He Still Won't Eat!

[Rediahs]

Well I picked up a pretty CT from my LPS on Saturday. I was so excited to get back into bettas, my last one died about a year ago and I didn't really want another at the time, but now I am really excited about it again.

The thing is he still won't eat. I'm using just regular betta food, little pellets leftover from before, now it's been 5 days and still won't eat it. He usually bites it, seems to chew on it for a bit, but then he spits it back out. I still keep trying to feed him, twice every day (and I remove it afterwards when he won't eat... so as not to dirty the water.)

I remember my old bettas a few years ago doing that for a couple days after I bought them but for 5 days? I'm getting worried for him.. he's had nothing to eat for almost a week.

Do I have to buy him bloodworms because he's a picky fish? I used to have frozen bloodworms... but I don't know where I would get them again. My LPS is too small to have frozen bloodworms, they'd probably have freeze-dried but I heard those cause internal problems....

What do I do?

 

[saltynay]

Try some live food and some fresh vege's

 

[wilsonnw8]

Try live food or fresh frozen blood worm, if he likes that then soak his pellets in bloodworm juice and give that a go.
It may be that his pellet food is old and so doesnt smell as good bettas can tell what a food is before they eat it, so try and get him some new hikari betta bio gold.

 

[saltynay]

My betta eats every colour of my tetra pro food except the pink ones unless I have starved him for a couple of days he is that selective . I would feed him live for a week then starve for 2-3 days then give him the food dipped in live food juice then progress from there on....

 

[Just_Another_One]

I've found the floating betta pellets are too hard for them to properly eat. Both my bettas cant eat them unless I soften them up for 5 mins or so then feed them. They try to eat them but end up spitting them out untill I soften them for them.

The fact that he put them in his mouth shows that he IS interested and he might have trouble chewing them up so he spits them out.

 

[willquinn]

I had the same problem with my betta about a week ago. It took him over a week to eat. Eventually I tried a cooked pea, skinned and chopped up into tiny pieces. He hasn't stopped eating since. It must have taken the pea to kick start his metabolism again. Now he eats all food going except the yellow flakes in the fish food, he spits them out!

 

[lilfishie]

i'd give him a few more days then if he is still not eating, try bloodworm or something, my 1st boy wouldn't eat for 2 weeks, then he didn't stop

try soaking the pellets before hand, i had one betta that i had to cut my pellets down for because they were too big for him

 

[Rediahs]

Well, thanks guys.... I went to a different fish store today and bought some hikari pellets and some frozen bloodworms.

He seems more interested in the hikari pellets than the old pellets.... but still, he just nomnomnoms on it for a little while then spits it out again. And the bloodworms he actually flares at them and doesn't even try eating them.... it's kind of funny to watch... I put a bloodworm in the water and he just started flaring like crazy at it, circling it, but wouldn't touch it.

Frozen bloodworms. Not freeze dried. In case anyone gets confused. I remember my old bettas used to go WILD for bloodworms... sadly this one doesn't seem to, or not yet at least.

As a side note, the place I went was a Big Al's.... I just HAD to peruse the bettas while I was there, and it was shocking at least two dead bettas, half the jars were so cloudy you could barely see the betta, and almost all of them were limp and looked almost dead. One that seemed to be a plakat which would have been very pretty otherwise..... was upsidedown......

UGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

 

[wilsonnw8]

there is a place i dont buy from that imports wonderful bettas puts them in cups and if people dont buy them in 2 weeks they stop doing water changes, you see the unwanted "unchosen " few slowly dying in their tubs when they looks so beautiful just a week before its so sad

 

[electric yellow]

Are you feeding him to much? Maybe he is eating his quota then spitting the excess out? My boys dont get betta flakes anymore. I had them on them initially then took them off because they got a taste of my cichlid food and never went back.

 

[Rediahs]

Are you feeding him to much? Maybe he is eating his quota then spitting the excess out? My boys dont get betta flakes anymore. I had them on them initially then took them off because they got a taste of my cichlid food and never went back.

No, he hadn't eaten anything whatsoever. I would put one pellet in and try to get him to eat it, then when he didn't eat it I'd take it out. No c hance of him eating anything.

However, I just got him to eat a pellet!!!