Hi all, I am a first time betta owner and I got Ghost last Monday. Since then, he hasn’t eaten at all despite me offering twice a day. I have been offering Aqueon Nutrisect betta pellets and TopFin freeze dried bloodworms (broken into smaller chunks).
At first, he would at least put them in his mouth before spitting them out, but now he’s just ignoring them all.
Tank parameters (from Tetra strip testing pack)
Ammonia – .5
Nitrates – 0
Nitrites – 0
Hardness – 75
Chlorine – 0
Alkalinity – 40
Ph – 7.8
Temp – 78°
He seems to be spending a bit more time on the bottom of the tank today, but is still swimming around and coming to the top of the tank quickly. He doesn’t have any physical symptoms of illness that I can see, but I am new to this and I could be missing something!
I noticed the tank had also gotten quite grubby, which you can probably see in the video. I have a filter (using the TopFin 5 Gallon rimless tank starter kit) so I’m not sure why it’s so dirty. I did a water change yesterday of about 30%.
Any help is appreciated! I am so scared that he’ll starve. Planning on going to get some other kinds of food today and seeing if that’s something he’s interested in at all.
https://v.redd.it/bsy6ihroqh0g1
Posted by e-musing
3 Comments
May I recommend trying fluval bug bites flakes in case he prefers flakes over pellets, and maybe the San Francisco Bay frozen brine shrimp (you thaw them in tank water in a separate cup before feeding to betta). Both are sold at Petco and/or PetSmart. Maybe your buddy is just a picky eater ? 😅
Hahaha, they have so much personality for such tiny creatures! Thank you, I’m so proud — he has gotten so beautifully blue since I brought him home. 😍
Mine did the same thing, I ended up having a bladder snail infestation due to a plant I introduced…he was eating those. He also did not like the flakes and will only eat micro pellets. I’m assuming it’s from the way he was fed in the LFS as he also will only eat floating food from the surface 😅 if it sinks he’s not interested in it.