# Proper Food for a Baby Betta???? Any tips?



## samantharae20 (Jul 1, 2013)

I bought a baby Betta yesterday from Petco and have been reading a little on how to take care of them but everything seems to be a little different.

I have two older Bettas that share a tank (it has a divider) and they live very happily. 

But having a BABY BETTA is a little new to me.

Water is nice and warm at about 78 degrees as recommended.
I have been currently breaking up the pellets that i feed my older betta so that the little guy can actually eat it. But its not eating a lot which worries me because it says they are suppose to eat like 3 times a day to grow.

Any ideas on what i should be feeding the little guy? Freeze dried blood worms, micro pellets... Anything?

Also is a moss ball okay for baby bettas?

Any tips on what will help the little betta grow would be great!

I have named it Berry because its kind of unisex. Im going with its a girl


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Don't feed anything Freeze-dried to anyone. Freeze-dried can be fed once in a great while as a treat but it promotes constipation and bloating which is obviously no good 

Micropellets are fine, you can get the ones from Hikari but if you can get New Life Spectrum Grow formula or regular NLS betta pellets and split them up for your little one. And yes if they are healthy they will actually metabolize food withint 3-4 hours so that's when they should be fed. But also don't feed them so much that they're gut is hanging way out, that's no good. Small quantities but at many times is the way to go.

Frozen foods are good too like Bloodworms, Daphnia, Tubifex worms and so on. Live foods are the best for them but harder to obtain or for me; wrap your head around how you're actually supposed to keep a Brine Shrimp culture going haha.

I also use NLS flakes with garlic in them for my babies as well, don't be afraid to mix it up, Betta's like variety.

And yes moss balls and all other plants are perfectly fine.

And tips for the little one to grow! Do at least a 50% water change every day or every other day. Babys actually excrete a Growth Stunting hormone that can also effect themselves so the smaller the tank, the worse it can effect them. It can also effect other fish as well. So to keep your baby on track, do at least 50% every other day to get rid of that hormone in the water so that s/he can grow properly and quickly!

I had both my baby boys in a split 3 gallon and they were doing well but I switched them over to a 5.5 split and they started to grow like weeds!!!

If you show me a picture I can probably tell you the gender unless it's too young


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## Canis (Apr 15, 2013)

+1 ^

My baby does fine with the Hikari, but I will be getting NLS Grow and frozen foods as well once I get paid this week. Frozen food is good for your adults as well, so I highly recommend!


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## Shadyr (Mar 27, 2012)

I have the Hikari Micro pellets anyway for my tetras, and the baby betta seems to be perfectly happy with them too.


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## samantharae20 (Jul 1, 2013)

Canis & Shadyr thank you very much for your response of the food, much appreciated.

lilnaugrim, thank you for everything! I went to Petsmart yesterday and got the Hikari Micro Pellets that everyone recommended for now. They didnt have a froozen fish food freezer, but I know another Petsmart that does.

Everything was freeze dried!! But i stayed far far away from all of that stuff!!

Im going to try and get the frozen bloodworms or daphina or tubifex worms. I saw them freeze dried but not frozen so im on the search.

When i get back from Forth of July weekend if I need to order stuff i will.

Also looking for some of the NLS flakes with garlic, found that online.
Is that okay for adult bettas too?

Going to get some moss balls those seem rather exciting haha. Probably more for me than the fishys though.

I have two adults that are rather happy and when I got the baby situated in its new tank last night it was happy and swimming around.

It is in a 1 gallon tank and am definitely going to do regular water changes, so thanks a ton for that tid bit! I will move it up to a bigger tank as time progresses.

I will get a picture and post it tomorrow, hopefully you can tell!!

Thank you again much appreciated!

Thank you everyone!!!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Very welcome!

Moss balls a great, they improve water quality as all plants do so yes, it will help your fishies as well!

NLS flakes are great for adults as well! I use them once or twice a week to switch things up, I use it more for my sorority though so that the little cories can get some of the food that falls as well because my girls are little piggies! But yes, I've been using those for my babies at the moment and soon they'll be big enough to take real NLS pellets :-D

I'm super happy your fish are happy and doing well ^_^ I look forward to the picture ;-)


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