soak the pellets?

[beta3chg]

Hey, i have a young betta (about a year old) named Kingsley who has had some problems with constipation. I feed him 3 pellets (Hikari betta bio gold) and a small pinch of flakes 2x a day. I used to feed him one freeze dried bloodworm instead of the flakes, but i got some advise from a tropical fish owner to switch to flakes because the freeze dried foods are harder to digest (is this true?). Well, he still got constipation after the switch (i treated him using the pea method beforehand). I did the research, and although it says to feed several different types of food (and i have 3 types to try), i was wondering if maybe soaking the pellets in water would help him digest them easier? Other info in case it helps: he lives in a 1gal unfiltered tank, heated to 79F which i change completely once a week. I add 3/8 teasp. Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt and a liquid Ph and Kh stablizer/conditioner. He has a buddy in the same kind of tank across from him who has done fine with 4 pellets and 1 bloodworm 2x a day. Thanks for any suggestions!

[amanichen]

Soaking dry food is generally a good idea.

Freeze dried foods aren't necessarily any more difficult to digest than pelleted foods, because pelleted foods can contain lots of ash (the opposite of fiber.) Feeding a variety of foods, including "wet" foods (live and frozen) will also help.

[beta3chg]

So i switched his food around and now he's fine-he's eating betta bites in the morning (soaked first-i learned my lesson) and a freeze dried bloodworm and a few flakes at night. He's fine now, hopefully he'll stay that way. Thanks for the advice, amanchien! ;D