# How Much and How Often Do You Feed Your Betta?



## janleo54106

Hi-
My betta just started eating pellets which he had refused when I first got him. I'm just wondering how much you all feed your bettas so I can make a good guess as to how much I should give him. This morning I gave him 4 pellets and he ate them in seconds. I wasn't sure if I should give him more today or not.


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## DragonFish

You should feed him 4-6 pellets per day broken up into two feedings, so 2-3 pellets per feeding, and fast him one day a week. What I do is feed 2 pellets in the morning, 3 at night, and Sunday is my fasting day. For a little variety, I also will substitute an evening feeding with frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, or Daphnia once or twice a week. Hope that helps


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## BettaxFishxCrazy

I agree with Dragonfish. I feed mine 3 or 4 pellets a day and I fast mine once a week also because it's good for their digestive systems.


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## kelly528

A good guideline to remember is that a betta's stomach is roughly the size of its eye. You may also find that as bettas get older they will gain about 1/2" in length and seem to be able to handle more pellets.

That being said you can also estimate hwo much your betta needs based on his metabolism, for instance a betta living in an unheated bowl may only need 2 pellets per day while a betta living in a heated tank with a stong filter current may need 6 or even 7.


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## janleo54106

I did notice that betta is bigger than when I first got him. I've had him since early November and he is in a 5 gallon heated and filtered aquarium. I'd say he's fairly active especially in the morning so I'm thinking 4-5 might be good to start. I'm really glad that he is eating the pellets now as the flakes were kind of messy for him and would sink - and it seems bettas don't eat off the bottom.


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## kelly528

Yeah flakes drive me nuts to no end... I am a huge fan of pellets.


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## Livelifelaughlove

Sushi (my large betta) gets about 4-6 (Depending on how fast he decides to swim ) and Surimi gets 3-4 a day. ( he is about .75 inches smaller)


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## dramaqueen

All mine get 2 pellets twice a day, daphnia, bloodworms and brine shrimp once a week. They also get fasted once a week.


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## 1fish2fish

Mine get 4 twice a day.. I tried feeding less but they don't tolerate it.. then the pouting and tailbiting starts. I don't do a fast day unless I'm about to go out of town.. again the tailbiting. I never have problems with constipation or fat fish so I just keep feeding them 4 a day. But my pellets are tiny so it really only adds up to like 2 regular sized pellets for each meal.

Lately I've been switching it up bc I got a sample of the tetra flakes so they get flakes in the morning, pellets at night, once a week they get freeze dried blood worms instead of pellets and I'm also starting to feed them live brine shrimp once a week.


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## Jill0

We feed our bettas about 5 pellets 1x a day every day except Sunday (when they fast).


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## dr2b

I feed 2-3 pellets twice a day, fast on Friday, and I switch the food up with Wardley's and Bio-Gold throughout the week (which has it's own schedule). I do daphnia on the weekend & fd bloodworms once a week.


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## lilyrazen

I do 2 pellets in morning, 3 at night, and on fasting day (sat) I give 1/2 - 1 bloodworm early in the morning/late the night before so they do get a little variety.


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## Zenandra

My guys all get 3-4 pellets twice a day. I feed a mix of hikari betta bio-gold pellets and topfin color enhancing betta pellets. twice a week they get a dinner of bloodworms or brine shrimp instead of pellets


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## Jupiter

My feeding schedule is 4-6 pellets a day (2/3 in the morning and 2/3 at night), freeze dried brine shrimp twice a week, and then fasting on the weekend.

My pellets are TopFin, thoguh I would reccomend Hikari. My brine shrimp is Hikari, though.


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## dramaqueen

All my freeze dried stuff is Hikari.


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## 1fish2fish

Top Fin pellets actually aren't too bad nutrition wise. They tend to be a little harder than the Hikari but I haven't heard anything bad about the top fin stuff... plus its a LOT cheaper


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## Angela86

I have to agree with Dragonfish, part of it does depend on the fish, I had one my boy Stinky that ate little and was a little more calm, and my boy Willie at a little more then Stinky would and he tended to have a little more active personality.


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## dr2b

My boy won't eat anything Top Fin. He did his first week, then I tried Hikari with him and he decided "never again!" lol. He spits Top Fin back out ASAP.


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## Jupiter

I couldn't find Hikari when I was buying food, so I just grabbed TopFin. Fortunately, all my bettas are pigs and will eat anything you throw in for them. Lol.


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## dramaqueen

My problem with TOP Fin is that they sank and my bettas were too lazy to go after them. They would just watch the pellets go straight to the bottom.


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## 1fish2fish

hmm.. mine hardly ever sink. The only time they sink is when I either drop them too high or the fish doesn't see it and hits it.. knocking it down. Mine usually always go after the sinkers as well.. I've even seen them trolling the bottom for uneaten pellets and digging in the gravel for them.. maybe they're 1/2 catfish LOL


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## Jupiter

Mine don't sink either, but my girls have also learned from Tippy to root around the bottom for uneaten goodies. Of course, there isn't anything down there since they eat everything in sight. :roll:


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## HopeInHeart

Mine get thawed frozen brine shrimp alot, and Hikari bio-gold pellets (most get three, Spitfire's picky and will only eat one and only if I split it into pieces, sometimes they get 4.), and BettaMin flakes if I'm busy or feeling lazy. They actually love the flakes, the only complaint I have with them is the mess it leaves in your tank. The brine shrimp takes top billing in their favorites list though.


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## Nicoblue

My betta, who is a frisky love and my little buddy is a big eater likes to eat twice a day. I feed him in the morning when I get up. I give him a scoop of Daphnia and about 10 hours later I give him a scoop of mysis. Mid day he gets a treat of one blood worm. I've had this Betta for 6 mos. I bought Betta Dial A Treat which comes with a spoon. His name is Little Face, he swims around my hand then sits in it, lets me pet him, (clean hands of course) he swims through a hoop, jumps for his blood worm and follows the spoon on the outside of the bowl, he is very loving and smart. I am so happy to get him out of the tiny cup he was living in but wish I could have gotten more of them out. I with that practice would stop.


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## Bettajungle

2 to 3 omega one pellets twice a day on Wednesday its frozen brine shrimp or daphnia


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## Gariana

My boy gets fed once a day (in the morning), usually a different number of pellets depending on the size of the pellets. Once a week I feed either frozen brine shrimp or blood worms instead. And I don't do fasting days.


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## Jacqueline7suzanne

I've read to feed it every other day. I feed mine two pellets in the morning, two at night. Then I skip a day. So I feed him every other day. But then I read to feed a tiny amount twice daily and give them one fasting day. I always watch to make sure he eats, so nothing just floats or sinks to the gravel. From what I've gathered it's better to under feed then over feed (for your tank, and there stomach) but I'm still trying to read up more and find a magic combo.


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## LittleStar

It's interesting to see the difference in what and when we feed our Betta's, great thread! My Betta Ruby gets about 4 pellets in the a.m. and that's it for the day, except I usually toss in one freeze dried shrimp (floating) in the afternoon which she enjoys as a chew toy. Vitamin drops with weekly water changes. That's about it. I may change the food type here and there but not much. I've never fasted. I mean, not my fish and not me either lol. But if my Betta for some reason doesn't eat her pellets she will by the next day and I don't worry about it. I just scoop them out freshen my aquarium and go about my day.


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