Feeding Your Betta Fish

Betta fish are carnivorous. In the wild, they feed on larvae and small insects that may fall into the water. Variety is a good thing in betta fish's diets. Feed them dry and live food on a regular basis.


Try feeding your betta fish with some of these worms:

• Glass worms
• Tubifex worms
• Water daphnia (available fresh or frozen)
• Blood worms
• Dried blood worms

Feed your betta fish small quantities of live and dry foods twice a day (morning and evening). Try not to stick just to one type of food, as betta fish need a lot of variety in order to keep them healthy.

You must be consistent in feeding your betta fish. Don't feed more one day and less the next. This will cause the ammonia levels to rise suddenly. Also, leftover food needs to be cleaned out of the water quickly as it can produce toxins and ammonia.

How much to feed?

You might think that feeding your bettas a lot will make them big and strong. More than likely what will happen is your betta will eat till he's full and leave the rest of the food, which will sink to the bottom of the tank and rot, sometimes causing serious infection. When you bring your betta fish home, see how much they can eat in two minutes, and stick with that amount.

If you are feeding your betta fish enough, he will have a softly rounded belly (belly is just after gills).

When feeding your betta fish live food, it is guaranteed that your betta will not stop eating his delicious meal until every bite is gone. Overfeeding bettas in this way will kill them literally in 24 hours. To prevent your betta from eating himself to death, feed him reasonable amounts of live food. You are the only one who can control when your betta eats, how much he eats and what he eats.

How long can bettas go without eating?

Betta fish will live for about 14 to 18 days without eating. This is no excuse for feeding your betta fish whenever you remember to. Bettas need a consistent diet, but if you're going on a vacation for a few days and don't want to pay a house-sitter, don't worry about your betta fish.

What to feed?

What you feed your betta really depends on what they were raised on. If they were raised on live food, you can forget ever trying to feed them dry flakes or pellets. If they were raised on dry food, they will most likely still eat live food.