The popularity of keeping betta fish continius to climb at an exponential rate due to being such an easy to care for fish as well as having so many photographs of beautiful looking bettas going viral on social media.
Due to this, a large number of people new to fish keeping are naturally attracted to betta fish with many of them being brand new to keeping fish resulting in a wide range of questions being asked.
One of the more commonly asked questions that we have noticed people asking is how long can betta fish go without food?
We understand that people have to go to work throughout the day as well as take weekends away from home as well as go on longer vacations too.
As there is a large amount of misinformation about how long you are able to leave your betta fish without food online, we wanted to publish this article to try and help as many of our readers as possible.
Our hope is that we will be able to help our readers better understand how long they are able to leave their pet betta fish without feeding them as well as the various options you have available for feeding your betta fish if you do have to leave them alone.
Thankfully, in this day and age, there are a number of options that you have available to you to keep your betta fish well fed if you do have to go on vacation.
Do Betta Fish Need To Eat Everyday?
You should usually feed your pet betta fish two meals per day consisting of two to four suitable betta fish pelletswith live food such as live brine shrimp being an excellent supplementary food option for betta fish.
Although betta fish pellets look small, they do swell up once added to the water and are filling for your pet fish.
Depending on the age and any specific health conditions that your pet betta fish may have, there is a chance that you will have to tweak the standard feeding schedule of your betta fish.
For the most part though, two meals of two to four pellets is the standard recommendation for a healthy adult betta fish.
Although a large number of betta fish owners don’t supplement the diet of their fish with live food, it is highly recommended as live brine shrimp make an excellent treat option for your betta.
Chasing the live food down also offers mental stimulation for your betta fish too with brine shrimp being able to be switched out for one of your betta fish’ pellet meals two or three times per week.
How Long Can Betta Fish Go Without Food?
A healthy, well fed betta fish can usually last around ten days without any new food added to its tank but this is not recommended.
Leaving your betta fish without food for this long can drastically increase the chances of a number of health conditions as well as starvation kicking in.
You are able to purchase an automatic feeder for your betta fish for around $20 to ensure that it still gets its regular meals while you are away on holiday.
you can also get betta fish vacation feeders for $5-$10 that add another option for being able to feed your betta fish when you are on vacation too.
Due to both of these options being available, your betta fish should never have to go for ten days without being fed.
You can use either option to provide your pet betta fish with all the food the require for the duration of most vacations or weekends away to help keep your betta fish well fed and as healthy as possible.
How Many Days Can A Betta Fish Go Without Food?
Betta fish are able to last around ten days without food with some people having documented their betta fish going as long as fourteen days without any food.
Just because your betta fish can last for around ten days without food doesn’t mean that it should though as the longer it goes without eating the higher the chance of health issues developing.
The risk of these health issues developing is exponential too meaning that the chance of a health issue developing on day eight of not having food is considerably higher than on day seven that is in turn considerably higher than day six.
On top of that, if you do leave your betta fish without food for over three to four days, you should really be putting your fish on a re-feeding plan once you are able to feed it again to ensure that its body does not react poorly to being fed again.
This is usually far too much time and effort for the majority of people though so we recommend that you either pick up a betta fish vacation feeder for $5-$10 or a automatic feeder for your betta fish for around $20 to avoid the issue.
They offer a daily food source for your pet betta fish to help keep it as healthy as possible while you are away from home.
What To Feed Your Betta Fish While On Vacation?
There are plenty of feeding options for your betta fish while you are on vacation with compounded vacation pellets usually being the cheapest and easiest option.
Automatic feeders do tend to be better and are usually around $20 with them allowing you to load the feeder up with the normal fish you feed your betta and then program it to release the food at normal feeding times.
We would never recommend that you drop a large number of normal betta fish pellets into the tank of your betta fish while you are away.
Although this is a very common path that people take, normal pellets are not designed to be in the water of your betta fish’ tank for long and they will quickly cause problems with the water quality and may result in various health issues in your betta fish.
Some people have also tried to add a large number of live feeding options to the tank of their betta fish before going on vacation.
This can work for a weekend as some of the live food will be able to live in the tank for days without issue, especially if you have plants in there that they can use for cover.
Most bettas really enjoy eating live food such as live brine shrimp though and they will actively hunt them down and overfeed on them.
Should You Use A Betta Fish Automatic Feeder?
Using a betta fish automatic feeder is probably the best way to feed your betta fish if you are going away from a few days or even a few weeks.
They allow you to load up the feeder with the food that your betta fish is used to and program it to release the food at the normal feeding times for your betta.
A high-quality automatic feeder is only around $20 but it is well worth every cent as it offers the most advantages of feeding your betta fish when on vacation with minimal downsides.
Sticking to the same food and feeding routein with your betta can be helpful as it does not break the normal routine of your betta fish helping to minimise disruption.
As the automatic feeder will only release a set number of betta fish pellets at a time, your betta fish will eat them before they have a chance to sink to the bottom of the tank and start to go bad.
This ensures that the water quality of your betta fish will not deteriorate at a rapid pace while you are away from home too while also keeping your betta fish fed.
Should You Use A Betta Fish Vacation Feeder?
The majority of modern betta fish vacation feeder pellet products are a good option to use if you are going away from home for a week or less.
You drop the vacation pellets into your betta fish’ tank before you go away and it can then pick at them as it needs to feed itself while you are away from home.
The more popular vacation feeders for betta fish tend to be cheap with a price tag of $5-$10 but they do have down sides.
They are a new taste that your betta fish may not like so it may choose not to eat them while you are away with this being more common than many people initially realise.
Due to you having to put a large quantity of food into your bettas tank all at once that will not be consumed for days, these pellets do start to cause the water of your betta fish to deteriorate quickly.
You should really be doing a water chance before and after your vacation if you are planning to use these to minimize the chances of fin rot or any other type of health issue developing in your betta due to deteriorated water conditions.
Can You Put Lots Of Live Food In Your Betta Tank If You Are Away On Vacation?
If you are only away from home for a few days such as a long weekend then you may be able to feed your betta fish by adding live food such as brine shrimp to the tank of your betta fish.
This will add a food source that your betta will be able to eat over the coming days while you are away from home to help keep itself sustained.
We usually only recommend this strategy if you are away for four to five days at the most as there are problems with it. In addition to that, you really should be only using live brine shrimp if possible but some alternative options may work.
The main issue with this method of feeding your betta fish while on vacation is that betta fish absolutely love brine shrimp and they will actively hunt them in their tank even if they are not hungry.
This can result in over feeding and potential blockages in their digestive system. Most betta fish will be able to hunt down all of the live brine shrimp that you add to their tank within a couple of days too, this is why it is not a long term feeding option.
Should You Ask A Friend To Feed Your Pet Betta Fish?
If you are going away on vacation for more than three to four days you can ask a friend or family member to feed your betta fish for you.
This is usually an easy option for many people to take as caring for a betta fish requires minimal experience, especially when their aquarium is already set up.
This will usually consist of you taking your betta fish to your friend or family members home for them to feed when needed but you may be able to get them to come to your home to feed your fish.
It is easy to follow the simple instruction of feed your betta fish 2 to 4 pellets twice per day so even someone who has never kept fish before is able to feed your betta fish for you.
We know that some people live far away from their family and that their friends may not be able to feed their betta fish for them though.
This is where the automatic feeders come into play instead as they are essentially an automated system that delivers the exact same functionality.
If you go on vacation or travel for work on a regular basis then a $20 automatic fish feeder is an excellent investment.
Is It Ok To Drop Lots Of Betta Pellets Into Your Bettas Tank?
Never drop a large number of normal betta pellet food into your bettas tank if you are going away on vacation. The pellets will quickly deteriate making them unsuitable for food while also causing your water conditions to deteriorate too.
Not only does this result in poor water conditions for your betta fish but the pellets that you have dropped in can quickly grow mold so your betta fish will not eat them anyway.
This can result in your pet betta fish going the full duration of your vacation without being fed while living in poor water conditions.
Although a large number of people new to keeping betta fish do make this mistake time and time again, it is definitely the worse option available.
We would highly recommend that you take any of the other options that we have covered to keep your betta fish fed while you are away from home for a few days if possible.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how long can betta fish go without food to an end. We have covered how long a betta fish can live without being fed although we would never recommend you actually leave your betta fish without food for more than a day or two. We have also covered a number of feeding options available to you while you are away on vacation too allowing you to keep your betta fish fed so that it does not have to go without food.
