mlinden84

I haven't been able to get my betta to eat. At first I had him in a 2 gallon tank w/ no filter (horrible I know...now I know better!) He ate like a pig, anything and everything, never a feeding problem.
I thought he needed more swimming room so I went out and bought him a 10 gallon tank (it came with a small whisper 5-15 HOB filter) I thought he would be happier but he doesn't seem to be. And.... I can no longer get him to eat. It seems like the pellets don't sit on the water surface anymore, and he doesn't try to chase them as they are falling. He looks ok, but I'm worried about him. Usually every few days I can get him to eat 1 pellet, but he used to eat more than five pellets a day! I've tried different types of food as well as different brands...
If anyone has any ideas, i'm sure "Betta" would appreciate it! (as would I!)

capekate

Hello.. sorry to hear your betta isnt too happy. How long since he has been in his new home? If he was just moved there within the day or two he may be still trying to get used to his new home and may be alittle nervous. Does your HOB have a tab that you can lower the outflow speed? During feeding you can turn it down so that the pellets dont get blown to the bottom. It just may be that he is not used to his new home yet and ten gals may seem overwhelming to him since he was used to being in a 2g tank?
good luck with your guy.. and hopefully he will be eating again soon! ~ kate

mlinden84

He's been in it for 3 weeks (and it was cycled when i put him in ammonia and nitrite 0, nitrates at 7, temp @ 80, pH 7.6 ). There is nothing to turn down on the filter, I've even tried shutting it off, but it didn't seem to matter. I've tried water changes, and check the levels every 2 days to make sure they are fine (which they are). I'm off to the LFS to pick out my cichlids for my 55 gallon, maybe i'll try yet another brand of food. who'd have ever thought "Betta" (my 2 year old daughter named him) would be more difficult than all my other fish combined! LoL even after all of this I'm thinking about getting out my other 20 gallon and dividing it so I can rescue 2 more = ) I'm running out of places to put tanks though!

capekate

Well it sounds like your doing everything right for your betta and after three weeks he should be used to his new home. I went through a few different foods for my bettas from time to time. Seems that one they like one day, the next they get tired of it and want a variety. Ive gone thru a lot of different betta foods myself. They seem to like the HBH Betta bites right now and as they are much smaller pellets, more like tiny beads, they seem to like that better than the larger pellets.
Have fun at the LFS picking out cichlids!!

0morrokh

Have you tried Hikari Betta Bio Gold pellets? Those are one of the best types of betta food and most Bettas seem to like them. If he has decided not to like pellets, you could try freeze dried stuff. Most Bettas love bloodworms. You could also try daphnia if he won't eat bloodworms.

It could be that something that changed when he was moved caused him to become upset or depressed. Is his tank in a different room? Is he getting less attention than when he was in his old tank? Did you put the decorations from his 2gal into the 10gal?

Oh, I just thought of another theory. When you first moved him, he was not quite used to his new surroundings so he wouldn't eat. Then you switched foods to see if he would eat something else, but most Bettas don't like a change in food and may not eat anything besides what they are used to. Have you tried going back to the food you were initially feeding him?

mlinden84

You might be on to something w/ the room change thing... When he was in the 2 gallon he was at my computer desk, where I sit at least 7 hours a day working online or doing homework. The 10 gallon didn't fit on my desk so I moved it into my bedroom. I think I may try to get my 20 gallon moved into my room this week and try putting Betta and the 10 gallon back out in the living room where he can get a little more human interaction, maybe that's what all of this is about. Thanks for the insight, I definately never thought of that!

COBettaCouple

they are amazingly dependent on their interaction with us after getting used to it. when we were out most of a weekend at a betta show, one of our females (our smartest one) gave us a major pout for days and played sick fishie for almost a week and refused to eat anything except bloodworms. then when we started to give her extra attention, all was forgiven and she was her usual self.

moving him to where he gets more interaction would be great. also for foods: the hikari freeze-dried daphnia, thawed & peeled frozen peas (torn into small pieces) and frozen thawed bloodworms (thawed in a container of room temp tank water and stored in the fridge for up to a week) are huge favorites of even our finicky betta fish.

mlinden84

Last night I sat in my room with Betta and I actually got him to eat 3 bites! I'm still looking for something to put the 10 gallon on out in the living room. Or I could divide my 20 gallon and put him in there and swap fish...anyone have experience with dividing a tank? Won't one side have too much filtration/water movement than the other?

capekate

I have two male bettas in a divided 10g tank. Your right, one side does have the HOB filter flow but I put in a air wand on the other side so that they both have areation going. I have a flow gage on the filter, so most times I keep it at low, other times I turn it on high to do a good filteration. My guy doesnt seem to mind and finds room to swim away from the outflow. If you divide your 20 gal tank, there will be plenty of room for one of your guys to get out of the way of the outflow.
Glad to see your lil guy is eating again!

mlinden84

Right now I've got a 12 inch air stone in the 20 gallon (which I already have a divider for but I've never used it) I think it might be easier to just transfer Betta into the 20 gallon and put the guppies in the 10 gallon rather than move tanks to different rooms. I've read cory cats do ok with bettas? anyone have experience with that? i've got a pair of panda corys and i might just leave them in the 20, maybe get a few more since the tank will be divided. Also, is it better to get a male betta or female? (i definately don't plan on breeding! i went through that with the guppies and never again!) thanks for your help!

COBettaCouple

glad to hear that he ate.. corys and bettas go fine together, just watch for your betta eating up the corys food. i like both male and female bettas, but find the females to be a little smarter and full of character and easier to keep healthy.

mlinden84

thanks for the advice! what about otos? Can they stay in with the betta or should I move them into the 10 gallon with the guppys?
Also, how do you tell if they are male or female bettas? i was looking at them yesterday at the fish store and honestly couldn't tell them apart (Betta is my first betta) whats the difference between crowntail and the regular ones (becides price) sorry for all the questions, but I wanna make sure I do everything/get everything right!

COBettaCouple

otos do well with bettas too. in the typical pet store bettas, the males tend to be a little bigger and have much more fins. The females also have a little white dot on their underside (right behind the 2 small fins). crowntails have a sort of 'crown' edge to their tail fins.. if you look at our tanks page, angel, sweetie and kairi are crowntails and mickey is a combtail (which is similiar to a crowntail but as you see on mickey the tail fin is like a comb because the ribs are connected further down.

mlinden84

thanks! much more helpful than the pet store employees! I may have changed my mind (again) I might leave my guppies in the 20 gallon and just use the divider and put Betta in the other side, then leave my 10 gallon for a quarenteen/sick tank instead of my 2 gallon? But I really would like to rescue another betta. I wish I just had the room for a wall full of tanks so I could have all the fish I wanted... = )

COBettaCouple

Welcome to the Betta Bug and MTS. we have several quarantine tanks that aren't q.tanks now but permanent betta homes.

mlinden84

So I tried feeding Betta some peas, i swear it's like feeding a kid veggies! He turned up his little nose and swam away. He wouldn't come near the front of the tank until i put in his regular food! But my real question is, can other fish eat peas, or just bettas? Will it be ok to feed my Cichlids, Guppies, Platy, Cory Cats and Otos the peas too? Thanks!

0morrokh

Yup. Peas are great for fish. All of your fish except maybe the Cories should eat them. I'm surprised your Betta didn't like them.

COBettaCouple

yea, it's unusual for a betta to not like peas.. some don't and you might have a non-pea eater, but even our wild bettas go nuts for them. this was a pellet-sized piece from a frozen pea, thawed & peeled? Our platies love peas too.