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| Mosquito Larva |
For Indonesians in general, feeding our beloved betta fish is easy but what we will discuss this time is about artificial food and good feeding procedures so that our fish are healthy and avoid disease.
Betta fish are classified as carnivores, and they eat insects in the wild. The best betta food replicates special needs without many fillers being added and cannot be digested. For most betta owners who do not have time to search for or provide live food as main diet for betta fish. So it is best to provide a variety of high-quality feed in the form of pellets, flakes, dried and frozen.
"Give the best nutritional value focusing on the needs of protein, fat, fiber, phosphorus, carbohydrates, calcium, and vitamins (A, D3, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12, C, H, M). Make sure your betta food is natural and contains protein as a main ingredient. Don't buy or feed it made for carp or other tropical fish. "Betta fish have a very short digestive tract and do not process fillers such as corn and wheat very well. These fillers are often found in many food pellets and flakes and can cause digestive problems (eg constipation). Betta does not get nutrients from fillers and only considers it as waste. It is very important for you to provide high-protein foods to meet their carnivorous needs. Fiber is also important to help their digestion. Next we will explain one by one,
Pellet
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Pellets are the most common betta fish food on the market, with very varied quality in each type. The best pellets for betta fish have fewer fillers and more high-quality ingredients that help fish develop. Some betta fish pellets expand significantly after exposure to water.
this can cause bloating and digestive problems if you are not careful because they will expand in your hickey's stomach. For pellets that expand when wet, soak them in water before giving them to hydrate, especially if your hickey eats them directly when given.
Flakes
Freeze-Dried
It is recommended that you soak it in water before giving it for rehydration, increasing the water content. Providing only dry food can cause problems with bloating and constipation.
One of the advantages of dry foods is that they are free of bacteria and parasites. They are also easily found in local fish shops and online with relatively cheap prices.
Frozen
Natural Food
Natural food can we get directly from nature, buy it or cultivate it yourself. Natural foods that we can provide to our betta include:
- InfusioriaInfusoria is a microscopic animal that we can give to betta fish aged 4 days fry to 1 week, because of its very small size infusoria is not good for growth so it can only be used as temporary substitute feed until we can get a more decent feed such as water fleas.
- Water fleasWater fleas are small animals commonly used as betta feed from the age of 4 days fry to adult. There are 2 types of water fleas that are easily obtained, namely Moina sp and Daphnia Magna. The physical form of Moina sp is smaller than that of Daphnia Magna so that Moina sp is more suitable for feeding betta fish starting from the age of 4 days betta fry.
- Artemia
Artemia is a type of brine shrimp with a very small size. Usually sold in ornamental fish shops in the form of eggs (cysts / cysts). So before use the egg must be hatched first.
- Blood Worms
Blood worms are actually larvae of Chironomus sp. Mosquitoes, these mosquitoes eat nectar from plants. Blood worms are very good for betta fish because they have a high protein content.
- Silk Worms
Silk worms or Tubifex sp are types of fine worms that we can find in sewerage ditches or small rivers.
- Mosquito larvae
Feed mosquito larvae are the easiest to obtain. We usually encounter mosquito larvae in outdoor puddles, ditches or still waters. If we want to give mosquito larvae, make sure the mosquito larvae we get from outdoor have been sterilized before to clean some parasite that might carry over. You can do this by soaking mosquito larvae for approximately 12 hours or overnight with sufficiently blue methelyn solution
| Live Food | Water | Protein | Fat | Carbohydrate | Ash |
| Infusoria | 0,00% | 36,30% | 5,50% | 0,00% | 4,75% |
| Water Flea Daphnia Magna | 94,78% | 42,66% | 8,00% | 14,10% | 4,00% |
| Water Flea Moina SP | 90,60% | 37,38% | 13,29% | 0,00% | 11,00% |
| Artemia | 81,90% | 55,60% | 18,50% | 14,20% | 7,60% |
| Blood Worm | 0,00% | 63,00% | 10,50% | 0,00% | 11,70% |
| Silk Worm | 87,70% | 57,00% | 13,30% | 2,04% | 3,60% |
| Mosquito Larva | 81,80% | 67,80% | 14,60% | 12,20% | 0,00% |
How often and how much to feed the betta?
Do not be too fixated with the information written on fish food packaging, because sometimes these instructions can be misleading and only cause problems with fish and water on your tank. A general feeding instruction says to feed as much as your fish will consume in 5 minutes, or feed several times a day in an amount that can be consumed in 3 minutes. This is not appropriate because it will only cause excess food and pollute water.
Adult betta can be fed once a day, and fry can be fed twice a day. It does not look enough, but many pellets churn up to more than 2X the size when wet. For your information, the betta's stomach is actually about the size of their eyes. Additional feeding may be needed depending on the level of activity and personality of your betta.
- Betta fish pellets (2-4 pellets, 1-2 times a day)
- Live, freeze, or freeze-dried (2-3 sheets, 1-2 times a day)
Betta will overeat if you let it. Over feeding and overeating can cause constipation, bloating, contracting the disease due to bacteria from food spoilage, and even death.
Ideal Feeding Schedule
Always clean the remaining food that falls into the bottom of the aquarium. This will prevent ammonia buildup and potentially dangerous diseases that result from food spoilage.
- Monday: Betta fish pellets (2-4 pellets, 1-2 times a day)
- Tuesday: Live, freeze, or freeze-dried (2-3 sheets, 1-2 times a day)
- Wednesday: Betta fish pellets (2-4 pellets, 1-2 times a day)
- Thursday: Betta fish pellets (2-4 pellets, 1-2 times a day)
- Friday: Live, freeze, or freeze-dried (2-3 sheets, 1-2 times a day)
- Saturday: Betta fish pellets (2-4 pellets, 1-2 times a day)
- Sunday: Fasting to maintain digestive regularity
It's also good to give fasting for one day, it aims to give their digestive tract time to fully process food and limit problems associated with overeating. If you are going away for a day or two, or on vacation, don't pour extra food into it, because betta fish can survive without food for up to 14 days.
As betta owners it is our responsibility to ensure they have a balanced diet for optimal health. There are myths about living food that cause constipation and bloating. This can happen, but it is usually due to lack of fiber in betta food, or overeating.
Conclusion
Remember, betta fish will eat even if they are not hungry. In the wild, betta fish don't know when they will get their next meal, so their instinct is to continue eating while food is available.
Ranking in order, the best betta foods are live feed, frozen feed, dry feed, pellets, and flakes. Feeding various types of food will provide a variety of nutrients needed for betta fish to develop.
How much feeding betta fish depends on each activity, but 2-3 pellets 1-2 times a day is a safe amount. Eating schedule can be made so that you do not forget whether you have fed them or not.
With this article we hope we'll be able to add more insight and knowledge about betta fish, so that we can treat our fish better.
