The right feed for your Betta is important in ensuring they live a long time. In their natural habitat, Bettas consume on zooplankton, which include crustaceans, the larvae of mosquitoes and other small animals or insects such as flies, or grasshoppers. An assortment of foods generally is considered healthier Bettas, so be sure to change their food with the options below. Even different kinds of store bought food will help with their health.
Betta Feeding Manual - Amount of food
When dispensing food to Betta fish, be certain not to feed them too much. Betta fries, otherwise known as baby Bettas, need to be fed twice a day.
One time per week you should let your Betta go without food. This is healthy for your Betta's stomach and won't hurt him at all - in fact it is extremely healthy for your Betta fish. It is ok to go away for two days without feeding your Betta, but over two days and you must either have someone feed him or get an automatic food dispenser.
Feeding your Betta - Commercial Food
The safest and easiest method is to purchase Betta fish food pellets from your neighborhood pet shop. These usually include mashed up vitamins, mosquito larvae, crustaceans, fish bits, and an assortment of other stuff. While Betta fish prefer food that's alive, you can give them freeze dried food like mosquito larvae and/or brine shrimp. Frozen insects don't have any bacteria or parasites that may do harm to Betta fish, so will usually be safer than live insects.
Betta fish Feeding Guide - Live food
Live brown worms or mosquito larvae (bloodworms) are good live food options your Betta will absolutely enjoy. While Bettas love live insects, they can bring parasites and illness and should be cleaned thoroughly. You should never feed your Betta worms caught locally, since the pesticides they could have been near can be extremely toxic. It is even more important not to overfeed your Betta fish live food. Betta's won't stop gorging live insects until it's all done, even if it destroys them! They will let pellets drop to the bottom when they're satisfied.
Betta fish Feeding Manual - Special Situations
If your Betta fish are mating (make sure to take a look at this article on Betta fish reproduction), then you can feed them a large assortment of foods (typically this is much better for the majority of fish) including blackworms, Grindal worms, fruit flies, brine shrimp, and mosquito larvae. You can feed an adult Betta fish as much as times per day if you are planning on mating them. When giving food to Betta fish fries, you should start around five days after they're born. Foods that are made up of small pieces, for instance, boiled egg yolk, baby brine shrimp, and infusoria can be fed to the Betta fish newborns several times a day.
For additional info about Betta Fish, be sure to take a look at the posts, take a look at this list of the Best Betta Care Guides. My favorite is the Betta Lovers Guide - it's the one guide that covers absolutely everything you'll need to keep your betta fish healthy.
Feeding Betta