Betta has become a very picky eater!

My son's Betta after the chaos with the tank, has become a very picky eater. Before all that happened, he was very happy eating his pellets. Now, he won't eat those. Like most people, I went out and kept buying different kinds trying to get him to eat. I've tried 3 different kinds of Betta pellets, flaked food, the flaked food that is granules, freeze dried bloodworms, and now even frozen brine. I've even bought frozen bloodworms, but not tried them yet. My other Betta snarfs everything down like he is starving, but this Betta will just swim behind the food for a moment then swim off. I've even tried soaking his food in garlic with no luck. Most of the time he does not pay any attention to the food.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Do you have access to live food such as tubifex worms? They're fairly cheap and whenever I get a new fish and they're being picky, they can never resist a wriggling worm.

Did you have to move the betta into a new tank? Sometimes they stop eating for up to three weeks after moving.

 

Do you have access to live food such as tubifex worms? They're fairly cheap and whenever I get a new fish and they're being picky, they can never resist a wriggling worm.

Did you have to move the betta into a new tank? Sometimes they stop eating for up to three weeks after moving.

I don't know if I can get tibiflex live, but my lps seems to be willing to work with me on most things.

No, not moved. If you read my book of many posts in "confused on testing", in there explains all the problems with the tank and almost lost the fish. Things have only been stable for a week, and the fish is rebounding well.

I'm just worried that even though things are going better and better each day, that he won't fully rebound unless he eats.

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I just skimmed it over. You weren't kidding about a novel. Bettas mainly eat insects in the wild, many pet stores have wingless fruit flies. I know the petco sells them in a cup found in the reptile section. Those would also work as they fidget on the surface.

 

I'll give that a try. Thanks.

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And if that doesn't work, persistance usually does. If you offer him the same thing diligently and ignore the bratty protest, he'll eat eventually!

I didn't know that Petco sold wingless fruit flies! I'll have to look for those, I'm sure my boys would love those. Thanks for the tip

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I tried the frozen bloodworms with no luck as well. So I couldn't find the fruit flies, so trying something different. I bought a ghost shrimp. I figured if he eats that, at least he ate, and if he don't, at least there is something in there to eat the food he won't. So to me it's a win win idea.

Is my thinking wrong?

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It's worth a try. Do you eat seafood at all? Something he may find irresistible is some minced shrimp. It's easy to shave the tiniest bit off a frozen shrimp and offer it

 

It's worth a try. Do you eat seafood at all? Something he may find irresistible is some minced shrimp. It's easy to shave the tiniest bit off a frozen shrimp and offer it

Lol. Right now I'm getting to the point I'll be slapping the Bettas on a bed of rice from all the stuff I keep buying. lol. Don't normally buy seafood here in the Midwest. Really sucks and get either freezer burned shrimp or gummy. Yuck!

 

LOL take a deep breath and don't do anything rash! You only need a little, perhaps you can get one from someone else or a restaurant or something.

 

Finally got to son's tank. Shrimp 1 Betta 0. It's still alive and doing well. I was really hoping I would not find it and the Betta ate it. On the bright side, the brine and bloodworms in the tank are being gobbled up by the shrimp.

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When I read that score my first thought was, "OMG the shrimp ate the betta!"

 

OMG!!! OMG!!!! I just had to share! He finally ate a pellet! I'm so excited! Oh, the shrimp is still around. The crazy thing swam to the top and grabbed a pellet before the Betta came out of his cave. Crazy shrimp. I've finally got to see the Betta eat though, and now we have only one direction from this point on, and that is a full recovery! I'm so happy and excited!

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(Doing happy dances). He's still eating and now cruising the bottom for more food! He even gave the shrimp the stink eye for having a bloodworm in its mouth and went almost nose to nose with it. I was expecting a fight, but the Betta backed away first. I think the shrimp's days are numbered.

 

Ooh, Betta stinkeye is not to be trifled with

 

Ooh, Betta stinkeye is not to be trifled with

lol Didn't affect the shrimp one bit though. It just stood there eating the bloodworm as if to say "Yeah, and whatcha gonna do about it? I all ready licked it" This shrimp got some guts to go nose to nose with something that could swallow it's head. lol

 

Can I ask a quick question? Can ghost shrimp and Bettas switch personalities?

The reason why I'm asking is, today the Betta got the pellet first, and the shrimp followed him into his cave and went nose to nose with the Betta. Kind of like "Hey that's mine! Spit it out!". The Betta just floated higher and the shrimp eventually came out of the cave, but the shrimp gave the Betta the stink eye.

Can their personalities switch like that?

 

LOL! Nature, red in tooth and...pincers?

 

Nope, no red on it. The Betta is red though. The shrimp is actually a clearish green.

 

Alfred Lord Tennyson