How to Feed Live Food to Betta Fish

How to Feed Live Food to Betta Fish

• Step 1:
  Good fish stores often sell brine shrimp, bloodworms, brown worms and other live foods for carnivorous fish. Many of these will keep for a week in the refrigerator. Experts advise scooping out enough for one feeding at a time with a very small net and rinsing them briefly under running water before feeding them to your Betta fish to avoid introducing unwanted bacteria to the tank.
• Step 2:
  Bettas tend to overeat, given the chance. Once food has sunk to the bottom of the tank, they will often ignore it and uneaten food can foul the water and make your Betta sick. This applies to any food including flakes or pellets. Only feed your Betta what he will eat in a few minutes. Feeding once a day is best, but you can feed a lesser amount twice a day. Your Betta may benefit from being fasted one day a week.
• Step 3:
  Mosquito larvae and bloodworms will populate standing water anywhere weather is warm enough. If you don't mind the idea of a few extra mosquitoes on your property, set out a bucket or small wading pool. You can easily see and catch mosquito larvae with a small net available at any fish store. As long as there is some old leaf mulch at the bottom of the container, bloodworms will show up. They are right red and about a half inch long.Bettas have a lot of fun chasing mosquito larva and catching worms and it's a 100% natural, healthy food for them.
• Step 4:
  Some fanciers grow their own fruit fly larvae, which make a fine Betta food. Check online for suppliers who sell a variant with no wings so escapees don't end up all over your house. These are raised by putting soft fruit in glass jars. Check online for suppliers of cultures and starter kits.
• Step 5:
  It might be tempting to get carried away and start dropping all manner of small worms and bugs from your yard into your Betta tank for him to chase and eat. Resist this urge because many small live organisms can carry bacteria harmful to your Betta.
• Step 6:
  Those fanciers who don't feed live food buy freeze dried or frozen live food to ther Bettas. These foods are available at any good fish or aquaria store. While they don't provide the same sport to the Bettas, they are nutritionally superior to most flake foods which have a lot of fillers.