It's very common for bettas to spit out food that is new to them
especially dry pellet or flake food. Even a change in brands can cause
the "pah-tooie effect." Bettas digestive systems are designed for
insects and larve which are natural for them to eat. Additionally,
Betta breeders feed them live or frozen foods from the time they are
born because they promote growth and a healthy immune system. It isn't
until they arrive at petstores or even your home that they are
introduced to dry pellet or flake foods. While these foods are
generally well balanced they do have several negitive aspects which
make them undesirable to feed your betta. Dry foods are difficult for
your betta to digest because they are only about 10% moisture and
contian mostly protein fillers such as wheat meal, soybean meal,
oatmeal, and brown rice which are undigestable to your fish. With dry
food is very easy to over feed your betta. Remember your bettas
stomach is only about as big as one of his eyeballs and he should only
be fed that amount at a time. Also, pellets expand 2x to 3x their
usual size when introduced to water. This means 3 pellets could be
equivilant to feeding your betta 6 or 9 pellets at a time which is way
too much. Other complications of overfeeding your betta are bloating,
constipation or even swim bladder disorders.

It is greatly preferred to feed your betta live or frozen foods like
bloodworms, glassworms, grindal worms, blackworms, white worms, brine
shrimp, tubifex worms, wingless or flightless fruit-flies, mysis
shrimp or beef-heart. [A combination of two or three throughout the
week provides a balanced diet.] If you absolutely cannot feed anything
other then pellet food its best to soak the pellets in conditioned
water for at least 10 minutes before feeding them to your fish
allowing them to expand fully outside of the bettas stomach.

To get started with frozen foods consider Hikari brand bloodworms and
supplement a few feedings a week with Hikari brine shrimp. San
Francisco Bay Brand frozen foods also have a good reputation. It may
take your betta several days at least to get used to the change in
food. Just be consistent and he'll get the idea.

Not eating is also a sign of other possible issues. It's probably the
most common sign of a problem along with lethargy and loss of color.
It could be anything from poor water conditions, to parasites to fin
rot or a bacterial infection. Because medicating puts a great deal of
stress on the betta it's best to not medicate until you have
accurately diagnosed your fish. Use caution especially with
antibiotics because like people, fish suffer from antibiotic immunity.
Administering meds without a diagnosis could mean later down the road
your betta's immune system will reject the antibiotics when he really
needs them most. Most often the problem is caused by environmental
factors like ammonia, nitrites, pH fluctuations or rapid temperature
changes. Try testing your bettas water parameters before giving him
any medication and see if there is something you can change without
having to put his body through the stress of medicating.

I really hope this helps you to fix your fishy. Let us know if his
eating is improving at all.





(Jass) wrote in message . com...
Ever since that food change, my betta's not been eating. He seems
hungry, he goes for the pallets and then spits them out. I thought
maybe the pallets are too big as I've noticed. So yesterday I crushed
the new pallets and he seemed to eat some of that. Then later I
noticed his fins are not as pretty as they can be...they seem a bit
torn, there's one tiny hole in the fins....he seemed a bit depressed
too. I put some betta antibiotic in his tank, and he seems to come
around but still the eating problem. I went by pet store today and got
him the most expensive food, Betta Bio-Gold, and the pallets are baby
size just like he is used to...so I thought okay he'll go for
them..but no he spit that one out too!!! Aaaargh!!! Is he just
spoiled?

Jass