# New double tail halfmoon plakat not eating!



## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Housing 
What size is your tank? 2.5 gallons
What temperature is your tank? 77 - 79 degrees.
Does your tank have a filter? No
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No.
Is your tank heated? Yes.
What tank mates does your betta fish live with? None.

Food
What type of food do you feed your betta fish? Tried flakes and pellets.
How often do you feed your betta fish? Trying twice every day.

Maintenance 
How often do you perform a water change? Every 3 days.
What percentage of the water do you change when you perform a water change? ~95%.
What type of additives do you add to the water when you perform a water change? Conditioner

Water Parameters:
Have you tested your water? If so, what are the following parameters?

Ammonia:
Nitrite:
Nitrate:
pH: 7
Hardness:
Alkalinity: 

Symptoms and Treatment
I got a male, halfmoon, double tail plakat from petco. I've had him for almost a week. He has not eaten flakes or pellets that I've seen. He seems curious about the food but spits it out if he even tries to eat some. He seems otherwise healthy, other than having a slightly bloated belly when I got him. His color is pale underneath a very pretty greenish, deep blue, I'm assuming because he has not been eating. I feed him twice a day, leaving the food there for two hours and then clearing it from the surface. Because there's more waste in the tank I have been doing water changes every two days. 

I have already returned a previous fish to the same petco because I was having the same problem. I bought new gravel and an entirely new tank for this guy, and boiled all the old decorations from the previous fish, so there is no cross contamination happening. Please help me! This guy is beautiful and I don't want to lose him too.


----------



## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Here are some photos of him. When he is stressed he gets white lines next to his gills and his tummy seems unusually white in general. Please help!


----------



## CrowntailxKing (Mar 18, 2011)

Perhaps you should try crushing the pellets or crumbling the flakes. He might like smaller food bites. Also, try getting some bloodworms or brine shrimp because even the pickiest Betta will eat those! Of course, these are not to be used as an everyday meal, but just to get him eating if the crushed pellets/flakes don't work for you. Hope your little guy eats soon! Also, don't leave the food in there for that long of time. Clear it out after 5-10 min of him not eating.


----------



## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

I've tried crumbling flakes and pellets as well as soaking pellets in garlic juice and so far no dice.

I am concerned about giving him "treat"-y foods because then what if he won't eat anything else after that and I'll be as stuck as I am now :/


----------



## Betta Slave (Dec 8, 2009)

If you have any frozen foods, such as bloodworms or brine-shrimp, feed those to him and see if he'll eat. IME, bloodworms are greatly preferred over the brine-shrimp. Frozen is much better than freeze-dried.

Don't worry about feeding him treaty foods. He'll get so wired up and excited to eat them that eventually he won't notice that he's eaten regular food.


----------



## roadrunner (Apr 3, 2010)

I used to have problems with food, but since I switched to Hikari micro wafers, my boys eat them like crazy. They are high in protein and perfect size for them. Once every few days I also give them daphnia. Daphnias are high in protein plus work like laxative, so it help them with digesting. Since I've been feeding my bettas wafers and daphnia (once in a while blood worms), I haven't had any bloating problems.
Frozen blood worms are also good and you can feed these more often, just don't feed him freeze dried blood worms every day.


----------



## hmongmoua (Mar 31, 2012)

how is the fish? 
Is it eating? 
or did you lose it? :\


----------

