Do you soak your pellets before feeding?

When I got my first betta (VT) a few months ago I was reading up on all kinds of websites about how to care for bettas and somebody said that it is better to soak the pellets for 5 min before feeding, so they can expand. So I did that with my betta right from the start. I fed 4 soaked pellets 2 times a day. I kept forgetting to skip a day and did not even hear about peas until much later, but to date Azumo has never gotten constipated.

I have since also taken on my friends CT George, who gets constipated ALL THE TIME. I have been soaking his pellets too for the last two months. He never gets more than 4-5 pellets in one day, but he inevitably gets constipated if I don't skip a day and feed part of a pea every 3 days or so.

A couple of times I have fed the pellets to my betta straight as I was in a hurry. I noticed that in those cases he kind of bites down repeatedly on it as if he was "chewing", but other than that I don't see any difference in him. So I am wondering if I am just giving myself extra "work" without any good reason.

Are you guys soaking your pellets before feeding, or do you just toss them in

I soak mine for a few mins too.

I have to say I toss mine in and never had problems

LOL All my boys and girls would hate me if I soaked them. If they've missed one and it goes soggy they try to eat it but spit it back out :lol!:

I soak the bigger, non-betta specific pellets if I need to feed them for some reason, but never the Betta Bio Gold. Orion isn't too interested in pellets anyway, but will take them crushed. Osiris LOVES his pellets.

Hmm. So far the "non-soakers" are in the lead...

Hi
We have never soaked pellets, even for the juveniles :D Never really had any issues with bloating or the like.

dont soak my pellets either

I have never soaked mine, but my betta is a smaller female and she has a hard time with the pellets, so I usually split them in half with my fingernail. If I don't split them she does the "chewing" thing.

never soaked mine usually I feed mine in the evening an as soon as I put the lights on above the unit they know I am feeding them, so they scoff them!

I dont soak for mine, but sister has a betta who seems to have on going swimbladder issues, I think she soaks his daily to prevent the swimbladder problem from getting worse.

I've never soaked mine, my bettas ignore soggy pellets!

Tried soaking them once, Indi didn't like. He didn't eat them So no, i do not soak

so am I just babying Loki then? As Indy died from dropsy I was terrified that maybe I had caused it by not soaking his pellets, so that is why I soak Loki's...........

You'll never know really. My theory on soaking pellets is that you are adding moisture to something that is already going to get wet, and perhaps some of the nutrients are actually lost through soaking?

I don't soak for more than a minute or two, it's not all bloated and fluffy.......he seems to be happy enough, he gets all excited when he sees me soaking it, dances all up and down the tank waiting for me to stick it to my finger and feed him lol

Looks like I'll stop wasting my time soaking pellets...

Though it was entertaining to have him snap them off my finger. But then again that led to him believing that fingers mean food and now he will bite the finger whenever you get near the surface. :D At least he's not one of green spotted puffers...

Now now! I have had to be brave with the puffs and teach them fingers aint food! My boys prefer the hard pellets definately! lol

I don't soak my pellets either.

me neither, soaking them would leach out some of the minerals etc...

well tried my guy with non-soaked and he just kept spitting them back out, then coming back to me for his soft ones lol

They get spoiled so easily ... :lol!:

i do not soak the betta food. The pieces that sink are ignored by mine.

I don't soak mine. Once they get "soggy" my betta wait till they sink and then eaat em off the bottom hahaha I love the betta chewing noise! *crunch crunch crunch*

Lol.....I love the crunching sounds they make too.....so funny to hear them :lol!: