# Betta not eating, otherwise looks fine



## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

It appears that Oscar, the betta, is on hunger strike. It's been about three days that he has not come out to eat. He mainly floats in amoung the plants, which isn't unusual other than he doesn't swim around all that much. I know he won't starve to death intentionally so either something is up that is not apparent or he's just trying to slim down.

I haven't changed much, a heavy pruning early in the last week with a 30% water change, same food, no new additions. I'll probably change water today, maybe tomorrow. He appears fine, great colouration, fins are healthy, "breathing" is normal, when he does move, it is active and not sluggish.

I would QT him but I feel that would be more stressful than just leaving him be at this point.

Jeff.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

I'd say the fish is stressed - fish don't eat when they are stressed.

I'm sure you've tested the water...


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

jaysee said:


> I'd say the fish is stressed - fish don't eat when they are stressed.
> 
> I'm sure you've tested the water...


Yah, everything is fine... even nitrates are below 5ppm. Oh, fine for me is when ammonia and nitrites are zero and the pH is steady... for reference.

I just can't think of anything in particular that would be a stressor right now. I doubt that he is missing the dwarf hygros that I removed as that is the only thing that has changed .

I can't see that he has all of a sudden become stressed over the other fish in the tank, there's been no sign of nipping, aggression either way or even any territorial behaviour between him and the barbs... although I am sure it is a possibility I hesitate to move him into a different setting.

I have never found anything that addresses what GH they would be best in. I've seen everything from "adapt to anything" to nothing being mentioned at all... even in the profiles here. This is the only thing that might be a long term issue as my water is hard and the softening of the plants has been reduced so a water change effectively increases the hardness or maintains the high levels. The other fish are OK in the water, they were selected specifically for that reason.

Betta information seems to be notoriously inconsistent.

Not much I can come up with other than wait and see as I don't think that making changes will be of any benefit.

Jeff.


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

Whats the temperature? What size tank and what other fish are with him?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

I get so used to checking peoples' aquariums in their profile that I forget others don't. 

78F
37 gallon 
Planted
Cherry barbs
Emerald catfish 
Cherry shrimp

Jeff.


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

yeah i was on the mobile site earlier lol.
hm. doesnt seem like anything environmental. maybe he's just sick?


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

Perhaps. I'm going to isolate him once I can catch him. Pretty darn lively for a sick fish.

I have a feeling that the huge pruning may be a contributing factor and maybe he is just hiding. I know the barbs are active but have not been a problem yet. Now there is a rather large open water area. He is always hanging in the leaves of the floating stems or amongst the vals where the barbs are not. 

I will float a isolation tank with opaque sides and drop some of the plants in there and see what happens. If I am correct he may need to be retanked until the plants fill back in or perhaps even permanently. If I am not.... time will tell.

Jeff.


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## jentralala (Oct 5, 2012)

Is his tummy looking normal? The only thing I can think is that he may have caught a shrimp and gorged himself on it to the point of being sick, I've heard about it happening before. He may also have a blockage of some kind, maybe try feeding him shelled peas? 

I honestly have no idea but I hope he gets better!


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

JDM said:


> I get so used to checking peoples' aquariums in their profile that I forget others don't.
> 
> 78F
> 37 gallon
> ...


It's not always up to date, I've found. Never hurts to make sure. I know several times I've went and looked and spent a lot of time making a very thorough post, only to hear "I don't have those fish anymore."


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

True. 

Jeff.


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

Well, my daughter caught the bugger a couple of days ago and we put him in a floating isolation with opaque sides with some plants. He looks fine. Still not eating but is lively when moving about. I think it is about 9 days so far. I know some say fish will survive a couple of weeks without food... 

I'm at a loss as to what may really be up... will a fish intentionally not eat for any reasons that don't indicate a problem?

Jeff.


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## Romad (Jun 28, 2009)

Have you tried switching up his food to see if he'll eat anything at all? I've never met a betta who can resist a frozen blood worm or two and/or frozen brine shrimp.

If you're feeding betta pellets, try soaking them a bit in garlic water (crush a piece of garlic in a little tank water) and see if he'll take those. Don't throw the garlic into the tank tho ;/


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

An otherwise healthy fish will last for months, not weeks, without food. Though, if its not eating for a prolonged period of time, chances are its not "healthy".


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## jentralala (Oct 5, 2012)

How's Oscar doing?


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

jentralala said:


> How's Oscar doing?


Fine, other than not eating. He's still in isolation but I am being pressured into releasing him into the tank again. I've lost track of how long it's been off hand now, got to be two weeks anyway.

Jeff.


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## pop (Aug 29, 2012)

Hello:
I must be slow in getting it what will shelled peas and garlic do to help the critter?
Settle digestive issues, invigorate activity or provide perhaps needed minerals or vitamins. 

Just a thought somewhat off topic ‘Do fish need light to be healthy’? 

pop


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

pop said:


> Hello:
> I must be slow in getting it what will shelled peas and garlic do to help the critter?
> Settle digestive issues, invigorate activity or provide perhaps needed minerals or vitamins.
> 
> ...


Today will be day 18, still no change.

Garlic is supposed to be an appetite thing, peas helps in some sort of fish constipation. The garlic didn't work to get him to eat so I didn't bother with the peas. I was going to try some frozen worms or something but when I was at the LFS their freezer was off... lost a boat load of food due to a failure... so no freezies for the fishies. 

I am going to collect some insects today and see if he might be interested in some kicking and screaming food.

I gave up on the isolation (family pressure), I put him back into the main tank. He hangs in the floating plants. This is the fist time I have been able to see his profile due to the opaque isolation container... he still looks fine, "breathing" normally, just is more skittish than normal, of me... not of the other fish though.

Jeff.


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## fish monger (Dec 29, 2011)

Change of scenery can make a big difference in fish behavior. My experience has been that you can't have too much cover for bettas. Even alone, they seem more relaxed when they can easily move about in relatively secretive surroundings. Are you sure he's not eating anything ? They don't need that much because of their sedentary lifestyle. Just some thoughts...


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

fish monger said:


> Change of scenery can make a big difference in fish behavior. My experience has been that you can't have too much cover for bettas. Even alone, they seem more relaxed when they can easily move about in relatively secretive surroundings. Are you sure he's not eating anything ? They don't need that much because of their sedentary lifestyle. Just some thoughts...


He certainly is not eating anything offered and I cannot tell if he is eating anything else. When I put him back into the tank I pulled some dwarf hygros, all my pennywort and fluffed it up to make a large floating mat at one end... the shrimp seem to like it too. He hangs out in that and around where the vals curve up to and head across the surface. With my new spraybar setup the current is far less at the top which should also let him be more sedate up there.

I'm beginning to think that there is really nothing actually wrong with him other than his attitude, if a fish can have an attitude. 

Time will tell.

Jeff.


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

I know a couple of fish that have attitudes, my daughter's Betta is among them! *rolls eyes at Betta attitudes*

Just checking in on your sick friend, any change?

I may have missed it, and it may not apply, but many people recommend feeding daphnia to help with possible constipation issues in these fish. It's less controversial than peas. Won't do any good if he won't eat it, but is a good thing to consider as a part of his future diet, after the shop gets their freezer back up to snuff, anyway. 

Hope all is well. . .


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

Day 21. No change in the eating. He is hiding in the floating plants or along the top of the tank in the corners. Considering there was more water movement when he was moving around and eating, I doubt that the reduced movement with the new spray bar is the issue... he started this before the change anyway. I am going to be adjusting it again to change the pattern a bit but I doubt that will make a difference either.

We've a new game now, hide and seek or where's Oscar today?

The shop had their freezer up yesterday but I was running around and couldn't leave anything that small in the far, it would thaw too quickly. I guess I should have thought to bring a freezer pack with me.

I was going to try some small insects, but haven't managed to catch anything other than ladybugs yet.... they're kind of large and give off some sort of odour chemical that I probably don't want in the tank anyway. 

Either the vigil continues, or this is the new Oscar. 

Jeff


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

Poor Oscar!  He _must_ be eating something in there - is he growing thin?
My Betta has been known to eat snails. . . is this a possibility in your tank? You can't find him because he's hunting, maybe?!
I hope he's okay. . .


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

OK, here are two shots of Oscar, one from back in his eating days and one from yesterday.

Can anyone tell which is which? 

The real differences in the shots are that the second is at the back of the tank under the lights and the first is at the glass under natural light.

Jeff.


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## fish monger (Dec 29, 2011)

I can't spot any differences.


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

yeah, he looks fine to me. He must be eating something, or he'd be growing thin by now after so long with no food. I'm not a Betta expert by any means, but he looks healthy enough to me, and his belly seems nicely filled in - not bloated or hollow. *shrugs* I hope I'm right and he's been nomming on snails or something!


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

The belly would not start to look thin until 4-6 weeks.


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## jentralala (Oct 5, 2012)

Were the shrimp added before or after his hunger strike?

I'm kind of starting to wonder if maybe he got a hold on either baby shrimp or some other live food source in the water, and now that's all he wants to eat. I've heard of fish refusing prepared food after getting live food, but I'm not sure how common that is.


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

jentralala said:


> Were the shrimp added before or after his hunger strike?
> 
> I'm kind of starting to wonder if maybe he got a hold on either baby shrimp or some other live food source in the water, and now that's all he wants to eat. I've heard of fish refusing prepared food after getting live food, but I'm not sure how common that is.


I thought maybe shrimp but they were added long before this started.... well... couple months anyway. Last time we managed to count shrimp we found 6 of the 10 and that was last week. Seeing as we usually only ever see 0-3 I figured that our "visible to hiding" ratio is normally pretty low, so 6 could mean that all ten are there. I've seen no baby shrimp at all, no females "berried" either.

Who knows. We'll wee how this plays out. We are still holding onto winter here -7C last night (20F) so little insects to test feed are not out and about much yet. I might be able to find some small worms. 

Jeff.


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

The vigil is over. 

Well, I guess Oscar was on a 30 day fast. This morning he ate at least one kibble. He might have eaten two but I've gotten so used to seeing him not eat that I wasn't paying as close attention as I normally do... I was checking out the new additions, three pepper corys to add to the singleton that we brought from work.... are they ever tiny. I'll post pics later.

Jeff.


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

HUZZAH FOR OSCAR!!! I'm happy to hear he finally was caught in the act of eating 
(lol, I feed my dogs kibble, the fish get pellets *giggle*)
Congrats on the new arrivals, I hope they do well now that you've gotten a special hide for them. Looking forward to pics


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## jentralala (Oct 5, 2012)

YES! So happy to hear he's eating! I was _so_ worried about him, I'm really glad he finally decided to take a bite of something.


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

I put Oscar back into the main tank yesterday. I figured he was either going to eat or not and there isn't much I can do about it one way or the other. The fish has got to be healthy enough to last 30 days with no apparent eating. 

I also replaced my DIY filter output with an slightly different hole configuration to provide a quieter corner for him to float in behind the vals as that seems to be one of his favourite spaces. I was right, he went there and just floats around watching everything. The vals separate him from the rest of the fish somewhat as well.

He ate again today while in the big tank, that was my concern that he wouldn't once back in.

Jeff.


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## JDM (Dec 9, 2012)

The final on Oscar... for now.

Here is a shot of Oscar posing, back to his old self.

I don't see those water marks on the glass until I look at pictures that I have taken.

Jeff.


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## fish monger (Dec 29, 2011)

He looks to be in great condition. The water spots come out of nowhere in pics.


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

lol, they really do! _CURSE YOU, WATERMARKS!!!_

Jeff, I'm really happy that this was a random fluke thing, and that Oscar is well - Betta can be so baffling sometimes! He's such a beautiful creature. . .

Thanks for the update!


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## PattyDoll5 (Sep 28, 2015)

*My Betta, Rocky, is stopped eating but looks healthy. Tank is in perfect condition*

Hello,
I've been very concerned these past 5 days. Here is some Info 1st off: I have a male Betta fish, Rocky who is 1 and 1/2 years of age. He lives in a 10 Gallon tank, with various natural plants, a nice large piece of Wood, substrate is ‘Eco complete’ and my filter is the “zoomed nano 510”. Rocky shares this tank with an Otto and two Amano shrimp. Water temperature stays between 76 and 78. The Ammonia levels are 0. There are no nitrates found. PH is usually at about 7.4 on average. 
He's always been a hungry little guy that used to enjoy Betta Pellets, Freeze-dried Bloodworms, Freeze-dried Bribe Shrimp and various other Betta Foods, as well as pees. I feed him once in the morning Weekdays at 7:00AM, Weekends at 10:30AM and once night between 10:00PM and 11:00PM. I try to vary his foods frequently. 
Here is my Concern: Since 5 days now Rocky refuses to eat even when directed to the food with my finger or even when directly held in front of him. He swims away from it. He also mainly spends his time at the bottom of the tank now. 
He does not display any physical signs of illnesses or disease. No clamped fins, his color, a pale pink, is glowing, no injuries or any cottony growths. There is no bulging of caving of the belly. His belly is a good, normal size. Nothing has changed in his environment recently. He has a great air supply in the water to do a spray bar, one of the best filters. Frequent water changes. 
Rocky simply stopped eating 5 days ago for no apparent reason. Sometimes I see him opening his mouth very widely, and then he simply swims to another location and sinks back to the bottom. He has done this once before, but only for 3 days. As this behavior came on it went away.. But not this time. 
Another sign that I thought to be a good sign is that he still will occasionally flare at the Otto. He still seems interested in things, but he's just not moving much and not eating.
I’ve tried various things to see if it would help: I did a large water change (even though water perimeters were very good), tried to feed him various different foods each day, re-arranged to piece of wood as to create more caves to explore, in case of boredom.. but nothing helped.
I've tried researching this issue without avail. Any help with this issue would be greatly appreciated, as Rocky is part of the family and we are so worried about him. 
Thanks in advance to anyone that could help. I'm worried sick :/


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