How long should it take for an emaciated betta to gain weight?

I have recently come to own a neglected betta. He is VERY skinny; the owners I think were feeding him once a week, 6 pellets each time. He spent the first 3 days laying on the bottom of the tank, probably didn't have any strength, poor guy. Now he's swimming around like normal and acting how he should be, voraciously eating and behaving like a normal betta, which is awesome! I've definitely seen some progress this week. I've been feeding him frozen brine shrimp until he has a full belly with a few drops of vitachem and some garlic guard, twice a day every day. About how long should it take for him to gain weight and look like a normal betta again? When should I be concerned about internal parasites?

 

I have helped emaciated bettas get to look “normal” within about a month. It takes a while for muscle mass to build and for their bodies to fully recover. Depending on how emaciated your betta is, I’d say about a month will get him healthy to the point where he can act like a normal fish and swim around without getting tired. I'm not sure about internal parasites though

 

I have helped emaciated bettas get to look “normal” within about a month. It takes a while for muscle mass to build and for their bodies to fully recover. Depending on how emaciated your betta is, I’d say about a month will get him healthy to the point where he can act like a normal fish and swim around without getting tired. I'm not sure about internal parasites though

Thank you for the time frame! I'll keep up my feeding like I am and see how he is in a month. Any other tips for fattening him up a bit?

 

I haven't delt with any emaciated fish but I think you have a good feeding schedule and would stick to it and be consistent and as he becomes more active cut the feeding down a tiny bit at a time to once a day. Overfeeding will cause bloat and other issues. That's great you saved him but don't bring on other issues. I personally feed all my fish once a day.

 

Hello I bought a female betta fish about 1 year ago at Petsmart, she was very skinny and shy. I fed my female betta fish for about a year now alternately on brine shrimp and flakes. And she is very active and healthy. I just fed her once a day late afternoon when I get home from work.

 

I think feeding pellets/flakes every other day, switching with frozen or live foods will get your betta fattened up pretty quickly. That diet seemed to help with mine and it adds variety so they don’t get bored of eating the same thing