Female betta doesn't eat?

Question

i bought a female beta a few days ago and she doesn't seem to want to eat. She doesn't seem to like the beta pelets even after i crushed them so that they were small enough for her to eat. i fed her some goldfish flakes. will it harm her? she spit them out again but i don't know if it was just too big or just that she didn't want it. I'm also wondering if i can put her in with my two goldfish. the tank is only a 1g and it has a bubbler. I'm wondering cause i once read that they don't like a bubbler and I'm also wondering if 1g is large enough for 3 fish.

Answer 1

She should start eating soon. Sometimes it takes a fish a few days to settle in to it's new home. I would suggest you leave your fish where it is. 2 goldfish are going to very quickly out grow a 1 gallon tank as it it, so the betta would only make matter worse very quickly.

MM

Answer 2

One gallon might be a hair small for 3 fish, depending on their size. I think the rough rule of thumb is to have approximately 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, so, a 2, 1 inch long fish need 2 gallons. You could put 10 fish in a 10 gallon tank if they were all one inch long. This is conservative of course. A one inch fish will be really light in body mass whereas a five inch long fish might weigh as much as 15 or 20 neon tetras.

The bubbles shouldn't bother the fish. If anything it adds some oxygen to the water.

Your fish may be slightly traumatized from the trip home, and you have no way of knowing what it went through on the way to the pet store.

Here's what I would do, as far as food goes - take a piece of raw beef, or chicken if you have no beef, and rinse it in the sink until there's no more blood coming out of it at all. It will be pinkish white. Tie a piece of thread around it, and hang it into the tank. She'll smell it and will probably approach it and start dashing in for small attacks where she'll pull off a little bit each time. Don't leave the meat in for more than an hour or so or it will pollute the water. Long term, you may need some better food. Try to switch around some - feed her bloodworm flakes, or freeze dried ones, brine shrimp freeze dried or frozen, and other premium fish foods.

Some fish foods are so cheap and nasty that normal healthy fish won't hardly eat them. It's hard to know what a quality fish food is too, so if you want the fish to eat, you need to err on the side of caution and just go with the best you can find.

Good luck
Kevin

Answer 3

I have 3 female bettas in one 3 gallon tank. I always give one fish a gallon or more, but bettas cant much bigger than they are at the pet store whereas, your golfish can. Try getting a bigger tank, make sure that theres lots of plants and a hiding spot for your female betta.

But ANYWAY! My bettas werre the EXACT same way, I fed them Betta bites and they spit it out, BettaMin falkes didn't work either. I found out they really like bloodworms. So they're eating that now. Try that out :]

The betta wont attack the goldfish unless it's a guppy or any long colored finned fish, since it resembles a male/female betta . Just don't put anymore female bettas in the tank, or she'll start getting frisky. Always put bettas in their new home all at the same time so they could establish a hierarchy.

Answer 4

A few of my betas would only eat flakes and the other ones only liked these little crumb things. Betas are picky just keep trying different foods untill you find one they like. :)

Answer 5

NO WAY KID!!!!!!!!! don't put her with the goldfish, she will soooooooooo kill the gold fish. plus try the same food you are using, only with flakes.