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. You can feed them high-quality, high protein foods to satiate their cravings.
#1 Frozen Bloodworms
Frozen bloodworms, the bright red larvae of midgeflies, are an excellent food choice for betta fish. They eat small insects, crustaceans and meaty foods in nature. Sold at most local pet stores, they typically come in a package of foil-sealed individual cubes or a frozen slab that you can break off pieces from. Hikari is the American brand we prefer to buy because their bloodworms have the best quality and are very clean.
Typically, one betta fish cannot finish an entire cube in one sitting, so you may need to thaw out the cube in a container and feed a few bloodworms using a pipette or tweezers. Although most betta fish can live on only bloodworms for their nutrition, many fish require a varied diet. You can rotate between two to three different foods so that they have the right nutrients and vitamins to live a long, healthy life.
Blackworms Live
Live foods are the best choice for betta fish because they most closely reflect their natural diet. We recommend live blackworms because as a true freshwater species, they can live for quite a while in your aquarium without fouling the water. Your betta fish will enjoy watching them burrow into the substrate. This provides hours of enrichment as he hunts down each one.
Live blackworms have two disadvantages: they may not be available in all local fish shops and can bring in parasites. However, we still highly recommend them, given how nutritious and mentally stimulating they are for bettas. Make sure you get blackworms from a reliable fish shop that keeps them in refrigerated, clean water.
#3 Betta Pellets
While pellets may not be the most natural-looking choice, they combine the most important nutrients a betta fish needs into a bite-sized package. Because they don’t dissolve in water quickly, betta food pellets look great and float at the surface. This is because bettas have a tendency to eat from the water’s surface.
Xtreme Betta Pellets
We like Xtreme Betta Pellets because they contain high-quality proteins like krill, come with a handy scoop to avoid overfeeding, and are packaged in a small container that’s ideal for keeping one betta fish. In general, you don’t want to buy a huge jar of fish food and use it for multiple years. The expiration date might still be valid, but the food will become old and stale through repeated exposure to moisture or oxygen. This can lead to potential health problems in your betta fish.
Freeze-Dried Foods
Freeze drying is a method of preserving food in a lightweight, dry form factor while retaining as much of the original nutrients and taste as possible. As an alternative to frozen foods, we like brine shrimp and freeze dried bloodworms. Unlike frozen foods, they do not need to be stored in a freezer, and they tend to float at the top of the water. They are easy to portion for the right amount of food and can be removed from the tank easily if they don’t finish all.
Hikari Freeze-Dried Bloodworms
Insect Based Pellets
Fluval Bug Bites Betta Formula is another kind of betta food pellet that is primarily made of black soldier fly larvae to mostly closely simulate a betta fish’s insectivore diet. It is rich in quality protein as well as essential vitamins and minerals that will help your betta stay healthy. This is a slow sinking granule, which some bettas may not go after, but if you have other tank mates like tetras and corydoras, they will readily finish up any leftovers your betta leaves behind.
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. These top five foods are sure to please betta fish.