My betta has swim bladder disease and I can't get him to eat the peas I've put in the tank for him.?

Question

I cut them up, but they fall to the bottom of the tank, so I tried putting some in front of him and he won't eat. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Well, does he have swim bladder disease, or does he have impaction/constipation?
If he has swim bladder, he'll be trying to swim, but just not able to control himself. If this is the case, peas will not help, and he will likely die.

If he's constipated, then peas will help, but only if he eats it. Don't feed him for 2 days. Then offer him one or two small pieces of shelled pea, twice a day, for the next 3 days. Remove anything he doesn't eat. Then he can fast for 2 more days. And THEN you can start feeding him like you normally would (but don't overfeed).

Most betta problems are caused by poor water conditions. A bowl / cup / vase is just not sufficient room for your betta. The best thing for him would be a nice, 3-5 gallon tank with heat and filtration. If you cannot do this, at least try to keep him warm (placing him in a warmer room, putting him near a lamp - in the wild their water is 80F) and keep him tank clean. Use a turkey baster and every day, suck out 1/2 the water and any uneaten food / poop, and replace with fresh water. It'll take all of 3minutes, and it'll make a huge difference.

Answer 2

If he isn't eating, you need to call the vet and do the following until the cause of his illness is determined. Try putting him in a tank on his own(if he isn't already) then make sure the water is fairly shallow but still deep enough for him to swim. shallow water cause a bit of releif for the fish. Add at least one teaspoon of SEA SALT from the store for each gallon of water he is in. After a week or two you should be able to return him to deeper water. The boiled peas should have no skins othem either.

Answer 3

Generally with peas you want to cook up one then remove the outer peel. You should wait a day or 2 before trying the pea. Just keep in mind swim bladder disorder can be caused by many things. Are you keeping his water clean? Are you keeping him in a temp of 75-85F?

Answer 4

Um... this is just a part of my idea, it might work or not at all. If you and your goldfish are pretty close, in the means of the goldfish knows that your hand is no harm, maybe you can hand-feed it. I also heard that putting the little fella in shallow water (only as deep as its body) could help. Good luck ;) P.S. I hope your fish heals soon, this disease is kinda hard to cure, one of my beloved fish, a green discus died from this disease too, poor thing :(

Answer 5

The fish will not eat until healthy. You can't force it, and putting food in the water only leads to waste that compounds the problem. Don't worry too much. Fish can survive a few days without food.

Answer 6

Try giving him regular betta food. It's only a couple of bucks at Wal-mart and the pellets last forever. Plus they float on the top of the water better giving them a chance to top-feed.

By the way...change the water a little more often.

Answer 7

Why dont you make a beer battered betta and eat it with the peas

Answer 8

hold them with tweezers right inside the water and try to let go when they snap at them. the water level. some bettas don't go for them right away. i have one that LOVES them and others that aren't that crazy for them. you can also try epsom salt baths -- there are instructions on the internet -- just google betta and epsom salt.

Answer 9

I don't think your supposed feed your betta peas. Just buy some kind of normal fish food.

Answer 10

i've never heard of give peas to a fish... but i'll play along if this is really what needs to be done.

are you giving cooked or frozen? try the opposite of what you're giving it. also try smooshing them up so that its little tiny peices.

ok, i'm out of ideas.

peas to a fish... thats just odd.