Betta fish are popular in home aquariums. In addition to being attractive and resilient, these betta fish are lively, interesting, and unusual.
These omnivores are easy to feed and like a meat-heavy diet, but they might be prone to periods of not eating. Even though it may not always be a cause for alarm when this occurs, you should nonetheless take action right away. A lot of people keep Betta fish in captivity; therefore, the difficulties one owner has are probably shared by many others.
Numerous fish owners are always investigating the reason why their betta fish aren’t consuming. This is just due to the fact that these fish are a well-liked species, not because they are prone to hunger strikes.
Your Betta fish’s lack of appetite is mostly caused by poor water quality, insufficient parameters, and stress. Aside from sickness, poor food quality and overfeeding are other factors. To remedy such problems, make sure your betta receives weekly water changes, as well as a well-heated tank and high-quality food.
Fortunately, this implies that if your Betta fish isn’t eating, there are a few things to think about and try.
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Why Is My Betta Not Eating?
Your Betta fish is not eating, which might be due to a variety of factors. Poor water quality and insufficient water parameters are some of the main causes. Other causes include stress, sickness, eating food of poor quality, and overeating. Finding the appropriate issue and fixing it is important in order to get the fish to start eating again.
Your betta will exhibit signs that will let you identify the cause of their food refusal. There are other more common causes, such as the fact that your betta is a fussy eater or that it gets bored when eating a certain meal. We will examine each of these concerns in further depth and work to determine why your betta fish isn’t consuming food. Let’s now go through all the potential causes and solutions for your betta fish’s lack of appetite in great detail.
Your Betta fish may not be eating for any of the following reasons:
- The water quality in which your betta fish resides is subpar.
- Your betta fish tank’s water conditions are inadequate.
- You are feeding your betta too much food.
- The food you offer your betta fish is not appealing to them.
- You are serving people with inadequate nourishment.
- Your betta is anxious.
- Your betta has a medical condition.
Poor Water Conditions
Fish suffer injuries and can occasionally die as a result of poor water quality or rapid changes in water parameters. Stress is the most important issue, despite the fact that poor water quality is associated with numerous health issues.
Your Betta fish won’t be able to locate a way out if the water’s characteristics change. Poor water quality will be its home, and if it persists for an extended period of time, your Betta fish may experience chronic stress. Stopping to eat is one of the first symptoms of a stressed Betta.
It is simple to keep the water’s parameters within the necessary limits. Transfer your Betta fish first to a dish with at least five liters of water in it. To find out the current water parameters in your fish tank, get a water testing kit. Make adjustments to the problematic parameters to restore them to their original state. Set up a maintenance plan to use the water testing kit to verify the water parameters once they have been modified.
Inadequate Water Parameter
The ideal temperature for betta fish in aquariums is one that is not too chilly because they are native to tropical seas. Any temperature changes might cause issues for your fish as it digests its meal. Your Betta fish may not be eating if the tank water is cold because food may become an impaction in the gastrointestinal system (GI). Similarly, your Betta fish won’t be able to consume anything in such a circumstance.
Your Betta fish is not eating, mostly due to the water being too cold. Considering that betta fish are tropical fish, they need warm water to survive. Additionally, a small shift in the ph level of the water might cause them to have serious problems.
In the long term, sudden fluctuations in water temperature will stress them out and cause them to lose their appetite. To guarantee the health and longevity of your betta fish, it is essential to provide them with suitable and consistent water conditions.
Overfeeding
One reason your betta won’t eat may be that you’re overfeeding it. The stomach of a betta is roughly the size of an eye. I can’t eat a lot at once. Many betta owners eat too much fish, and their bettas don’t eat.
Overfeeding can cause your betta fish to suffer from gastrointestinal problems such as constipation and gas. Your Betta fish won’t be interested in eating food because it can’t digest the previous one.
If your Betta fish suddenly stops eating, the underlying cause may be overeating. However, this only happens for a limited amount of time before the betta’s gastrointestinal tract is full, and he can’t even take in the amount of food he needs. Its metabolism is unable to digest excess amounts of food, and food can accumulate in the stomach, leading to bloating. It looks like a balloon.
It is critical that you feed your betta as much as he requires twice a day. This is often the case for most Bettas. Adding food to the tank overfeeds. After the fish have eaten the food, remove the remaining food from the bottom of the tank. It’s important to keep your betta from eating it again.
Poor Quality Food
You cannot feed your betta fish anything because the diet is essential to its health. It should consume all the vital vitamins and nutrients needed for healthy growth in its diet and stay away from items that might harm its well-being. The finest diet for your betta fish is pelleted food since it has all the vital elements that your fish require.
While feeding your betta palleted food or container food, you must keep a few things in mind. Never consume food that has been refrigerated for more than six months. After this point, the vast majority of food products are devoid of essential water-soluble vitamins, particularly vitamin C.
Betta fish can smell their food and know it, but if you keep food in a container for a long time, the fragrance changes. Your Betta fish won’t consume food that has an unpleasant scent when you add it.
You may weaken your betta fish’s immune system by feeding it old fish, which will make it sick. Your betta is more vulnerable to several health problems since old food doesn’t supply immune system boosters like vitamins C and E in the necessary amounts.
Stress
The main cause of your betta fish’s inability to feed might potentially be stress. Now, a variety of problems, including insufficient water parameters, bad water conditions, nipping mates, small-size tanks, inadequate nutrition, and sickness, can put them under stress. When agitated, your Betta fish will remain in one place, refrain from feeding, and appear frail.
You should also be aware that fish may weaken and become more vulnerable to illnesses and parasites if they are stressed. Your Betta fish may go on a hunger strike due to stress, which various factors can cause. Betta fish are timid and aggressive, which makes the issue worse. The most frequent stressors for Betta fish are new tank mates, a new house, changes in the water’s quality, a bad diet, and other factors.
Until the environment is normal again, your Betta fish won’t eat. In order to assist your betta fish in quickly recovering from the stress and returning to feeding, try to identify the source of the stress. Make adjustments to the tank so that it resembles your fish’s previous tank or natural environment, for instance, if the stress is due to the addition of your fish to a new tank. Your fish will soon be able to overcome their tension and end their hunger strike, thanks to this.
Illness
Even with the finest care, infections and illnesses can still affect your Betta fish. Your Betta fish may have a variety of health issues as a result of bad food, low water quality, stress from a new tank member, etc. It’s challenging to consistently achieve the ideal balance of all the characteristics. You cannot thus prevent illnesses, but you can choose how to treat them in order to reduce your pet’s suffering.
When a Betta fish is unwell, it will lose its appetite. If you’ve tried everything else and still can’t figure out why your betta isn’t eating, start looking for symptoms of sickness or illness.
The fins of a sick betta have rips or tears in them, and its color changes, and it becomes sluggish. Whether an ailment is mild or severe, you should see a veterinarian. The more likely it is that your Betta fish will recover, the sooner you begin the therapy.
Betta fish that are ill will refrain from feeding since they will be under stress.
By looking for these symptoms, you may tell whether your Betta fish is sick:
- Your betta fish will help sluggish down.
- They will exhibit peculiar swimming behaviors.
- Your betta fish’s fins will fray or seem decayed.
- On their body or fins, they’ll have white patches.
- They will get enlarged bellies as a result of bloating and constipation.
Newly Introduce To The Tank
Your Betta fish may perhaps not be eating since they haven’t adjusted to their new environment in the tank. It will take some time for new fish to become accustomed to the settings, surroundings, and hiding places in their new tank.
They will generally put off eating until they feel comfortable, at which point they will begin to eat.
Competition
Betta fish are notoriously possessive and don’t appreciate it when other fish, whether of the same species or another, intrude on their territory. Particularly well-known for their aggressive nature are male Bettas. If they discover bettas or other fish in their aquarium, they will attack them. In addition to being hostile, female fish often and abruptly change their body temperatures.
This type of activity in the aquarium indicates that the fish are more worried about their tank mates. Your fish may become stressed out by having too many tankmates or even just one, which will cause them to lose their appetite.
Your Betta Is A Picky Eater
Betta fish are carnivorous and exclusively consume nutritious foods made of flesh.
In their native environment, they eat live foods such as larvae and tiny invertebrates.
It’s likely that when you add a betta to your fish tank and give it pellets, it won’t pique their attention, and it might not even view the pellets as food.
In order to assure rapid growth, breeders give their bettas live or freeze-dried food. If you get a betta from a breeder and try to feed it pellets, it will avoid you since it is not yet interested in pellets and needs live food.
Your Betta Is Being Angry
The majority of the time, this will be the cause of your betta’s lack of appetite. He might not enjoy it if you gave him something new after feeding him a certain kind for a long time. Feeding him different foods will enable you to determine if this is the case. If he consumes the meal without issue, he probably just has picky eating habits.
What To Do If Your Betta Fish Stopped Eating?
Below are some suggestions for treating a betta fish that isn’t eating:
Provide Appropriate Water Conditions
Perform a weekly water change of at least 30–35% on a regular basis to guarantee optimal water quality.
While doing a water change, be careful to treat the water with a water conditioner to remove heavy metals, chloramine, and chlorine from the tap water.
Since the API water conditioner will assist you in removing chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, ammonia, and nitrite from the water, we strongly advise using it.
To keep the water in your fish tank free of excessive waste and protected from dangerous toxins like ammonia and nitrite, install a good filtration system with biofilter media.
| Particular | Betta Fish Requirement |
| Water Condition | Clean Water Condition |
| Ammonia | 0ppm |
| Nitrite | 0ppm |
| Nitrate | Between 10-20 ppm |
The optimal water conditions that a Betta fish needs are shown in this table.
Check the levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in your Betta fish tank on a regular basis. Ammonia and nitrite should be kept at 0 ppm, while nitrate should be kept at or below 20 ppm.
To check the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and ph levels of your betta fish tank, we advise utilizing the API freshwater master kit since it provides reliable results.
Stable Water Parameter
To maintain a suitable and consistent water temperature in your Betta fish tank, think about installing a heater.
Using a heater will enable you to maintain a suitable water temperature for your Betta fish.
Check the pH level of your betta fish tank frequently, and keep it between 6.5 and 8.
The optimal water quality conditions needed for betta fish are shown in this table.
By utilizing the API freshwater master test kit, you can often check the pH of the water.
Keep the water’s TDS level between 260 and 280 ppm.
| Particular | Betta Fish Requirement |
| Water Temperature | About 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit |
| Water pH Level | Between 6.5-8 |
| Water TDS Level | 250-280 |
| Water Hardness | 90-100ppm GH |
Feed The Right Food
Give your betta fish 3–4 pellets twice a day to make sure you aren’t overfeeding them.
Keep at least a 10-hour gap between the two feedings. The same amount applies to delicacies like freeze-dried, live, and frozen food. If your betta isn’t consuming all the pellets you’re giving him, take the rest out of the tank.
Assess Your Betta’s Environment
Is the tank your fish are in too small? If your fish are housed in a small tank, monitor the water quality and do regular testing. If not, think about a 5- to 15-gallon tank with a reliable filtration system where the water won’t change as frequently and your fish will have room to swim.
Is your fish vying for resources with the other fish in its tank? Are other fish bothering it? Your betta could stop eating in one of these scenarios. You might need to move your fish in these situations in order to get them to start eating.
Is your fish brand new??
In that case, give it some time to get used to its new surroundings. For the first several days, keep the lights dim and feed your betta in the morning or evening.
Remove The Stress Factors From The Tank
To ensure your betta fish has a stress-free environment, make sure of the following:
- By doing routine water changes and applying a water conditioner when making a water change, you may give them access to clean, toxin-free water conditions.
- Make sure the water’s properties are sufficient and steady.
- To maintain a warm and constant water temperature, keep them in a heated tank.
- Feed them once or twice a day to provide a consistent food supply.
- To guarantee ample room, keep them in a nano tank rather than a dish.
- Keep them alone whenever possible, and avoid keeping them with aggressive tankmates.
- You should fill your Betta fish aquarium with live aquatic plants.
Assess Your Betta’s Health
By providing the proper water conditions and sufficient water parameters, many problems may be resolved. So, if your betta fish becomes unwell, examine the water’s characteristics and conditions. Make sure the water is clean, has the right characteristics, and is a consistent temperature for your fish. Consult your veterinarian and give your fish the appropriate treatment if necessary. Some ailments call for medication.
Fast your fish for two to three days if you think it could bBettastipated. Give them a diet high in mosquito larvae, brine shrimp, and even blanched peas for a period once they start passing feces once more, then switch them back to their usual diet. Feeding your fish in smaller portions twice a day a variety, high-quality meal is the greatest method to prevent constipation.
If you can, move them to a bigger tank where they will have more room to swim and will be more active. Once every two days, feed your fish a high-fiber diet if you suspect swim bladder illness after they’ve been fasting for a few days. This will help the swelling subside.
Bloodworms and blanched peas are also nutritious things to provide your pet at this time.
Before feeding your fish, thaw any frozen items and give freeze-dried foods a brief soaking in water to prevent the food from expanding in the fish’s digestive system.
If dropsy is suspected, know that it can be treated if caught in time. Put your fish in a quarantine tank, give them high-quality food, and take antibiotics to cure the infection.
However, the condition can be hard to detect in its early stages, and when it worsens, it frequently proves fatal.
How To Get My Betta Fish To Eat?
Your betta could just be a fussy eater if you’ve checked out all the problems mentioned above and they are still refusing food. A betta could reject one food over another; this is not unheard of!
To find out which meals your fish enjoys, try a variety.
Begin with live, freeze-dried, or frozen feeds like bloodworms, brine shrimp, or daphnia before switching to betta pellets or flake food.
Give any new meals to your betta some time to become used to them. So they don’t go more than four days without eating, and they keep meals available that they will quickly accept.
Why Is My Betta Fish Not Eating Or Moving?
It’s one thing to not eat, but it may also indicate sickness if you’re also not moving about.
Bettas are known to lay down or sleep on the substrate but spring to life quickly or when the lights are turned on.
A sick fish will spend a lot of time at the bottom of the aquarium.
Recognize the symptoms of illness so you can treat your fish as soon as possible. While some illnesses may be managed at home, others could necessitate a trip to the vet.
Swim Bladder Disease
Your fish may get swim bladder illness if you regularly overfeed them. Your fish will increase in size in this situation. They won’t feed as a result, will stay close to the tank’s bottom, and could even flip on their side.
Dropsy
A severely enlarged belly is a symptom of dropsy, which is brought on by a bacterial infection. These bacteria are normally unharmful and are widespread in aquariums.
However, if your fish experience persistent stress, they may get an infection. Be aware of the signs of dropsy, which include a lack of appetite, a bent spine, a bloated tummy, and scales that resemble a “pinecone.”
Can A Dirty Water Make My Betta Fish Sick?
Bear in mind that your Betta fish urinates, eats, and poops all in the same water that it inhabits. Imagine smoking cigarettes continuously while sitting in a room with no ventilation. You’d soon need to get outside to get some air.
Regarding your Betta, the same is true. Ammonia is released into the water when they urinate, and when it accumulates, it can make your Betta feel quite unwell.
How Often Should I Feed My Betta Fish?
Knowing how frequently to feed our Betta is just as crucial as knowing what food we should be giving her. Overfeeding is a relatively typical error committed by fish keepers. You must be extremely careful not to overfeed your Betta since it might make them very ill.
Only two or three pellets or a little amount of freeze-dried bloodworm is needed for each feeding, which often occurs twice daily because a Betta fish’s stomach is about the size of its eyeball.
Avoid attempting to make up a missed morning meal with a single meal in the evening. Even though they may appear to be starving, your Betta will be OK if you just feed it routinely. If you allowed certain Bettas, they’d consume the entire food bag.
You might think about using Omega One Buffet Flakes as a daily staple meal because they contain nutrients that will enhance your Betta’s natural color. This will guarantee that you are feeding your Betta a healthy range of foods, along with some bloodworms, pellets, and the occasional live-food treat.
Conclusion
Your Betta fish may not be eaten for a variety of reasons, the most common of which include unhealthy conditions in the water, insufficient parameters, stress, and disease.
You may cure and avoid such problems by giving your betta fish healthy water conditions, sufficient water parameters, and a stress-free habitat.
If you see any signs of illness that need medical treatment, such as spots, lethargy, or rotten and frayed fins, then visit your veterinarian. These are the main points to remember.
- Your betta could act fussy if it isn’t eating. If so, you should offer it a variety of foods until it eats whatever you put in the tank for it.
- It’s possible that your betta is unaware that he can consume the food you’re offering. When bettas are young and have only ever eaten live food, this is frequently the case. When this occurs, continue attempting until it starts to consume food.
- Sometimes bettas don’t appreciate food that has been frozen or dried. Allow it to soak in some of his tank water before giving it to it to make it more palatable.
- Your new betta can be overly anxious to eat if you just received him. For a day, keep the lights off in your tank before attempting again.
- Perhaps you are feeding your betta too much, which is why you haven’t noticed that it is eating. The next time you feed them, keep a watch on them, and don’t put as much food in the tank as you normally would.
- Your betta could be able to taste cheap food if you buy it. Make sure your betta is receiving a balanced diet and only offer it high-quality food.
- Bettas’ appetites might occasionally halt due to a little alteration in the water. See whether there is an issue by checking the water’s properties.
- It could eat less if the water is too cold since it would slow down its metabolism.
- Finally, there’s a chance that your betta has a sickness. Verify that it isn’t displaying any symptoms, and if it is, treat him right away.
FAQ
Are Betta Fish Picky Eaters?
Betta fish will eat whatever you put in their aquarium, even frozen and live food, proving that they are not fussy eaters. Because they are looking for food scraps, they may frequently be found near the bottom of the tank. Because of their sluggish digestive processes, they are sometimes mistaken for finicky eaters. They need longer intervals between meals because they cannot digest food as rapidly as other fish. If they are experiencing a health crisis, they may have finicky eating habits.
How Long Can A Betta Fish Go Without Eating?
The extraordinarily resilient betta may last up to 14 days without food in the wild.
The majority of bettas sold for aquariums in homes are a little less resilient. While they are capable of going five to ten days without feeding, their body is severely stressed by this.
These capacities to go without food for prolonged periods presuppose a fish that is otherwise in good health and the absence of other stresses, such as poor water quality, an imbalanced diet, or subpar food.
Your betta may become more stressed and aggressive after three or four days without food.
What Does Betta Fish Husbandry mean?
Husbandry is nearly always to blame when your Betta fish isn’t eating, among other potential causes. The term “husbandry” encompasses all aspects of your Betta’s habitat, including the water’s temperature, the food they consume, and even how frequently you clean or replace the water in their tank.
Can My Betta Fish Get Parasites?
An extremely frequent cause of your Betta fish’s possible lack of appetite is parasites. One of the most typical parasites discovered in an aquarium is Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). All fish are impacted, and if addressed, it can possibly be fatal. Your Betta will stop eating because I’ll make them feel bad. However, Bettas appear to have some immunity to ich; once they have recovered from it via therapy and adequate care, they often do not get it again.
How To Prevent Decreased Appetite In Betta Fish?
The best way to protect betta fish from losing their appetite is to maintain them in warm, well-filtered water tanks, monitor the water’s characteristics, and give them a healthy diet. Your betta fish will remain a happy pet as long as they receive all of the necessities for survival on time. A healthy Betta that won’t stop eating is a happy Betta.