On Sunday, 3/26/06, I bought a betta. I was very excited because my last betta (Dick) lived for 1 1/2 years. When I would feed him he would get excited--he even would stick his head out of the water and take a pellet off my finger.
This new betta will not eat. I have bought him the bio-gold pellets, dried blood worms and live black worms and he will not eat.
However, he swims around the glass bowl and is making a bubble nest.(Or at least he is making bubbles around the rim of the bowl.) He also occasionally flares his gills.
He is a vibrant aqua colour with burgundy and blue on the fins.
I have purchased a new tank for him, but I am afraid to transfer him into it.
When I went to the pet store for the live worms this past Friday, I was told that is what they fed him, so he would eat.
Well, he has not.
He doesn't seem to have ich, or anything like that. He is just not eating.
Can anyone help??

Thank you so much.
Angela

How big is his current tank and is the new one bigger? If the new one is bigger I'd say go ahead and move him, it might lift his spirits.
I discovered with my mom's and my daughter's bettas that they liked to have bubbles to play in, even though most of the literature says the opposite.
Blowing bubbles is a good sign, maybe try some tropical flake food?
Here is a link to a list of what some of our members feed their bettas.
http://tropicalfishchat.net/index.php?showtopic=7006
Hope this helps!

Thank you so much. I am going to transfer him tonite, and see what happens.

No problem, we are here to help!

And :wel: to TFC!!

If dtroup's advise does not work, try raising the temperature in the betta's tank (If you don't have a heater, use hot water). Doing this should speed up the betta's metabolism and make him want to eat :)

i don't know much of anything about bettas but sometimes with my cichlids i notice that for the first week or so they will either refuse to eat or will not eat much at all. maybe your betta just needs some time to adjust to it's new home?

I'm new here, so I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by posting in this thread, but I do have quite a few bettas and know a little bit about them.

It isn't unusual for a betta not to eat for several days to several weeks when relocating, and usually they won't eat any type of flake food. Keep offering a pellet or two and any live or frozen foods you may have and eventually he should eat.

Changing him to a larger tank may also make him wait a little longer before he accepts food, just because he needs time to get used to his new surroundings.

Please DO NOT add hot water into his tank. Bettas are very sensitive to fluctuations in temperature. The most they can tolerate without going into shock is 2 degrees at a time and 4 degrees change can mean instant death for them. If you need to raise the temperature, do it very slowly, only a degree or two every hour or so. But they do like warmer temperatures. I keep my tanks all around 78 to 80 degrees.

Good luck.

Thank you all so much.
At this point, I have put him into a new. larger tank, and he still hasn't eaten.
I have tried dried blood worms, and live black worms, as well as bio-gold pellets.

I will be patient, and hope for the best.

Again, thank you for your help.

Angela

Dont worry, we have tough feet! :laugh:
We welcome good advice from all who are willing to post! Any experience and help is welcome. We all come from different countries, backgrounds and schools of fishkeeping experience so feel free to answer or ask any questions that come up! jay

This works for me....

I always have a heater in my bettas tanks to keep the temp around 78

when i first get a betta and he wont eat I turn off his tank lights and cover the tank with a towel and leave him for 4 days... (checking to make sure he's alive)

i wont put any food into his tank and ill let him get used to his new environment and not worry about the soggy food that you tried to get him to eat fouling his water :P


This works a majority of the time.... soooo :) maybe try this as well as some other methods mentioned above.. other than adding hot water :).. i know it works for some other fish... but bettas like mentioned before.. are sensitive...

:thanks:

I had a betta that didn't eat for 2 weeks after I got him...or at least I thought he didn't. :)

Has he started eating yet?