Ive recently lost my two favorite bettas, Fiji my red veiltail, and Cirrus, above. Both died from severe constipation caused by Hikari Betta Biogold. My other two suriviving bettas both were also constipated from it but have survived. I have fed this food for years without a problem. A couple months ago I bought the large package of it (hey I had 4 bettas, so I went for the better deal). Since then all 4 were severely constipated from it. Since then I have completely stopped all feeding of it and instead feed only frozen bloodworms and my homemade gel food. Ive had no problems.

So what I want to warn other betta keepers is of feeding their fish dry food. It is the same thing as with goldfish–the dry food expands inside them and causes blockages. They have very compressed intestines and things and therefore are very prone to constipation. I only wish I could have learned this before losing my two beloved fish. If this saves even one other fish life then its worth it.

On a side note I was recently recommended to use HBH betta bites. We feed these all the time at work and the fish love them. They arent dry pellets; they have a lot more oil in them than the Hikari. I am thinking of trying this on my guys but only after they are well soaked.

Hi jsrtist,
This is a timely reminder. I am sorry that you lost your two fish. I know how hearbroken you are.

BTW, what do you think of the different brands of frozen bloodworms? Do you think the San Francisco brand are good? It is what I can get around here, however, they are not sterilized like the Hikari brand.

I have been feeding the HBH bites to my bettas. The other thing about them, is that they are very small, and they expand in water quite quickly.

my betta, willie, will only eat his pellets if they are fresh.22 spit it out if its soft. should i be worried? do you think that i should feed only pre-soaked pellets until he decides to eat them? you know, kinda like tough love. i would think that hed eventually get hungry enough and give in. he fasted for almost aweek when i took him out of his 1 gallon hextank w/ugf and put him into his new, well planted ten gallon palace. *sighs* that would mean id have to discontinue his bloodworms until he, or i, gave in!

bettas tend to be picky all 3 of mine eat somthing difrent lol but some will give in and eat the food and otheres willl be so stuborn starv to death. if your worried about constpation feed them a variaty of foods. blood worms and freez dried food are a good alternate with pelets. and so is live food.

Bettas are definitely picky with the food they eat, and I've never had one decide to eat something he previously wouldn't (but then again, I've only had two). My first one liked the Hikari pellets, peas, and freeze-dried bloodworms. My new one though will only eat the HBH betta bites (unsoaked...I've never worried, since they're so tiny and you feed so little at one time) and most recently ate some zucchini. Though he won't eat bloodworms, neither freeze-dried, nor froozen, or even the Hikari pellets. Or peas either. What a wierdo.

By the way, thanks for the warning...I'll keep trying to vary my guys diet to keep him as healthy as possible.

Augustus will only eat tropical flakes; he turned his nose up at everything else, though I'm thinking of maybe trying some different foods again. It can't be good for him to live only on a diet of flake.

with my guys, they each individually turned their nose up on something. chethter didn't like flakes. scarlett didn't like blood worms. nolie didn't like betta bites. BUT now since i seriously can't spend a half hour before work in the morning catering to their finicky ways LOL I take one can of something (usually i'm racing around late and grab the quickest betta food i can reach) and plop a little in each tank and they are all eating very well. they eat everything now, flakes, dried shrimp, blood worms frozen and dried, betta bites, & pellets. Why? because they love me and wanted to make my mornings easier, I know it!

Wow, thanks for the info. I just got done with a small package of Hikari bio-gold. I won't buy it again. I have a different food now. Guess I'm lucky. My betta isn't picky at all. He will even eat a tiny piece of spirulina or a tiny piece of pea. If you can get your betta to accept a small bit of either they work as a mild laxative to keep them "regular".

wow...iceman eats everything i throw at him! hikari pellets, frozen bloodworms, peas, tetra gel foods (b/worms, daphnia and brineshrimp)...i feel very lucky to have such an easy boy to feed

Is the brand you are talking about called Sally's?? How do you know they aren't sterilized?

I don't know where I read it, but I read that the Hikari brand was sterilized, but I was under the impression that Sally's wasn't.

Anybody know for sure?