FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

OCD-Me got to thinking about the three primary "foods" given to CPs other than live bugs...betta pellets, bloodworms, and Maxsea. It seems that the BettaMin pellets have a lot of grains in them and lots of added vitamins and what-not, with a couple of actual "meat" ingredients. Bloodworms are stated as being a single ingredient...mosquito larvae. And, lastly, Maxsea appears to have a lot of natural ingredients along with some chemical components...I'm no chemist or biologist, but looking up some of the salts in Maxsea I find them painted as being very favorable in feeding plants.

To me, without having my own anecdotal experience, it seems that BettaMin tablets are the least desired "food", but lots of people use them and report good things. Looking at FDBW versus Maxsea both look pretty good. The FDBW is a natural, insect-based food while the Maxsea seems to have be carefully tailored for promoting plant growth and even leans towards the hydroponics side of things. I know nothing about hydroponics but the plants we're interested in do mostly grow in some soggy conditions.

It seems (to me) either the FDBW or Maxsea is the way to go. Or, as some have done, possibly a mix of the two...soaking/re-hydrating the FDBW in Maxsea.

Mostly just having a conversation with OCD-Me here, but would be interested in anybody's else's thoughts, too!

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Tetra BettaMin small pellets ingredients: Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fish Meal, Potato Protein, Corn Starch, Soybean Oil, Corn Gluten, Shrimp Meal, Dried Yeast, Monobasic Calcium Phosphate, Lecithin, Algae Meal, Yeast Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vit. C), Inositol Niacin, A-Tocopherol-Acetate (source of Vit. E), Riboflavin-5-Phosphate (source of Vit. B2), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Stabilized Vit. C), Choline Chloride, D-Calcium Pantothenate, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vit. B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vit. B6), Vitamin A Palmitate (source of Vit. A), Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vit. K), Biotin, Vit. B12 Supplement, Cholecalciferol (source of Vit. D3), Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate. Color includes: Annatto Extract, Beta-Carotene, Canthaxanthin. Ethoxyquin as a preservative.

Tetra Freeze-Dried Bloodworms ingredients: Freeze Dried Mosquito Larvae Only.

Maxsea 16-16-16 ingredients: seaweed powder, blood meal, Urea, Ammonium phosphate, Potassium nitrate, Sulfate of Potash, Sodium molybdate, sodium borate, copper, iron, zinc, and Manganese EDTA

I prefer Tetra BettaMin pellets.

optique wrote: ↑Mon Jan 16, 2023 5:32 pm I prefer Tetra BettaMin pellets.

It's hard to argue with success!

@optique, how do you go about feeding the pellets? I'm really more interested in sundews, followed by pitcher plants. Thanks!

Intheswamp wrote: ↑Mon Jan 16, 2023 7:31 pm @optique, how do you go about feeding the pellets? I'm really more interested in sundews, followed by pitcher plants. Thanks!

I haven't personally done this, but to me this seems like the best way

i smash them add water to make a thick paste and i have a small pipette to apply.

So far it looks like the BettaMin pellets are the "go to" food. I've fed Maxsea using an oiler bottle with a 32-gauge needle and powdered bloodworms made into a moist paste. I applied the small dots of moist bloodworm powder with a toothpick. Going dry sounds interesting. I picked up some pellets the other day at Walmart so I've got a buffet for the plants....just gotta get off my dear-rear and feed'em now! Thanks for the feedback!!!!

I posted a similar question to this but more so regarding FDBW.
I remember seeing another forum member, Jagasian, and reading how he would always have great results with FDBW (using a Venus flytrap).
Since plants are after Nitrogen and Nitrogen is found in amino acids-proteins...wouldn't the food with the highest protein percentage be the best?
This is why I bought Omega FDBW containing 55% protein compared to a different FDBW containing 44% protein.
I will be feeding for the first time tomorrow.

Yes, nitrogen is needed by the plants but they also need other things for them to be healthy. The good thing is that through photosynthesis they can create what they need...the feed we give them gives them the extra boost to grow faster. I've got no dog in this fight. I like using Maxsea being as there is no remaining "dried debris" after the plants consume it. The FDBW and betta pellets are a more natural(?) approach to the feeding...or maybe not. In the end, the plants simply one nutrition and whether the nitrogen and other elements comes from a salt or a worm, they don't care as long as they don't get too much of it. With the Maxsea I don't *think* there is a problem with mold forming...but it will grow algae good if spilled on the soil. Both FDBW and betta pellets can start to mold...and Maxsea can "burn" a leaf if too strong. It's not a perfect, cookie-cutter world, I suppose. But, thanks to the people here on the forum and elsewhere, we've got some good ideas of the size and shape of the cookie-cutters we'll probably use.

How are you planning to do your feeding?

If you're feeding vft's then you'd want a food source that contains chitin since there is some research that they do detect the presence of that chemical and respond more strongly to it. I see "shrimp meal" in the BettaMin pellets so maybe that covers that base, not sure.

Just my $0.02,
davin

Thanks for the post, Davin!!! This is very interesting! It sent me down yet another rabbit trail!!! A very interesting one at that!!!!

Here's the first article that I googled up: The Venus flytrap: From prey to predator
UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG

It looks like freeze-dried bloodworms contain chitin, too.

I'm thinking that drosera may respond to chitin, also. It appears that chitin stimulates a "defensive" response in non-carnivorous plants...creating poisons, bad tastes, etc.,. But, in flytraps it appears the defensive response has been turned 180-degrees into an offensive response...signalling the plant that there's something to "eat" and the digestive juices start flowing.

We see drosera respond to food items, too, and soon lose interest in non-food items. I wonder if the chitin is causing the offensive, "time to eat" response in them, too, just like it does in flytraps.

I just looked on Amazon for the FDBW ingredient and it stated "mosquito larvae" (which I posted in my original post). Elsewhere I'm seeing it listed as midge larvae.

Give OCD-Me an inch, and I'll take a mile!!!

Great post y’all! Very informative.

Follow up question! I’ve always wondered… is there such thing as a CP getting TOO much food? Obviously you don’t want to do too much Maxea, but what about too many insects? For example: a VFT catches flies in every one of its traps, or if you give each leaf a dabble of the Betta food paste?

I was feeding my D. Capensis a CRAZY amount of flies last summer (they just never learned that my house is a death trap), and it didn’t seem to hurt it, but I always tried to leave some remaining leaves without flies. Thoughts?

NineLine wrote: ↑Thu Apr 06, 2023 2:45 am Great post y’all! Very informative.

Follow up question! I’ve always wondered… is there such thing as a CP getting TOO much food? Obviously you don’t want to do too much Maxea, but what about too many insects? For example: a VFT catches flies in every one of its traps, or if you give each leaf a dabble of the Betta food paste?

I was feeding my D. Capensis a CRAZY amount of flies last summer (they just never learned that my house is a death trap), and it didn’t seem to hurt it, but I always tried to leave some remaining leaves without flies. Thoughts?

I have heard people who’s flytraps had all of their traps closed with insects and the only thing that happened is the plants grew faster and stronger.