2 Gallon Tank Day Three and The Betta Won't Eat

I bought a Betta from Petco three days ago...he's on a hunger strike. Offered him freeze dried bloodworms after 8 hours in the tank; he pulled one it and spit it out. The remains went to the bottom. Offered him frozen brine shrimp and freeze dried bloodworms yesterday and today, not interested... He's active and looks good. Seems to ignore the mystery snail. Seems like he's almost always on the move...top to bottom, popping bubble from the aerator. It looked like he might have acknowledged my presence for the first time a few minutes ago...seemed to be staring at me.

• 2.5 gallons
• Undergravel
• Heater
• Cycled
• pH 7.3 (stable)
• Master test kit shows zero ammonia, nitrites, and 10ppm nitrates (for the plants)
• Remineralized RO water
• Plants and snail are thriving

Please let me know if you think this is normal or if there's something I need to do. I don't know how long he can go without food, but the clock is ticking.

 

It's not uncommon for new fish to not eat for a few days, up to a week. He's just getting used to his new environment. The constant swimming is a sign of stress. It's a behaviour known as glass surfing. The tank is also pretty small and bare. If you can I would suggest upgrading his tank to at least a 5 gallon and adding more things for him to hid in/behind. Bettas like tanks where there are plenty of hiding spots for them to use if they want, it helps them feel safe.

If he's still not eating after a week then I would start to worry.

 

Hi welcome to FishLore!
Beautiful betta!

Try soaking the food in Garlic Guard or garlic juice from a jar of minced garlic plain no additives.
It acts as an appetite enhancer.

 

Welcome to Fishlore!
My fish wont eat freeze dried bloodworms either. Try some frozen bloodworms.

 

A good pellet might work - new life spectrum, omega one if you can find it, north fin, hakari bio gold if you can't find any other

And you can soak them in garlic juice to give him an immune boost, too....garlic juice is used for picky eaters.

 

I dropped a couple betta pellets in there and he's interested. They are too big for his mouth, so he grabs them and holds on for a while, but then spits them out. Now they are at the bottom and he's bite, spit out, repeat... Maybe I'll soak these for a while before I give them to hm again.

Seems like he's settling in. But the pH is rising for some reason...went from 7.3 to 7.8 over the last couple days.

 

FluVal Betta Bites works great for young bettas or betta crumbles - basically the same thing but slightly larger.

Hikari Micro pellets are also good for smaller fish/fry as they grow out.My bettas eat it as well on days I switch their food around.

 

Sonic The Betta is now eating pellet very well...he keeps chomping on them until they're soft enough to ingest. He seems to keep an eye on me now...wondering when more pellets will be served. I might try to give him a little brine shrimp to see if he's at all interested. He doesn't like the freeze dried bloodworms.

My daily 5% water changes are going well. The water parameters are identical from one day to the next. I just scoop out a pint glass of water per day and then top it up from pitcher of conditioned/aerated water. This is easy and I think it's better than a larger water change once per week. Advice I was given: don't deep vacuum with the undergravel filter...just leave it alone.