I have had this established tank for about 4 months now(recently added the Java mods and Amazon sword) and got this betta for half off at pet co. For the first couple weeks his colors brightened up and he was a bit bulkier than he is now. I’ve had him for around 2 months. But since I’ve had him all he does is lay around under the sponge filter and under the dragon stone. Water parameters are good and I feed small amounts of freeze dried blood worms. So what I guess I’m asking is, is he sick or just old?
UPDATE: Thank you everyone for your help! I’ve kept bettas for a while but have never had this issue which is odd. I am going to go to the store today to get some frozen brine shrimp!
https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1t5h5rr
Posted by 1274514
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I don’t think petco would bother keeping a fish around long enough for it to become “old.” An “old betta” would be multiple years old
Do you only feed freeze dried bloodworms and nothing else? Also, maybe it’s just the picture, but he looks very skinny to me.
I use flakes as well as the blood worms, i definitely do not under feed but I do not over feed.
Looks malnourished, not old. If not a feeding issue, may be an underlying disease
He looks extremely thin and malnourished, you can tell by the dip behind his head. Bloodworms should only be fed occasionally as a treat.
Feed better food try frozen brands like omega one carnivore and San Francisco Bay four food variety both of those brands are great
Hi OP, the betta like like he’s not getting the nutrition needed to be healthy.
Flake and bloodworms don’t provide the high protein needed by these fish, flake is trash food full of vegetable matter, filler and preservatives and bloodworm are fatty betta junk food.
He needs better food going in to be healthy. He looks severely malnourished.
Please look at decent frozen foods like brine shrimp, chopped mysis shrimp, tubifex worms, black worm and decent commercial food like Fluval Bug Bites, Hikari mini vibra worms, Betta Pro Shrimp Patties for example.
Much like any other living creature, if vitamins, minerals and decent food isn’t put in then the health suffers.
Thanks.
Bettas sold at pet stores are typical under a year old (usually only a few months), so I’d bet he’s 6-8 months old.
The issue, as other people have pointed out, is that he isn’t being fed high quality food. Freeze dried and flake food is ok for a treat, but it’s mostly made of filler ingredients and not the actual protein they need.
He’s also *severely* underweight, which is why he isn’t moving a lot. He has almost zero body fat to convert to energy. You’ll want to start feeding him twice a day with quality pellet or live food from brands like Hikari, Repashy, Fluval, etc.
Did you ever have nitrates? Plants make be sucking them up but usually you want at least some to prove your bb are doing their job