After just a day on his new diet of TetraMin Tropical flakes, BettaMin Tropical Medley, and the occasional freeze dried blood worm(YUM!) Lil Sano's color is looking more vibrant and he seems so much more happier.!
I hear some bettas can suck in too much water with flakes and therefore, get bloated. They can also get bloated if those FD bloodworms are not soaked in water before feeding. Bettas, as Hallyx mentioned need a higher protein source.
It's good you have multiple foods to feed him though, glad he's looking better. You could slowly implement Omega One and Aqueon pellets into his diet :)
As OldFishLady points out, the swelling of dried food with water in a Betta's stomach is not what causes bloating. Betta ingest very little water with their food. They don't suck it into their stomachs with flakes either.
Bloating results from difficulty in digesting food. It has many causes: quality of food, familiarity with a food, temperature, stress, water quality and more.
Bettas like to chew, you can see their head moving up and down while doing so..I would suggest the better quality pellets, such as New Life Spectrum, but they sink, like a stone..and the Omega oNe, but they micro sink, float for about a second, then down they go.. so I use the Hakari and they float so your fishy dont have to chase, and you don't waste..lol..and you can immediately see what your fishy is taking in..
and less mess on the bottom, they will not see it, and or miss while trying to get it, they ususally try to surface eat, so I would try the Omega one, or the Hakari, they both provide nutrition that bettas need:)
Did not know that Hallyx!! Thanks!!
I feed omega one buffet, they don't sink on me though!
I also feed attison's plus (a member sent me some, I think it's A plus, or A pro), aqueon betta pellets, and very rarely I feed tetramin crumbles.