When Should I Expect A New Fish To Eat

HI all. I bought a little Petco betta last night, and we're having a bit of trouble feeding him. I got him into a temporary tank until I have the new one all set up and he's really active today. However, last night I tried feeding him and he ate and then spat out everything I tried to give him. I tried 2 different pellets and freeze dried daphnia. I'm wondering how best to get him eating, do you guys have any suggestions? Should I be soaking the pellets before feeding them?

 

Sometimes a fish will be picky and/or refuse to eat upon arriving at their new homes. When in doubt, go with frozen/thawed brine shrimp. Never owned a betta that wouldn't eat them.

 

Do you have any frozen foods? Almost all bettas love frozen blood worms. I would try him with some blood worms just to get him started. Once he's eating well just feed him blood worms once or twice a week.
Another trick is to soak food in garlic.
It should only take him a couple of days to settle then he'll be begging for food whenever he sees you!

 

Sometimes a fish will be picky and/or refuse to eat upon arriving at their new homes. When in doubt, go with frozen/thawed brine shrimp. Never owned a betta that wouldn't eat them.

I'll definitely give this a try if he's still being a dork about the pellets after a while.

 

what a pretty fella! I have a twintail plakat from petco as well

mine refused to eat the first pellet I got him (new life spectrum). he looooved fluval bug bites and all the frozen food i've given him, though. try the garlic trick.

 

I have yet to meet a betta who won't eat either NLS Betta Pellets or Fluval Bug Bites (get the small ones).

Also remember his tummy is REALLY tiny. Like the size of one eye. So he does NOT need much. If you have the NLS literally 2 pellets is a meal. The Bug bites are tiny so maybe a few more of those.

 

I have yet to meet a betta who won't eat either NLS Betta Pellets or Fluval Bug Bites (get the small ones).

Also remember his tummy is REALLY tiny. Like the size of one eye. So he does NOT need much. If you have the NLS literally 2 pellets is a meal. The Bug bites are tiny so maybe a few more of those.

I'm going to let him get a little hungrier and try the NLS again. He seemed to like it, but I think he had a hard time getting it down so I'll give it a soak first.

 

Argh, on day 5 of the hunger strike I found a store with frozen brine shrimp (everyone seems to have a broken freezer!) I got him to eat some brine shrimp, but he won't even look at pellets. Any suggestions for getting him to eat them are welcome. I'd love to hear how people soak theirs in garlic! Are the shrimp nutritionally complete enough for him to eat for an extended period?

 

Argh, on day 5 of the hunger strike I found a store with frozen brine shrimp (everyone seems to have a broken freezer!) I got him to eat some brine shrimp, but he won't even look at pellets. Any suggestions for getting him to eat them are welcome. I'd love to hear how people soak theirs in garlic! Are the shrimp nutritionally complete enough for him to eat for an extended period?

He should be able to eat them for a few more meals but he would still need other foods. Try embedding small bits of pellets into the brine shrimp and feeding other frozen foods.