New betta fish owners can feel a sense of frustration when they feed the directions on a bottle of mini pellets for their fish. Nearly every brand suggests feeding your betta fish as many pellets as it can eat within a couple of minutes, but that doesn’t tell you whether or not you’re feeding your fish enough nutrients or too much.
On this page, we’re going to discuss what you should know when it comes to feeding your betta the correct amount of mini pellets. Keep reading to find out what you need to know about mini pellets.
How Many Pellets Can A Betta Eat?
Surprisingly, betta fish have pretty big appetites. If you put down too many mini pellets, there’s a good chance that your betta will overeat and consume more pellets than it should. In the wild, bettas eat whatever food they can find, so it’s often in the fish’s instincts to eat food when they see it. This is why you should only put down one pellet at a time.
While some betta fish will stop eating once they are full, others are prone to eating, so the amount of pellets a betta can consume depends on the individual fish. For this reason, you need to stick to a specific feeding schedule. Feeding your betta the correct amount will ensure that it doesn’t over-eat and there isn’t leftover food going to waste in the tank.
How Many Mini Pellets Should You Feed A Betta Per Day?
Determining how many mini pellets to feed to your betta fish shouldn’t be a guessing game, especially if you have an over-eater in your tank. It’s important to make sure that the mini pellets you’re feeding are smaller than the betta’s eyeball. If so, you can feed your betta between 2 and 4 pellets each day.
Never feed the betta fish all the pellets at once because it’s too much, and the fish will get too hungry between feedings. Bettas need at least 6 hours to digest after feeding. Always allow enough time to pass before giving your betta another pellet.
The reason that a betta fish needs to be fed pellets that are smaller than its eyeball is that the betta’s stomach is the same size as its eyeball. If you were to allow the fish to eat more than one pellet at a time, it could cause the fish’s stomach to expand.
How Many Mini Pellets Should You Feed A Baby Betta?
Even though a baby betta is smaller, it’s growing, so it needs a lot of nutrients. It’s crucial that you’re feeding a baby betta enough nutrients and proteins on a daily basis. To ensure your baby betta grows to be healthy, you should feed it the same amount of mini pellets as grown betta fish.
Now, the baby betta fish’s feeding schedule isn’t as easy as that because you need to feed a growing fish a wide selection of nutrients. This means that you need to feed them more than just mini pellets on a daily basis. A great way to ensure your baby betta gets fed a well-balanced diet, add freeze-dried food along to its daily feeding schedule.
What Happens If You Overfeed Mini Pellets To A Betta?
It’s important to stick to a regular feeding schedule to keep your betta healthy and happy. There are many issues associated with overfeeding mini pellets to your fish.
Problems With Digestion
One of the issues with mini pellets is they contain fillers and additives, which can cause digestive issues when a betta fish consumes too much. Overfeeding is one of the leading causes of digestive issues in fish. While we’re on the subject, you should also make sure the mini pellets aren’t expired, as expired food can also make a betta ill.
Stomach Expansion
As we mentioned above, bettas have an instinct to eat what they see and very small stomachs. This puts them at a higher risk of stomach expansion when they overeat. One of the big reasons this is risky with mini pellets is that they get consumed in a dry state but expand from the moisture in the betta’s stomach.
Weight Gain
If a betta consumes too many calories, it will gain weight which puts it at risk of several health problems. This can cause a lot of problems for the fish, especially if it doesn’t get enough exercise. Not only is the fish susceptible to health issues, but obesity can also cause pain and discomfort in its body.
Stress & Anxiety
There are a lot of negative outcomes that come along with overfeeding, such as weight gain and waste in the tank. Believe it or not, this can also have a negative impact on the betta fish’s mental health. When fish aren’t healthy, happy, or comfortable, they can become stressed or anxious.
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Signs You Are Overfeeding Your Betta
It may seem like your betta is enjoying all of the mini pellets you place in the tank, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t overfeeding it. Let’s take a look at some of the top signs that you’re overfeeding your betta fish.
Chubby Betta
One of the most obvious signs that your betta fish is overfed is if it has gained weight. If your betta is noticeably plump, then you have been feeding it too much food. The first sign of weight gain will be noticeable in the fish’s stomach area.
Leftover Pellets
Another clue that’s right before your eyes of overfeeding is leftover food in the tank. Your betta isn’t saving that for a snack later on; you’ve put too much food in the tank. Make sure you remove these pellets because they could rot, which will contaminate the water in the tank.
Cloudy Water
Since overfeeding results in leftover food, it can also affect the water in the tank because there are a lot of bacteria being mixed into the water as the food sits around. When the water is no longer clear, this is a good sign that you need to cut back on the number of pellets you’re putting in the tank. Cloudy water is dangerous because bacteria multiply very quickly.
Dirty Gravel
If you continue to overfeed your betta but it doesn’t eat all the food, it will eventually float to the bottom of the tank if you don’t clean it out in time. When this happens, the food will begin to rot on the gravel on the floor of the tank. This will cause you to need to clean or replace the gravel more frequently.
Recap
How many mini pellets should I feed to a betta? Only feed your betta fish one mini pellet at a time because the mini pellet is approximately the same size as its stomach. Your betta fish can eat mini pellets 2 to 4 times a day and will receive all the nutrients and proteins needed for its diet.
Always allow your betta fish at least 6 hours between feedings to ensure it has fully digested the previous pellet. Always avoid overfeeding your betta because too many pellets can lead to stomach expansion, weight gain, or cause the tank and water to become dirty.
