What to feed?

[Fendi]

Hi bros..sorry for the noob question..
yesterday bought 4 Betta coccina from That Aquarium..
I'm like totally new to this wild betta thing...now what do i feed them?
Do they take only live food?
Million thanks....

[johannes]

You can feed them tubifex, daphnia, live brine shrimp and baby brine shrimp.
You can try to feed them frozen bloodworms too..

Wild caught Coccina complex Bettas tend to be fussy and prefer frozen or live food, whereas wild big mouthbrooders sometimes accept processed food almost immediately.

[Emokidz]

Hi Fendi, I got them during the previous shipment. They eat live daphnia, tubifex and can be slowly mo Ed toward frozen foods. Certain individuals readily take frozen foods whole others are a little fussy. Most important is to get them fully settled in even if it means Buying live foods for the first week or so. They tend to be less shy and eat frozen foods readily once they are settled in.

[Mudskipper]

Welcome to the wild side. All my wild betta...from big to small...love live brine shrimp. But I alternate with frozen bloodworms.

You can get the smaller frozen bloodworms from C328. Make sure you ask them to get the right ones for you. You might end up with small cubes of large bloodworms instead if you don't make doubly sure. Tell them you want the worms to be small, not the cube size. I've made that mistake several times before.

Hope you enjoy your coccinas!!

[stormhawk]

Of late the frozen bloodworms are pretty large in size.. makes it hard for fish with smaller mouths to gobble them up.

[Mudskipper]

C328 don't have the small ones anymore? Oh no, I'm worried.

[stormhawk]

Last I recall they sell frozen bloodworm from 2 brands, Hikari and another. I'm not sure which one is the one with smaller FBW. The Hikari ones are huge. Sometimes I have to snip them with scissors before they go into the tank for feeding.

[Mudskipper]

The other brand is Rainbow..that's the one with smaller worms. Be sure to check though, cause they come in both sizes...large and small. The small size worms work very well for my channoides. The other fishes tend to prefer the large ones.

[900801]

Rainbow's quite good in my opinion. Been using it for a few years now. Quite small compared to the huge fbw that you find with hikari and other brands.

[Emokidz]

Ohh I never really noticed that they sold fbw of diff sizes. Thought it was a random thing. Haha!
Will definitely try to get the smaller one in future.

[Mudskipper]

Another secret I learned from my guru, Johannes. 8-) I always have both sizes in my freezer.

[stormhawk]

Ah yes, Rainbow brand. However, problem with that brand is that the foil cover easily tears. If you squeeze out one cube the foil will not tear nicely but will break a hole or something in adjacent cubes. This allows bacteria to enter the sealed cube... I ever bought a single piece of the Rainbow FBW and it had frozen blood from the worms on top of the foil and around it. Maybe I got a problem piece. What about you guys?

[Fendi]

Thanks all bros for the useful answers..given them frozen blood worms yesterday but they did not take it...maybe it's too big
will try tubifex tomorrow...good day to everyone...

[stormhawk]

Do not overfeed with tubifex as bettas are prone to getting obese on a diet rich in worm foods. Getting dropsy is the last thing you want for your Betta, so feed responsibly.

[Mudskipper]

I agree with stormhawk. I bought some tubifex the other day for the first time in almost 5 years and fed them. One of my female channoides now looking like she has some problems. Plus they stink so bad!!! Fed maybe 1 or 2 cents worth and flushed the rest. Never again. Can't imagine feeding children horrible stinky stuff, why would I want to do it to my fishes? *sigh* So sad. I hope she gets better.

BTW...Stormhawk, bro, what is the fish in your avatar? Damn nice leh.

[900801]

It's a killi fish

[Mudskipper]

Oooo....*sigh* better don't see a real one. Or I will possibly need another rack.

[stormhawk]

@Fendi,

It is normal for wild caught bettas to not take frozen food immediately. You have to wean them on to frozen foods over time.

@Mudskipper,

If the channoides is suffering from indigestion, which is normal with tubifex at times, soaking some frozen bloodworm with that GarlicGuard will probably help to cleanse out her system of bugs.

The fish in my avatar is this - Simp. magnificus
It is an annual killifish from Brazil.

[oddstamp]

Coccinas complex i have given them

1)frozen blood worms/frozen brine/frozen mysis shrimps and they take all readily
2) live food to play safe brine is best (boon works well for the undernourished/subdominant fishes who might not always get to eat first. though risk of disease still there it is slightly less than for tubi)
3) another food can try is the s size borneo wild flakes works well for my fishes too.

with this feeding regime have kept one coccinas from the 2008 early 2009 batch

[Mudskipper]

@Mudskipper,

If the channoides is suffering from indigestion, which is normal with tubifex at times, soaking some frozen bloodworm with that GarlicGuard will probably help to cleanse out her system of bugs.

The fish in my avatar is this - Simp. magnificus
It is an annual killifish from Brazil.

Fortunately, she has completely recovered. She was a little "fat" for a while and found it difficult to balance but soon after she ... well ... took a huge dump, she got better and was her same feisty self again.

That killi is gorgeous. I have to slap myself while I say that.