How Long Can A Betta Go Without Eating?

[toomie]

I brought a male betta home on Tuesday. I knew he was sick, probably fin rot, his fins are clamped and dark looking, especially on the tail. He`s not eating and basically stays in one spot, doesn`t do much swimming around. He`s in a small kritter keeper right now until I can get a tank cycled for him. I have treated his water with Maricyn 2. So far doesn`t seem to be helping. I`ve changed his container twice in the last 3 days with the treated water. Any other suggestions for him? I don`t know when he ate last, but he doesn`t seem to be interested at all in the pellets I gave him (spit them out the first day) although I think he might have nibbled on some after they soaked in the water for awhile. I am only giving him 3 or 4 at a time, but they mostly don`t look touched. He`s very thin, too.

 

[azulfire24]

get hiom toa bigger tank even if its not cycled cause the water states in the krintter keeper go bad much faster thatn a bigger tank,,, and make sure he has a heater sized for the tank... bettas need to be 78 to 80 and if hes yoo cold he could be lazy looking

 

[toomie]

Thanks for your reply, azulfire24.....

I am going to get him a bigger container today. A few hours after I posted this topic, he started eating some pellets. By yesterday morning, he was looking very much more alert and I again witnessed him eating some pellets. The first time he waited until they had soaked before he ate them, but this time he ate them as soon as I put them in. I did a water change last night, and fed him again (I gave him 2 pellets in a.m., 2 p.m.) and he gobbled them right up. When I walk into the room he shakes his little head at me and starts swimming around quickly, like he`s actually excited to see me, lol.

I have 5 other bettas in the room with him, I have the heat on and all the other bowls say their temps are between 76 and 80. His container is sitting right next to one of those bowls so I assume his is the same temp.

I am currently cycling 2 tanks, and am working on setting up a third that will be split to house 2 bettas, so that`s why they are all in bowls or kritter keepers. This sick fish is in the smallest one, however, so I will get him a bigger one today.

Also, he seems to sometimes play with his food, like once he grabbed a pellet that I had just dropped in and started banging it against the sides of the container? Did this a few times then ate it. Last night he grabbed one and just swam around with it in his mouth for awhile before he ate it. Should I be concerned, or is he just goofy?

 

[modaz]

yup he's just being goofy. sounds like he was just stressed for that period of time. You can feed him once a day, about 4-6 pellets. They dont need 2 feeds a day as they require time between each feed to digest and doing once a day gives them 24 hours which is good.

 

[pippoodle]

what size tank are you cycling for the other bettas ?
they need filtered , heated tank
at least 3 gallons - many people even say 5 gallons
to be happy

 

[toomie]

I`m doing a 3 gallon and a 5 gallon. The 5 is almost cycled, when I checked last night I had 0 ammonia and nitrite reading of 1.0 (down from a few days ago when the ammonia was spiking). I will start checking for nitrates tonight.

I am planning on splitting a 10 gallon for 2 more of my bettas. Are there kits available for this, or do I just need to do a DIY for the split?

Oh, yes, tanks are heated also. I may have to construct a baffle for my filters, however, as I think they might be a little too powerful.