# betta not eating pellets



## soccerdog693 (Dec 28, 2010)

So I've had Xander for a bit over a week, but I cannot get him to eat pellets! I've tried 3 diff brands (tetra, omega one, and hikari), I've tried crushing the pellets, soaking them in garlic juice, and mixing them with other foods he likes and NO LUCK! Xander just takes a bite and spits them right back out.

So I have frozen brine, freeze dried bloodworms, and freeze dried daphnia. Of course I pre-soak the freeze dried stuff before I feed it to him. Is this a good enough diet if Xander decides he's never going to eat pellets? I'll keep trying to feed the pellets, but if he never takes to them, will he get enough nutrition from the other foods? 

Xander must just have good taste - he doesn't want any of that processed "crap!" ;-)

Also, how much of these foods do you generally feed at a time? I've been doing 3-4 brine shrimp in a feeding, 1 bloodworm (they seem kinda big) in another feeding, and a small pinch of dapnia every now and then to help with his digestion. I usually feed once a day. I don't know how much is good, but I don't want to overfeed (already had one bought of constipation we had to deal with).

Thanks!


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## kholder (Dec 2, 2010)

I tried several brands with one of my bettas and nothing worked, he just wouldn't eat pellets. To keep the little guy from starving, I picked up some frozen blood worms and fed about 4 to 5 a day.

I kept trying to introduce pellets, but he just wouldn't do it. I've crushed them and soaked them (never in garlic juice, though). 

Finally, after about 3 weeks of this, he finally started eating pellets with no problems. 

I don't know if it was the brand that did it - I went through 2 different kinds because my dog managed to get to them and eat them up. I needed them on hand anyway because my other betta has no problems with pellets. This last brand is Aqua Culture Betta Pellet food that I picked up at Wal-Mart. I'll probably pick up the same brand again when it's time because 1) the new betta will eat it and 2) the pellet are much smaller than the other brands I had. 

I don't know the answer to your other feeding questions. I know when I fed the blood worms I searched the internet for a serving size and it varied from 2 to 10 per betta. I mostly just watched his belly closely and as soon as I seen a swell, I wouldn't feed anymore.


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## soccerdog693 (Dec 28, 2010)

OK, I'll try to keep offering them then. It's funny your dog ate pellets, I watched my dog run off with my tub of freeze dried daphnia today!


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## dr2b (May 31, 2009)

You could also just fast him for a couple of days. It won't hurt him. It'll make him hungry enough to just eat eventually.


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