Zoo Med Betta Dial-A-Treat Review
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Introduction
This review of Zoo Med Betta Dial-A-Treat is from my personal use of the product and is written from a hobbyist perspective.
This is a tough betta food (or treat) to review. On one hand, I believe that freeze-dried foods are a great option for most freshwater aquarium fish. On the other hand, you still need to deliver food that fish will eat. I have found this food to be an oddball in the freshwater fish food world for multiple reasons that I will discuss below. My review will address what I found to be both the good and bad of the food.
Do Fish Like the Food?
This is one of the first betta fish foods I have tried where my betta “Balky” did not like the food immediately. I was surprised because he will practically eat anything that hits the water. Sometimes, it seems his reflexes cause him to grab some quickly and others when he may eat a bite and then ignore another. Otherwise, he stares at the food and then proceeds to ignore it.
Why does he ignore the food sometimes and not others? This is a good question that I don’t think I have a good answer for. Could the food be stale? Perhaps, but it was in date. Can he not see it floating on the water as well? Not likely. Could the food not have a good scent in the water? Possible. Could it just be that my betta doesn’t like any freeze-dried foods? Unlikely. Could he strongly prefer one of the three over the others? Probably. The bottom line is that sometimes he eats a bite or two and sometimes he doesn’t want anything.
Package Sizing and Pricing
The Zoo Med Betta Dial-A-Treat comes in one size, the .12oz container, for about $7. It may seem like a crazy expensive ounce-to-price ratio; however, the food is freeze-dried and doesn’t weigh much. So, it is a decent amount of food for the price.
Ingredient Quality
The food comes with freeze-dried mysis, bloodworms, and daphnia. On paper, these are some of the best ingredients on the market. Bloodworms and daphnia especially are a great choice for most freshwater fish, especially when live or frozen. Mysis are fine as well but I have found it to generally be better for saltwater fish. Frozen mysis for instance does not seem to be accepted by most of my freshwater fish.
When looking at the freeze-dried process of preserving food, I would say that it is a great option for those who can’t get live or frozen foods. Some would probably argue it is not as good at keeping all of the nutrients preserved from the live food, but when done right it should contain a large amount of the original nutrients. But the reality is that feeding freeze-dried foods is much easier and cheaper than live foods.
Also, something to note with the ingredients is that they are pretty beat up and are often just small pieces. This could be because of how they package the food or just the source food they put in. Either way, it can be difficult to find full-sized bloodworms, daphnia, and mysis if that is what you want.
Packaging
The packaging for this food is unique. It consists of a circular dial that you can spin to pick which treat you want to feed. While it is cool, I don’t like it much. When you first open the food, it pops out because it has been compacted down. As you spin the dial, the food tends to fall into the different compartments.
The one bright spot as far as packaging goes is the spoon. I love the tiny spoon for feeding other fish foods and use it regularly. However, for feeding the freeze-dried foods it can be a little tedious.
But if you have the money and just want the tiny spoon, buy it.
Market Availability
Zoo Med products are widely available in the US. You can find their food in most pet shops and online rather easily. I have found the Dial-A-Treat to be a little more difficult to find in stores depending on where you are at.
My Final Thoughts
I would love to say that these freeze-dried treats are the perfect side food for your betta, but I can’t. The ingredients are great, and the food isn’t that bad on pricing, but the reality is that my betta doesn’t like it. If he would eat them more readily then I would give this food a positive review. With that said, I still try to feed him them from time to time as supplemental food but haven’t had much luck.
Clearly, some enjoy the food and have had success with it. Maybe Balky is the anomaly? If you want to take the chance that your betta may like it or you just want the spoon, then I would say go for it.
Where to Purchase Zoo Med Betta Pellets
Thanks for reading!
If you believe this food is something you would like to try, feel free to use the link below to purchase some for yourself.
I am on a mission to build a definitive list of fish food reviews I have personally tried. Be sure to check out my “Master List” of reviews here!