Here are all of the possible causes behind your betta fish’s lack of appetite. Remember that even if you believe your betta isn’t eating, he may be acquiring food without your knowledge. Continue reading if you want to be sure that something more nefarious isn’t going on.
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Betta Is Getting Upset:
This is almost often the cause of your betta’s lack of appetite. He could not enjoy it if you’ve been giving him one sort of food for a time and then switched. Feeding him different foods will reveal if this is the case. If he consumes the meal without complaint, he’s probably just being picky.
Solution:
There are two options here: an easy solution and a difficult solution. The simple method is to simply give your betta the foods he likes and discard the foods he does not. While this may appear to be a good plan at the time, it may prove to be more challenging in the long term. Bettas are known to prefer only one type of food or brand. The difficulty is that if you can’t get your hands on this stuff, you’re going to have a lot of trouble feeding him later on. Starting to diversify your betta’s diet till he eats a wide variety of foods is a considerably better approach. Feed him the initial meal he didn’t want once he’s fasted, and he should eat it.
He has no idea about its food:
Another reason your betta fish isn’t eating is that he doesn’t realize what you’re feeding him is food (particularly if he’s new to the tank). Pellets and flakes are particularly prone to this. Bettas are generally fed a mixture of living, frozen, and freeze-dried food when they are with their breeders. Because this is what bettas consume in the wild, it is the finest diet a betta can have. The difficulty is that feeding those pellets or flake food will be so foreign to them that they will not recognize it as food.
Solution:
The greatest remedy, in this case, is to continue introducing them to the food until they learn they can eat it. It usually takes them about 2-7 days to start eating their meals. If they still don’t eat it after this period, you may have a picky betta on your hands. Always keep in mind that a betta should never spend more than three days without meals. You’ll start causing more harm than good at this point. So have some extra food on hand that you know he’ll eat just in case. Remove the food from the tank if your betta hasn’t eaten it in 10 minutes. If it’s left in the tank, it’ll just generate additional ammonia as it decomposes.
Frozen/freeze-dried Food:
While bettas can consume frozen and freeze-dried food, some won’t eat it until it’s fully thawed. If you simply dump it into your tank without letting it thaw or soften, your betta may entirely disregard it. You should also be warned that as frozen food absorbs water again, it may expand. If your betta eats it too quickly, it may continue to expand, resulting in constipation and, in some cases, swim bladder illness.
Solution:
The answer is straightforward. Just make sure your food is defrosted before feeding it to your betta. Taking a tiny bit of your tank’s water and placing the food in it is the ideal method to achieve this. Simply dump the food into your tank once it has completely defrosted, and your betta should devour it.