Betta Spitting Out Food?

Hello, I am pretty new here. I just get a betta from Petsmart about 2 weeks ago, he is a blue/turquoise twintail halfmoon named Boba. My tank is on the small side at 2.5 gallons, so sorry about that, I didn't realize that it was the bare minimum until I came across this forum. The tank has a filter and I added a moss ball, and I do a 50% water change once a week. Boba also has a rock cave and plants for him to take naps in. I feed him twice a day, at the same time every day. I've been feeding him 2 Aqueon BettaFood pellets each time. I noticed that most, if not all, of the pellets just ended up at the bottom with the gravel, and don't get eaten. I would see Boba sorta attack the pellet but then spit it out, or just ignore it entirely. I read some of the care tips on this forum and figured that maybe the pellets were too big for Boba to eat, so I started breaking them into smaller pieces with a toothpick. Boba seemed to eat since I started doing this, but this morning I saw him attack the pellet pieces and spit them out again. But Boba is still swimming around a lot, he isn't lethargic or anything. Are the pellets still too big, does Boba just not like the pellets, is he going to eat them later, am I just massively overfeeding him, or all of the above????

 

I've had this happen to me before with a betta that was just a picky eater... I would try either soaking the pellets or feeding some other form of food- sometimes bettas that won't take pellets will take freeze dried or flake food, but frozen is definitely healthier even though it takes a little more work to feed.

 

Dont need to worry, if he is attacking the pellets, it means he shows interest in it.

 

My halfmoon plakat boy refuses pellets, small, soaked, it doesn't matter. I keep varied foods to feed him and my other three along with the pellets. I heavily recommended Fluval Bug Bites, they're small enough and have what I think is good list of ingredients. There is also a flake variety too.

 

He’s hungry for sure. Try some frozen brine shrimp. It’s a food type most of the fish just loooove. I second fluval bug bites, too.

 

It's probably too big. I feed my betta hikari micro pellets and frozen bloodworms. Bettas can eat frozen bloodworms, frozen baby brine shrimp and adult brine shrimp, such as worms, daphnia, bloodworms, brine shrimp, mosquito larvae and other fish. In captivity, a Betta's diet needs to be high in protein, meaning they need plenty of meat.

 

If size is an issue bug bites granules should be plenty small. They make most pellets look huge in comparison. Who knows why bettas get picky. The good side is there are several options out there to try.

 

Love his name

First I recommend you soak his pellets for just a couple minutes before feeding. It softens them up a bit.
My betta also had the same problem, did not eat in his first few days, spitting out pellets soaked or not. I went outside and collected mosquito larvae from water pooling in my plant pots, he loved them and they are a super nutritious live food. He ate those when he wouldn't eat the pellets. Once I was sure he was eating again, I reintroduced pellets and he eats those too now. This is a free and easy option, you can also get frozen foods from stores if he really doesn't eat for several days.

This might be unrelated, but you may also want to switch to a different food - look at the ingredients on the Aqueon container, you'll see ingredients number 2, 3, 5, and 6 down the line are all plant product fillers. Not good for insectivore carnivorous fish. Also replace any fish food after 6 months, they lose their vitamin content after opening

 

Thanks everyone!! I already have some bloodworms that I've been giving Boba once a week so I'll feed him more of those and try soaking the pellets, and I'll get the bug bites when I have time to go to the store again!