Help! New Betta won't eat!

G

Gold girl

AC Members
Apr 11, 2009
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I just got a male betta from walmart. He won't eat anything. I've tried pellets and flakes but he doesn't seem to want to do anything with them both times. I don't know if this is normal because he got moved or if there is something wrong with him. He is acting perfectly normal otherwise. Any advice would be appreciated. :)
 
Give him time, make sure the water is clean and warm. Try frozen blood worms. If that doesn't work, wiggle them, sometimes if food looks alive, they will suddenly go for it. Also, a day or two of fasting shouldn't be too much to worry over. I had two guys who wouldn't eat until the 3rd or 4th day and I had to try all sorts of food and ways of feeding them. The second actually needed competition for the food before he ate. I added Platy fry and suddenly he wanted to eat all the food so he didn't have to share.
 
This is very common. Often stores will feed Bettas something different than buyers. The Betta gets used to the store food and might not eat a different brand right away.

All you need to do is keep feeding him the food you want to feed him (I recommend Hikari Betta Bio-Gold pellets) every day.

Your Betta will eventually eat the pellets and from then on he should eat them regularly.

This may even take a week or more. But don't worry, your Betta will not starve himself to death if there is food being fed.

If after a week your Betta still won't eat the pellets then I would recommend asking Walmart to see what they were feeding him. But there is no need to ask Walmart unless your Betta does not eat for a week.
 
Make sure he sees the food when you put it in the tank. When he gets hungry, he will take a pellet. Thawed frozen blood worms are a beloved betta food. You can use your fingers or tweezers and dangle a worm in the water, wiggling it to entice your boy. As stated, make sure the water stays clean by removing uneaten pellets when they start to get waterlogged.
 
My new betta didnt like the Betta Bites I bought when I got him, or any of the other dried fish food I had at home. I gave in and gave him frozen bloodworms a couple of times and since then he's eaten everything else I've given him.

Good luck!
 
I've never had a betta that refused to eat but from my experience they are 50x happier in a filtered and heated tank. I have three bettas right now. One male lives in a 55gal community tetra tank, one male lives in a heated/filtered 3gal and my female lives in a filtered/heated 5gal. There's a complete change in them when they don't have to live in a yucky fish bowl.
 
I wouldn't worry too much. I bought mine from a neglectful lfs and he wouldn't eat for at least 4 days after I got him. Finally on the 4th day I offered some pellets and he took a couple. All the moving around & the little cups they put them in for who knows how long stresses them out quite a bit. I'd give him a few days before you start to worry
 
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