SanSuprimo Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I have a male betta and i have always feed my fish floating pellet food and never had a problem. But i've noticed that one of my fish isnt eating. Has anyone got any suggestions? should i try to give him some other type of food? any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 maybe he just isnt hungry, how long has this been going on for? you could try other food if you have some on hand! how much are you feeding them? eg, how many pellets how many times a day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 is he a new fish, or one you've had for a while that has stopped eating what he has always eaten? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 You could try some live food like adult brineshrimp. If he won't eat something that's moving he might be sick. What sort of tank is he in? Is he in a tank on his own? Or in a community tank? If he's in a community tank, what other fish do you have in there? Do you have filtration? Heating? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 ok well i feed them 3 pellets at a time and two times daily. He hasn't eaten anything for about 4 days now and im starting to get a little worried. He is a fairly new fish i've had him for about a month. He is in a tank that is approx 30 cm long by 17 cm he is in there on his own and there is no filter but he has got a heater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 How often do you perform water changes? How much water do you change each time? What else is in that tank? Gravel? Live plants? Decorations? Four days is a bit long to be fussy about food IMO especially if he was happy eating those pellets before. Any chance of a pic? Have there been any physical changes to him? Are his fins clamped? Has his colour changed? Has his body shape changed? Looking at him from above, are his scales sticking out? Is he breathing faster than normal? Have there been any behavioural changes, eg. swimming in a funny way, not swimming at all, hiding, anything that is not his usual behaviour? If you can get to the shops before they shut today, buy some Melafix if you haven't already got some. It is sometimes sold as a bundle with Pimafix. Get both if you can afford it. But don't use either just yet. We haven't determined that he is definitely sick. He may simply be unhappy with his water. Get the Melafix no matter what you think the problem is. It's good to have on hand, just like bandaids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 ok well in his tank there is gravel and 2 little plastic trees. i noticed that he has got a little bump just above his mouth but didnt think anything of it. He hasn't changed colour and he is behaving normally. I usually change about 25% of his water at a time. About 1 quarter of his tank. I do water changes about every 4-5 days. I noticed that today when i last feed him he ate 1 pellet so that is a start i will keep a close eye on him though. Its just strange because nothing has been changed and his behaviour hasn't changed, just the eating part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 See if you can perk him up by showing him a mirror. I don't think you should medicate just yet. Some live or frozen food might be worth a try. Or a different type of pellet. Water changes sound fine. You're dechlorinating the water, right? And removing any uneaten pellets? He might just be bored of that food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I had this happen to me once. I had a fish (CJ my 1st fishy) who was eating the same thing for over a year with no trouble. Then one day he started refusing to eat the pellets. I kept offering them to him but nope didn't want them. Apart from that everything else was normal, he wasn't sick, his behaviour didn't change. Just the eating or refusing to lol. This went on for about a month before I finally decided "maybe he's just sick of the pellets?" I went out and bought some frozen bloodworms.... Of course as soon as I tried those he started eating again! Sometimes they really are just fussy, I'd be trying to get some different varieties of food. Try him on something else and he might decide to eat that. After all of you had nothing but the same food to eat every meal, every day all your life you'd get bored and refuse to eat it too! Nowadays I have heaps of different foods that I rotate, pellet, flake, freeze dried bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms etc. not only is it a better variety and keeps it more interesting for the fishies it also provides a more well rounded nutrition for them as well good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 I use mostly frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrime. With the odd offering of pellets and live brine shrimp. So they don't get bored. After all wild bettas would get a variety of foods (some being seasonal) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 yes i am dechlorinating the water and removin uneaten pellets. Im off to the pet shop tomorrow to see if they have some different food that is suitable for them. He ate anotha pellet today so at least hes eating 1. its an improvment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 id go for freeze dried blood worms over frozen cause its a bit of a fuss if your freezer is down stairs and your fish are up stairs or something lol... even some live food like brine shrimp are great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta_Endeavours Posted June 6, 2007 Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 One of my RB HM's isn't a big eater and it often worries me because the rest are such little piggies :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 you've tried all the mixing up foods to see what he likes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Yes thats what worried me aswell because i have got 5 other fish and they all eat like pigs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 boil a pea and feed him the inside of it... clear his system out a little then try again, see how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Brineshrimp also have a bit of a laxative effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Okey Dokey I went to the pet shop this morning and brought some Melafix. and i'm just wondering if i use it how much to use and what does it do? I also brought some Frozen Brine Shrimp (aqua one brand) and there is 28 little squares of it. I have got 6 males and i was wondering how much do you feed 1 fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bettarazzi Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 Melafix is good for assisting with healing injuries and for mild infections. There doesn't seem to be a reason to medicate him yet. But when you do have to use it, the dosage rate is on the bottle. With 6 males, I would cut one of the squares in half to start off with. You can thaw it out in a cup with a bit of tank water. Then give a little to each fish to see how well they like it and how much of it they will eat at a time. Or rather than thaw it out, another way is to wiggle a corner of the square into each tank so that a few of the BS fall off. I don't know about re-freezing the excess though. I generally only remove the amount that my fish will eat from the freezer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 7, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 oh and another thing that is completly off topic but how long do you age your water for before you put it in the tanks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y2jdaze Posted June 7, 2007 Report Share Posted June 7, 2007 I generally age my water a bare minimum of 3 days... preferably a week if i don't really need to change desperately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanSuprimo Posted June 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2007 i fed my fish some frozen brine shrimp today and he ate about 4 of them so i'm happy. I think that he will be alright now as long as he keeps eating. thankyou everyone for all your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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