BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Fish A few questions about betas

Hi there!

I just got a male beta about a week ago from my roomate as an early birthday present (a month early actually..lol) Anyways, I'm sort of paranoid with fish because no matter what I do in the past they seem to die sooner than they are supposed to. Infact I didn't get another beta for a few years after the last one died. I just get so attatched!
So I have this new guy, his name is Sir Isaac Newton *^^* and he is in this kind of little aquarium It has a little light at the top so that it catches the color of the fish.
My main problem is that in the week that I have had him, he has only seemed to eat one time. And it was only one pellet. The kit I have only came with your typical beta pellets. I have never had this problem before with a fish not eating. I cleaned his water today so that the food that he hasn't eaten (that I couldn't fish out) doesn't pollute his water. I tried feeding him again just to see if he would eat but still nothing.
At first I thought it was just the time that I fed him. That maybe he was used to a certain time at the pet store. So I would try different times of the day. But still nothing.
I'm so worried for my fish! My roomate works at a pet store and says that beta can go awhile without eating but I just want my fish to be happy <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Any advice you seasoned beta owners can give me would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi Sky and welcome to the forum. Bettas are picky about new foods. Just keep presenting the food and taking out what he doesn't eat. This could go on for a while; don't worry if it's a week or two.

Everyone else, comments?

Sky,

For some reason my betta Gideon cannot eat pellets, so I have acquired quite a selection of food. If you will pay the postage, I will send you samples of what I have. Here's the list:
FD Bloodworms
FD Daphnia
Tropical Flakes
Spirulina flakes
Aquarian pellets

PM me your address if you would like some!!

<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Amber

Oh, and welcome!

There are so many things that can keep a Betta from eating. What is the temperature of his bowl? Do you have some java fern or java moss in there to improve the water quality and give him a place to sleep or does he just hang around the bottom? Bettas are top dwellers, so being on the bottom is not good. A constant, warm temperature for this tropical fish is 80 degrees. Seems it would be hard to keep a steady temperature in this display set up. It looks like something that might be used at a fish show? For some really good information on bettas written by veterinarians and aquatic specialist go to web page and type "betta care" in the search box. There is a great article on taking care of bettas. I have had them since I was 10 (a really, really long time ago!) and they were always a star in the home aquiarium. Where the concept of keeping a tropical (warm water) fish in cold water with no heater is beyond me. I have seven bettas (one one per tank, of course). My "pet store" bettas live in community aquariums with cory cats, otto cats, cardinal tetras, white clouds, Emperor tetras. My breeding stock live in 10 gallon divided tanks. All have heaters set at 80 degrees. Since most bettas are usually raised on live foods, they can be picky. I've never had any problems with mine, tho. I feed Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp flakes Plus, Hikari Betta Bio Gold, Ocean Nutrition Atison Betta Pro, Hikari freeze-dried Bloodworms, and Hikari Daphnia. They do like variety. The Daphnia helps to clean out their digestive tract, too. Just keep his temperature a constant 80 degrees. If he is sick and you have to use medication you may have to raise the temp. The article on Betta Care at Pet Education.com will probably help you a lot.

AHH!! My beta fish just jumped out of his bowl and landed on my carpet. I wasn't home and when I saw him, I quickly put him back in his bowl. Unfortunately, I also own a dog, so my fish is now covered in dog fur. Not to mention he was quite dry. Can anyone help me with how to treat him and care for him so he can properly recover?? Any advice will be MUCH appreciated!!

I would put him in clean water treated with extra conditioner and a bit of aquarium salt if you have it. Just keep his water pretty clean and he should be fine as long as he wasn't crispy-dry. They can live for quite a while out of water. This is why it's always a good idea to cover the bowl/tank they are in. It seems to be a pretty common problem. HTH!!!

EEEP! How is he doing now???

My female did this about a month and a half ago. I cracked her bowl in cleaning it and she was in a temporary bowl and---well, long story, but I was banging a pumpkin on the floor trying to break it apart and it must have scared her and she jumped out of the bowl. I didn't even notice it for about half an hour and was devastated to find a dried up fish near the empty bowl. It had been at least a half an hour and I felt like crying as I was sure she was dead. But when I picked her up, she wiggled a bit and I quickly dropped her back in her water. I couldn't believe it.

Here's what I did---I added some extra Stress Coat to her water (she was in a half gallon at the time and I think I added about six or seven drops, in addition to what was already in there). I left her alone and about an hour later, dropped a pellet in. She was eating, so that was a good sign. But I noticed that she was having these little shivers or something like a weird twitch. I made sure to keep her temps warm (about 84 degrees). The next day, she was still alive, but still twitching. I changed her water and put her on Betta Fix for a week with a little extra Stress Coat (it has aloe which helps their slime coat). It took about two weeks for her to stop the twitching, but she's now perfectly fine as if nothing happened. She also hid a lot at the bottom of the tank for that two weeks. But she's back to normal, swimming around and getting all excited when I put a tank with a boy betta next to her. So, since it worked for me, I'd suggest some extra Stress Coat and Betta Fix for a week and warm temps. How's your betta doing? Let us know.