Betta fish not eating?

Question

i have a male fullgrown crowntail betta he wont eat anymore i only had for a week could he be dieing i checked after a while too see if any food is gone and i never had a problem like this with my past betta's?

Answer 1

Betta fish are picky eaters. They are also prone to constipation... i'm not kidding! But, there are many things that could contribute to your fish not eating.
1. Environment: despite popular belief, betta do best in a tank with a min of 5 gallons. They like there water temp to be between 80 and 82. The tank needs to have both a filter and a heater. An air pump set very low (just a few bubbles) is also a good idea, b/c warmer water doesn't hold as much oxygen. This is quite a contrast to the little fish bowl that bettas are usually kept in. They also need to have acsess to the surface of the tank. That means, that the betta bowls with the plants stuck in them are a BAD idea. Betta's breath both from the water AND from the surface, if they cannont easily reach the surface, or if the surface isn't still enough, the fish can literally drown.

All of those factors could lead to your fish not eating.

if it isn't environment, it could be
2. Diet: Bettas don't do well with a straight diet of fish flakes. they need betta food. They also do well with freeze dried blood worms. If your betta is picky, he may just not like the food you are feeding him

3: Ilness. If your betta has freyed fins, looks swollen or fatter than he should, or has little white spots on him, he could be sick and that would be why he isn't eating.

4: Water Quality: if the tank isn't filtered and cycled (google Nitrogen Cycle.. if you don't know what cycled means) then your fish could be suffering from ammonia and or nitrite poisoning.


Without knowing more about your fish, it is impossible to tell you why he's not eating, if yo post another question with more detail, maybe I could help a little more.

I hope that this all at least get's you headed in the right direction!
good luck!

Answer 2

Just as a reply to Blue_beluga... Freeing the fish is not possible unless she's willing to take a trip all the way to the rice patties of Taiwan to let it free in it's native waters. Anywhere else and it will die >.>; And for the betta not eating, as another person said, there's a lot of reasons. His answer is the best and I would have stated the same. But I will give you this, a very VERY helpful betta resource: www.BettaTalk.com. Good luck!

Answer 3

change the water no chlorine The fish is more likely experiencing a major ph change for the fish. check ph

Answer 4

basically your fish is a fish and has grown weary from being in a tiny tank.
everything in his nature is saying "damn, i should be some where bigger, i can feel it"

my advice is take him to a river of sea and let him live. free him,and do not keep him for you selfish reasons (however lonely you are, it's always better to fill your soul with human freinds rather than fish)

good luck to you, fishy!!!

Answer 5

Try giving him small peices of raw meat. My betta loved it.