Feeding Bettas before breeding: The most important thing about preparing to breed Bettas is to feed them the right foods. The recommended conditioning period is roughly 1-2 weeks prior to introducing the pair. I buy fresh frozen blood worms (available at many pet stores), to feed to my fish as a snack on a regualr basis. However when conditioning it becomes the main food. I don't use Betta Bites during this time because a high protien diet (protien being found in live foods) is essential for the female to produce eggs and give the pair energy. During this time I then give them a snack of misquito larvae I find in a pond in my back yard. If you don't have a pond then go to my Breeding section for an esay way to get some. I feed them 5-10 little larvae in one sitting, usually once a day between the blood worms. You must feed your Bettas much more often during the conditioning period. As many as four times daily, provided you clean the water more often because more food=more pollution. To collect and feed the fish the larvae you can either use a net to scoop them out of the pond and place them in the Betta's tank water in a separate glass or bowl, or use an eye dropper to suck each individual one up. Either way you must limit the amount of pond water that enters the Betta tank to little or none. It could have unwanted bacteria, diseases, and chemicals in it. Rinsing the larvae in a net prior to feeding would be ideal but not completley nessecary. Brine shrimp and other live/frozen fish foods can be used.
Helpful Hint: When feeding you Bettas Frozen Blood worms, instead of just dropping the little frozen chunk into the bowl, try it this way. Break off a peice about the size of a dime, and place it into a little glass or jar about 1/4-1/2 filled with the Betta's tank water. Let it melt so there are little worms floating around everywhere. Use an eye dropper to suck up 2-3 worms at a time and gently squirt them into the Betta tank (if just one Betta lives there). This way the Betta will slow down his/her eating to aviod bloating. Also you will avoid any unwanted food in the gravel that will undoubtedly pollute the water. If you Betta thinks like mine, then soon he/she will learn that food comes from the end of the eye dropper and will be virtually sucking it right out of the end. So smart ;).
Beginners: Bettas generally are not very picky eaters. Mine will try to eat almost anything I drop into the water. Common food you might find in the petstore for Bettas is called Betta Bites. This is an excellent beginners food because you can pick one pellet up at a time and drop it in and see if you Betta eats it. This allows for controlled consumption of food so no excess is polluting the tank/bowl. I generally feed my Bettas 2-3 pellets 2 times a day, or 4 pellets once a day. This food is a bargian because for over a year I've fed several Bettas out of the same container of Betta Bites and I still have over half the container left. And it's the size of a film cansiter. Believe me. Bettas dont generally like flake food that you feed to other freshwater fish, and it also clouds the water much faster. Another food that I find clouds the water is freeze dried red grubs. The Bettas never really liked them anyways. It's best to buy a food specially for Bettas that will enhance thier color and give enough protien. Protien is important especially when contidioning the Bettas for breeding.
