actually the same brand I'm using now. Calder adores it-- he hardly touched the pellets I had before. But these ones he's all over like white on rice. Especially when they start to sink-- he chases them like mad!
The thing with him is that it feels like some of them are bigger than others. Some seem to be the size of his old pellets-- but otehrs seem to be like. Half that size.

I think I'll stick with maybe giving him three or four in the morning, and three or four at night.


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## Renee S (Jan 10, 2011)

Right now I'm trying to get a feel of how much my guy will eat, so I've been dropping a lot in (they sink quickly on top of that) and he's only eating like 2 or 3. The filter makes them sink quickly and he's in a 10 gallon, so I'm tapping on the glass before dropping the food in so he knows when to come around for the food. Seems to be working.


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

elijahfeathers said:


> That's actually the same brand I'm using now. Calder adores it-- he hardly touched the pellets I had before. But these ones he's all over like white on rice. Especially when they start to sink-- he chases them like mad!
> The thing with him is that it feels like some of them are bigger than others. Some seem to be the size of his old pellets-- but otehrs seem to be like. Half that size.
> 
> I think I'll stick with maybe giving him three or four in the morning, and three or four at night.


I guess I really overfed him then. I'll try what you do tomorrow. Bo does not take them floating though, he once in a while grabs one that is sinking but mostly he searches the gravel bottom and picks them that way. Maybe when there is less going in he will take them floating.


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

I'd suggest feeding on bit of food at a time-- I drop one pellet, and let the fish chew it up. Then I feed the next one, and then the next after that. It keeps me from wasting food and keeps my tank cleaner. ^^


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## plakatfighter123 (Jan 15, 2011)

for my plakat (or bettas but R.I.P) they hate the huge pellets. when i went to Petco i bought the baby pellets and the plakat loves it. i think he'll live longer then the other 4.


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

elijahfeathers said:


> I'd suggest feeding on bit of food at a time-- I drop one pellet, and let the fish chew it up. Then I feed the next one, and then the next after that. It keeps me from wasting food and keeps my tank cleaner. ^^


I switched from the New Life Spectrum to "Betta Banquet" and giving one at a time as you suggested. He actually eats these pellets! 

He is also looking more colorful and a bit darker......yea.


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## kanyewest (Aug 24, 2010)

I am a horrible owner I guess, because I give mine 6-7 a day. Around the time of night I feed him he starts jumping at the top of his tank haha. and he can see his jar of food, and he'll start swimming at it through the glass, it's so cute. I tried fasting him once, and he jumped at the top of his tank for ever trying to get food. So much for that.


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

In a pinch follow the directions ;-)


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## Grundylady (Jan 7, 2011)

Feral said:


> In a pinch follow the directions ;-)


That was what threw me at first. There were no directions on the jar. LOL Can you tell I am a first time fish owner?


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## Feral (Sep 19, 2010)

Grundylady said:


> That was what threw me at first. There were no directions on the jar. LOL Can you tell I am a first time fish owner?


 
Well, I'm not far in front of you either ;-) No instructions huh? That's a bit lapse on their part I would think, so I went on line in search of feeding instructions- no luck! the best I was able to do was this, for the NewLife Spectrum Thera A 1 MM (tiny) pellets:

Feeding Instructions: 
Feed twice daily. Amount should be able to be consumed by the fish within 1-2 minutes.

Sensible enough, but not very specific, especially if you've got voracious feeders like a couple of mine! Hope this helps.


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