Why won't my betta eat anymore?

Question

I bought a betta a couple of weeks ago and he ate every single day until I changed his bowls water after the first week. He has not ate for almost 3 days. He is still very active and swims around but he just won't eat. He grabs the food but spits it out. When I did the water change I added 2 small silk plants and he likes to hang out by one of them. Could he be stressed from the changes??? Should I remove one of the plants?

Answer 1

There are a few possibilities.

1. Your fish could be sick. If this is the case, however, he would be displaying some other signs of illness. Look out for a drop in activity, clamped fins, discolouration or any growths on his finnage or body. However, I don't think this is the problem because if he were sick he would probably stop trying to eat altogether, instead of trying and spitting it out.

2. The water could be too cold. You need to keep your water at a steady temperature in the high 70s, with an aquarium heater. Temperatures that are too cold or temperatures that fluctuate a lot make your betta's metabolism go crazy, which is a possible reason why he's not eating. It's difficult to get a heater into a bowl, so you might want to upgrade his home to a 2 gallon tank.

3. He might not like his food. Have you recently changed his food? If this is the case, he might not like the new food. He might also be bored of his food if you've been feeding him the same thing for a few months now. Bettas love variety in their diet. Spicing up his diet with treats like blood worms, brine shrimp or daphnia will do wonders for his happiness. However, if you don't want to do this, it's also fine. Just leave him for a couple of days without feeding. (Don't worry, bettas can go up to a week without food completely unharmed.) Once he's hungry enough, he'll eat anything you put in his bowl.

You need not remove the plants. Bettas love silk plants to rest on and hang out in when they want their sleep or their privacy. The silk plants actually improve his environment and aren't likely to be stressing him out.

Answer 2

What is the temperature of his water? Bettas are tropical fish that do best in temperatures of 76-86o. While they can survive outside this range, they don't thrive and can become less active and not eat as well. Also, if the bowl you have isn't filtered, the ammonia may be building up - this leads to symptoms of heavy gill movement, loss of appetite, lethargy, splitting fins, and red streaks through the fins and body. There may also be a purplish rather than a res color to the gills.

It could be possible that you're feeding him too much - they only need around 4 pellets twice a day, although alternating pellets with bloodworms or daphnia is a good idea.

Answer 3

Hi

I think warming it up will help. Get his water to 82 degrees fahrenheit. Bettas can't digest if too cool. Give him another day or so to begin eating. If he doesn't have obvious signs of disease then don't use the medicine. It will only stress him further and will not help if he isn't sick with whatever that stuff treats. Keep the water temperature stable and he should begin eating again. If he was healthy until Sunday he can go over a week with no food so don't worry. There is plenty of time to help him.

Answer 4

Don't remove the plants...you actually do not need to feed your Betta everyday. I feed mine every other day. I've had him for a year now. For the first 2 months of having him I NEVER saw him eat anything that I put in his bowl and I just knew that he was going to die. As long as he is still active and doing his regular routine of things I wouldn't worry about him!

Answer 5

He already close to the tip of his lifespan..until eventually of direction yours' as particular as one that i've got study, which stay an entire existence of 7 years. 3 years would desire to be like eighty yrs for human. purely shop the water project stable until eventually at last he's final day. Who knows of, you could fairly be that fortunate individual with an fantastic long-existence Betta! Cheers!

Answer 6

Ditto to everything copperhead had to say. I would only add that if the bowl is unfiltered, you should change all of the water every 2-3 days to help prevent the ammonia build up he mentioned.

MM

Answer 7

as long as ur fish remains active and swimming happily don't worry, be careful when changing water though, u might need to de-chlorinate the water, u didnt say where u live but some cities have more chlorine in their tap water

Answer 8

Contrary to popular belief....fish do NOT need to eat every day.

Do you feed your fish the same type of food? Try feeding freeze dried bloodworms or brine shrimp. Try different pellets or flakes. Try some frozen food too.....

Answer 9

same as copperhead.( he knows a lot about fish)