Veggies

[7buddies]

Well I want my bettas to be as healthy as possible and I was wondering if I could feed them tiny, cut up veggies. For example, broccoli tops. I feed my budgies broccoli tops and broccoli tops are the same size as betta pellets. My four bettas also eat freeze dried blood worms but I was wondering about veggies. Would they be okay?

Thanks for any responses. :)

[Melekalikimaka]

bettas aren't naturally veggie-eaters, i think, but i confess to having fed my bettas a variety of veggies in past along with their regular food. i gave them bits of carrot, lettuce, broccoli, and peas, all cooked... i've often wondered if feeding them such a varied diet was what made them so spiffy up to the day they died... the last remaining male of that particular veggie-fed generation of bettas is 4-5 years old and still builds bubblenests! :)

[7buddies]

Thanks! So would it be okay for me to thaw some frozen broccoli and then cut off the tops and give them the little seed-like things? Lol, my betta Splash made buble nests for the first month or so that I had him.

[Melekalikimaka]

i would cook the broccoli first (boiling it in water until the green stem becomes soft)... but just to warn you, i’m not an expert on these things, although personally i’ve never seen any of my bettas suffer from ill effects after eating veggies (quite the opposite in fact). if you don’t want to take a risk, i would recommend that you look up on this subject more and listen to the opinions of more seasoned betta keepers before you decide what’s best for your fishies.

one more thing i think i should mention: bettas are carnivorous, which means they probably wouldn’t do so well on a complete veggie-based diet. my own bettas got fed veggies 3 times a week at the most. the rest of the time i fed them their usual food (bloodworms and ect., stuff that has lots of protein).

[Anasfire]

I agree, you would need to cook the broccoli first. I regularly feed mine the inside of a cooked pea as well as corn and carrot when we have it. I just make sure it's well cooked so it's all mushy then break off tiny pieces with my fingernail and drop it in the tank. My 2 1/2 year old male Robin LOVES corn and his fry do too but none of the others do. My fish get such a varied diet they never have the same thing everyday, except for pellets at their morning feed...kinda like having toast in the mornings. At night though they all get something different everyday...be it bloodworm, blackworm, brine shrimp or veggies. My tiger oscar Logan is obsessed with peas....as soon as he sees me coming he starts to launch himself out of the tank it's a little disturbing seeing as he's getting big now and I'm afraid he may misjudge a jump one day and end up on the floor :D

[7buddies]

Ok thanks guys. Yeah, I'm still going to have them on a mostly pellet and bloodworm diet. Fighters4U- Where can I get blackworms? Before reading this post, I fed my bettas some thawed broccoli and Maya and Layla loved it! But Splash and Poseidon didn't really like it that much, lol. Next time I'll cook it though. =) Thanks again.

[y2jdaze]

you should be able to get blackworm at any LFS

[Anasfire]

I get my blackworm from the LFS guy. He feeds it to his Discus so keeps a private store of it at the shop and sells me 20ml for $3.50 opposed to the 8ml u can get in their fridge for $3.10 coz we've got to know each other and he knows we breed bettas. Any decent LFS will stock it but be careful. Blackworm and Bloodworm are known to carry nasties that can infect and kill your fish. Many cases of dropsy have been attributed to blackworm/bloodworm feeding. someone sells freeze dried blackworm which I have used before and find that they go just as nuts over it as the live stuff and it's safer but I like to give my guys a treat of live blackworm now and again. I just make sure I clean the worms really well before I feed them. Ususally keep them in my fridge with a daily water change for a week before I feed them and I buy my blackworm weekly so I've usually always got one batch coming out of quarantine so to speak as another batch goes in.

[Callatya]

With veggies, keep in mind that bettas can't always break them down or get any use out of them, so you are feeding mainly for flavour and fibre.

To help break them down a bit before you feed, either cook them or use pre-frozen ones. Both will damage the veggie enough to soften it up and make it a bit easier to the fish to work with.Avoid things like cabbage (gassy), onions & garlic (thiosulphate, unsure to what extent this effects fishies but best not) and oranges & tomatoes (acidic, you can feed it but be careful of your pH and burning the fish).

Safe ones would be crushed peas, lettuce (not iceberg, try something like romaine) and zucchini.

[7buddies]

Wow, you guys really are helpful. I have no idea what LFS is,but I guess I'll google it. So, if I feed my bettas freeze-dried blackworms and bloodworms is there stil a risk of them carrying "nasties"?

Speaking of crushed peas, one of my fist bettas, Yurple, had swim-bladder disease. He lived for about 2 months after he started to lay on his side because of the disease because I was feeding him crushed peas. He never fully recovered but he lived longer than most bettas with swim bladder I think. So I might try some crushed peas for my current bettas.

Thanks again guys!

[Anasfire]

LFS = Local Fish Store/Shop. As to freeze dried blackworm and bloodworm I think the risk is greatly decreased if not completely eliminated. Someone else would know more about it than me. All I know is that when I fed mine the freeze dried blackworm none of them got sick as a result. Also remember freeze-dried is different to live frozen. Freeze dried foods are basically dehydrated and can be kept in dry storage...obviously live frozen food would need to be kept in the freezer.