The 5 Best Betta Fish Foods You Need to Try
There are many betta fish. Some are born with bottomless stomachs like a miniature shark, and others are picky eaters who turn their noses up to everything you offer. The refusal to eat can cause stress if you are the latter. To satiate their hunger pangs, you have many high-quality, high-protein foods that you can give them.
#1 Frozen Bloodworms
Since betta fish are able to eat small insects and crustaceans in the wild, frozen bloodworms (the brightly colored larvae of midge flies), is one of the best food options you can give them. These can be purchased at your local pet shop in either individual foil-sealed cubes or a frozen slab you can cut off pieces. Hikari is the American brand we prefer to buy because their bloodworms have the best quality and are very clean.
A betta fish is unlikely to finish a cube of cubes in one sitting. To make this happen, you might need to place the cube inside a container and give a few bloodworms a pipette (or tweezers) to help. Most betta fish would be happy to live off a diet of only bloodworms, but like humans, your fish requires a variety in nutrition. To ensure that your fish have all the nutrients and vitamins they need to live a healthy and long life, rotate at least two to three foods.
Blackworms Live
Live foods are considered the cream of the crop when it comes to the betta fish food options because they most closely resemble their actual diet in nature. We recommend live blackworms because as a true freshwater species, they can live for quite a while in your aquarium without fouling the water. They like to burrow into the substrate, which provides hours of enrichment for your betta fish as he hunts them down one by one.
The downside to live blackworms are that they can be difficult to find in local fish shops, and they could also bring in parasites. We still recommend them because they are so nutritious and mentally stimulating for bettas. Make sure you get blackworms from a reliable fish shop that keeps them in refrigerated, clean water.
#3 Betta Pellets
Although pellets might not look the best, they provide the most essential nutrients for betta fish in a small package. Betta food pellets are nice because they don’t tend to dissolve quickly in the water and they generally float at the surface (which is preferred since bettas have upturned mouths and are used to eating from the water surface).
Xtreme Betta Pellets
Xtreme betta pellets are a good choice. They have high-quality protein like krill, come in a handy scoop to avoid feeding too many fish, and they come in a small, compact container that can be used for one betta fish. It is not a good idea to buy large quantities of fish food and keep it in the same jar for several years. Although the expiration date is still valid, the food can become stale due to repeated exposure to oxygen and moisture. This could potentially lead to health problems for your betta fish.
Freeze-Dried Foods
Freeze drying is a way to preserve food in a lightweight and dry form factor, while still retaining all of the original nutrients. We love brine shrimp and freeze-dried bloodworms as an alternative to frozen food. They can be kept in the water without freezing, unlike frozen foods. You can easily portion them out to provide the appropriate amount of food, and they can also be removed from your tank if you don’t like what your betta fish eats.
Hikari Freezed Bloodworms
Insect Based Pellets
Fluval Bug Bite Betta Formula is another type of betta food. It is made primarily from black soldier fly larvae. This helps to closely mimic a betta fish eating an insectivore diet. This food pellet is high in quality protein and other essential vitamins to improve your betta’s health. This slow sinking granule is not something that some bettas will want to eat, but it’s something they will happily finish if you have tank mates such as corydoras and tetras.
Fluval Bug Bites – Betta Formula
In our experience, most bettas are not too picky and, if kept in a community tank with other fish, may even choose to snack on other foods you feed the aquarium. If you want to give your betta more variety in their meals, try these top five favorite foods. Your fish will love them!