Is my baby betta fish eating enough? How much should I feed?

Bettas are carnivores and need food high in protein. There are many foods available for your betta that can be bought at your local fish store or cultivated at home. Here’s a quick list to get you started. Remember that like people, a variety of foods allows your fish to get a balanced diet. *Frozen or live bloodworms or bloodworms in gel *Frozen or live brine shrimp or brine shrimp in gel *Frozen or live daphnia *Frozen glass worms *Frozen beef heart (can be purchased at your supermarket or butcher) *Frozen tubifex worms (live tubifex often carry parasites or bacteria and is better avoided) *Frozen mysis shrimp *Live white worms *Live grindal worms *Live flightless or wingless fruit flies *Live black worms. Frozen foods should not be confused with freeze-dried. Freeze-dried foods may cause digestion problems leading to more serious medical issues when fed in excess. If possible, try to avoid feeding dried pellets, flake or freeze-dried food. Some foods are marketed as “For Bettas” but could cause digestion problems due to indigestible fillers and low moisture content. You will usually find these in packages near where bettas are sold. These pellet foods absorb water and expand in the fish’s stomach 2x or 3x their original size. Some bettas react badly to them, often suffering from constipation, bloating or even swim-bladder disorders. If you’re unable to feed your betta anything but dried food, you should soak the pellets in a glass of tank water for about 10 minutes before feeding them to your fish. This will give the pellet a chance to expand to its full size before your fish ingests it. One of the most common mistakes people make with their betta is either overfeeding or underfeeding their fish. A betta should be fed every day or nearly every day. It takes a betta about 2 weeks to starve to death so if your fish doesn’t eat for a few days due to illness or adjusting to a new home, don’t panic. A good rule of thumb at feeding time is this… A betta’s stomach is about as big as his eyeball and should not be fed more that amount at a time. This translates to about 3 bloodworms or brine shrimp per feeding. If you feed pellets, this equals about 2-3 soaked pellets per feeding. A betta can be fed this amount once or twice a day. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Once or twice a day are both fine. Consistency is more important, so I would set a schedule based on your own schedule with work/school/family. The MOST important thing is only feeding as much as he can eat in one sitting. If you give his food and there are left overs a couple minutes later, you'll know you need to feed less. The extra food will make his tank dirty and the organic waste is hard to break down.

Mushu is very cute! Betta care is very easy. Ideally, a 5 gallon tank should be used to house your Betta. A smaller tank can be used, but the maintenance (water changes) will be much more frequent. A filter is always recommended otherwise water changes will be required every few days to maintain water quality. With a filter, 20% water changes can be done weekly or every two weeks. Use only aged or conditioned water that is temperature matched to prevent stress or shock. Choices for conditioners include AmQuel Plus, NovAqua, StressCoat, Prime or StressZyme. A small submersible heater is necessary since Bettas are tropical fish. They do best in slow moving water between 78F and 80F. You can feed a pelleted diet such as Hikari Micro Pellets until he grows bigger. Baby brine shrimp, daphnia, bloodworms and blackworms can also be fed. Feed one or twice daily. He should only need 2-3 pellets at each feeding. The conditioners and food can be found in the aquarium section of the local Petco. Please request a consultation to discuss care in greater depth or post another question in the Forum if necessary.

If you can adjust the filter flow, it should be fine if you turn it down. If not, you may need to use something to redirect the outflow to decrease current strength. You can use a piece of sponge or pre-filter in the intake to prevent a small fish from being drawn into the filter. Although live food is nice, it can be difficult or time consuming. Live food can be purchased online and typically includes instructions on care and feeding. Food companies all offer "micro-pellets" for smaller fish which is also an option.

Bettas, both male and female, are considered "full grown" at about 7 months of age. There may be some growth until a year of age with most specimens measuring 2-2.5 inches in length. Freddie looks to be in fine form in the images provided. Be sure to maintain water quality and temperature. Bettas do best between 78F and 80F. For water changes, use only aged or conditioned water that is temperature matched to prevent stress or shock.

It depends on which variety/species of betta she is. Also, a photo would help. Honestly, as long as she is eating and acting fine I would not be too worried about her overall size. If you have her in a very small tank/bowl then you may have stunted her growth inadvertently. This article may help you. https://pets.thenest.com/make-bettas-grow-bigger-3705.html If you have more questions please feel free to post again.

I would recommend to feed with bloodworms once daily, not more than that and always mixed with pellets, daphnia, and brine shrimps. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.