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Old February 17th, 2009, 02:43 AM
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Magicwildwolf69 Magicwildwolf69 is offline
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fussy betta

i got a beta a few days ago. he's in a tank on his own and seems happy swimming and everything but i can't seem to find a food he likes i tried my regular flakes and then got some betta food from walmart. he seems to take it in his mouth then spits it out. it just floats on the top of the water and he shows no interest in it.

any suggestions?
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Old February 17th, 2009, 01:36 PM
JennieV JennieV is offline
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Magic, congrats on your new baby, a couple of questions:
Is this your first betta? how long has it been since you got him? does he just float or does he actually swim? if he just floats - he may not be very well healthwise. Do you have the tank set up with a filter or just one of those bowls? Sometimes it makes a difference, mine for example needed me to shut off the filter if I wanted him to eat...lol
If its just a bowl - make sure you do regular water changes.

Also, do you have tap water conditioner? its a bottle of liquid that you can add to the tank to remove chlorine and other things, and make it a better qualty for him. It is usually sold at most pet sections at Walmart and such.. its a small white bottle with blueish sticker on it, called Tap water conditioner. You could also use somehting called Stress-relief, it has aloe in it and is used for stressed or sickiesh fish, to treat wounds or damaged fins. On that note, make sure to look over him and see if anything looks weird to you

Also, the flakes: what kind? Gold fish? may not like the taste, and those awful pellets they sell for the bettas - mine never ate any , I still have the whole container.

What I found worked for me is I would treat my betta to some frozen foods, like blood worms or brine shrimp, mind you, they only eat a tiny bit! So after getting him set, I would treat him to a couple of blood worms. Thats it for the day!

I hope this gets better for you, but I know that when fish is refusing to eat there is usually a serious reason behind it. Good luck and let me know!
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Old February 20th, 2009, 12:26 AM
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Magicwildwolf69 Magicwildwolf69 is offline
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hey thanks for the answer

he's not my first beta just a first one in a long time. he's in just a bowl i was told before of changing water once a month is that enough or should i do it more often then that like every two weeks or so? it was tropical flakes i feed my other fish i figured he might like them but he didn't and someone metioned i should try the beta food and he didn't like them either so i had some dried blood worms and feed them to him last night and he ate them right up. is that something good to feed him on a daily bases? plus he's swimming around his color is bright and he looks heathly. i just didn't want him to go to long without eatting.
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Old February 20th, 2009, 01:32 PM
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want4rain want4rain is offline
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im on wii...

bowl? daily 50% for 1 month. turkey baster all poo and uneaten food daily forever. after 1st month, 50% every week at least. do not SCRUB bowl. u need to cultivate good bacteria to process waste.

if he isnt eating, do those water changes and still offer food daily. pellets are good. its what store and breeder fed. betta not eating because of poor water quzlity.
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Old February 21st, 2009, 09:56 AM
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Sujaki Sujaki is offline
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What brand was it? As far as I know, HBH bites and Hikari Beta biogold are the best ones.
Its possible he doesn't like the taste or that its too big or too hard for him... You should try getting Hikari Fancy Guppy pellets, or Hikari Micro pellets. They're still high in protein for a betta, and are much softer and smaller.
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Old February 22nd, 2009, 09:55 AM
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clm clm is offline
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Bettas love freeze dried or frozen blood worms. Frozen usually work best, I would definately give those a try.

Cindy
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Old February 22nd, 2009, 11:55 AM
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MyBirdIsEvil MyBirdIsEvil is offline
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I never had any trouble getting bettas to eat the Hikari betta pellets. I've never tried feeding the off brands (afterall, bettas eat so little, why go cheap?), but I could see them not liking it since I've had fish that just refuse to eat off brand or cheap foods.
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