got a new male betta about 6 days ago. 3 gal tank with heater and filter. we had the tank up and running for a couple of days before we got him. checked all the levels are they are in the norm. he hasn't eaten anything we've put in his tank for him. we've tried all the foods we use for our other bettas and he just isn't impressed with it or something. we've tried pellets, dried blood worms and even went and tried flakes. his color is fine. his fins are in good shape. he doesn't have a bloated tummy. he isn't clamped up. I don't see any 'disease' on him. he isn't 'scratching' against anything like he has an internal 'disease' going on. he hovers around the top of the tank most of the time but is alert & 'flares' up when check him out. kinda at a loss of how to help him. tomorrow im taking everything out of the tank and doing 100% water change to see if that helps or not. anyone else have this problem before and want to share advice, itd be greatly appreciated.
Betta Not Eating
- Thread starter dodgegmc
- Start date
The December FOTM Contest Poll is open!
🏆 Click to vote! 🏆
Blondielovesfish
Kia Ora
Okay only thing: pretty much never do a 100% water change!
And when you said the levels are in the norm, what levels have you tested? And also is the tank cycled?
And when you said the levels are in the norm, what levels have you tested? And also is the tank cycled?
100% water changes are perfectly fine and actually recommended on a tank of this size since it is not cycled. (OP stated that the tank had only been up and running for a couple of days prior to adding the fish)
As for feeding, I recommend a steady diet of 2 or 3 different types of pellets and with some frozen "treats" once or twice a week. Dried treats like freeze dried bloodworms or brine shrimp and flake food are not really a good food for bettas since they tend to promote bloating issues in bettas.
New fish sometimes will take a while to eat when first brought home. It is not uncommon to have one take a week or so before eating and will not harm the betta. Just keep offering him a good variety and keeping his tank clean. He will eventually eat something. Just be patient and don't worry unless he starts acting like there is something else wrong with him.
As for feeding, I recommend a steady diet of 2 or 3 different types of pellets and with some frozen "treats" once or twice a week. Dried treats like freeze dried bloodworms or brine shrimp and flake food are not really a good food for bettas since they tend to promote bloating issues in bettas.
New fish sometimes will take a while to eat when first brought home. It is not uncommon to have one take a week or so before eating and will not harm the betta. Just keep offering him a good variety and keeping his tank clean. He will eventually eat something. Just be patient and don't worry unless he starts acting like there is something else wrong with him.
Wildbetta said:
I agree with Wildbetta, and do not worry unduly unless his behaviour changes, as some of my boys took their time to eat. If you can get some live white Mosquito Larvae that would probably work, but then you really need to get him onto prepared foods so he is not dependent on live foods. Stay away from the dried foods as per Wildbettas recommendation.
New to keeping bettas, so hope someone's still watching this thread.
My betta is partially sighted and only seems to see big things - he ate a platy pellet this morning which was about 10 times bigger than his own pellets - the platy had to resort to eating the betta pellets! lol
Apart from the live foods which is obviously not a good idea all the time from what you've said are there any big-sized betta foods on the market? How about frozen blood-worms? I know they need a protein-rich food to emulate eating insects, but would the platy pellet (actually they are oranda gold pellets by Hikari with a protein content of around 48%) be sufficiently high in protein?
I'll do a search to see if I can find any info on how much proetin a betta needs for good health.
My betta is partially sighted and only seems to see big things - he ate a platy pellet this morning which was about 10 times bigger than his own pellets - the platy had to resort to eating the betta pellets! lol
Apart from the live foods which is obviously not a good idea all the time from what you've said are there any big-sized betta foods on the market? How about frozen blood-worms? I know they need a protein-rich food to emulate eating insects, but would the platy pellet (actually they are oranda gold pellets by Hikari with a protein content of around 48%) be sufficiently high in protein?
I'll do a search to see if I can find any info on how much proetin a betta needs for good health.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
386 -
206 -
201 -
192 -
186 -
180 -
157 -
151 -
142 -
110 -
99 -
96 -
85 -
82 -
78