# Betta fish randomly started to spit out food



## Gallifrey (Sep 22, 2013)

When I switched Gally to a smaller tank six months ago, he started eating pellets. (When he was in his bigger tank, he'd never eat them. Instead, he would spit them out. He ate flakes instead.) The first two months into the tank switch, I fed him NLS betta formula pellets, then I switched from that to NLS Thera+A (or whatever it's called). He ate the betta formula without hesitation, as well as the Thera+A when I switched.

A week ago, I decided to start feeding him the betta formula again. Not all the time, but every now and again. The first day, he ate the pellets without hesitation. Now, no matter what I feed him, he'll eat one or two pellets, then continually spit out the rest of the pellets I give him. (I feed eight to ten pellets a day, four to five in the morning/night.) I know he CAN eat them because he did before, but I'm wondering what might be causing him to spit out the pellets now. He even eats one flake, and spits out the rest as well.

I switched him to a bigger tank yesterday, but he did eat two pellets, then spat out the rest.

Water parameters are normal. He doesn't appear sick or anything. I try interacting with him throughout the day, and usually he's responsive, but he's been ignoring me as well. No strange markings on him, and his belly isn't white.

What do you think it going on? How could I fix it? I also tried starving him for a day or two to see if he'd eat all his pellets, but no change.


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## juanitawolf (May 12, 2014)

i think 8 pellets is too much...i only feed my fish with 4 a day
abot the other stuff im not sure, maybe other member would know


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

I feed way more than 8 pellets. In my opinion there are a lot of underfed fish out there. Like you said, you know it can eat 8 because it used to eat 8. I wouldn't worry too much - I think it's normal for a fish's appetite to fluctuate. I certainly see that enough working on a fishing boat ;-) but really though, maybe fast the fish for a couple days and see if that doesn't stimulate it's appetite. Of course, continue to observe.


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## Agent13 (Apr 23, 2013)

Lol.. Honestly sounds like a tantrum of sorts . Maybe he really loved the extra garlic in Thera a and to really teach you a lesson is being super melodramatic . Honestly I kinda think that's what's going on. I'd continue to offer the Thera a as it's the best food option and he should eat it when he's hungry enough . 


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## juanitawolf (May 12, 2014)

mine only eats 4 pellets...is it normal for appetite to vary that much from fish to fish?


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## jennandjuicetm (May 4, 2014)

Mybe he is uncomfortable in the new tank still. How long was he in thr bigger tank last time before moving him back to the smaller one?


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I feed all my bettas much more than 8 pellets a day as well, so I don't think it's the amount. I have a betta who does this same thing randomly from time to time and then just as randomly gets over it. They are fickle creatures. 

Could you experiment with some frozen food? Like see if he will eat some bloodworms without spitting them out. If he keeps those in, I'd think then he's just being kind of jerky about the pellets.


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## jennandjuicetm (May 4, 2014)

My little girl gets 6-7 pellees, my boy gets 7ish and my big girl gets 8 or so.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

I am so confused about how many pellets to feed. The numbers are all over the place! What is the recommended number for the mini pellets? And the regular sized pellets?

When I got my fish the person at the store told me to feed only 2-3 mini betta bio gold pellets per day... but I thought that was too little and give them 3-4 mini pellets twice per day. Is that still too little?


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

Yeah I think that's still too little. Of course when it comes to counting pellets, size matters. I can see my bettas only eating three of the 2 mm pellets. But three 1 mm pellets? Wouldn't be all that much of a meal. Three 0.5 mm pellets wouldn't even be an appetizer.

There is no right number to feed. You either arbitrarily decide how much your fish is going to eat (based on....?) or you let the fish eat till it's full. I subscribe to the latter, but many people count pellets.


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

I feed mine twice a day. In the morning, they get maybe 8-10 pellets each, give or take. This is the 1mm NLS pellets. I don't really count, but I feed them until they seem bored with it. In the evening, I give them about a pea sized chunk of repashy meat pie or sometimes a few live blackworms. 

My baby gets the NLS "small fish" pellets, and he must eat at least 15 of them at each meal. But he's a baby, and they are tiny tiny pellets.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

jaysee said:


> Yeah I think that's still too little. Of course when it comes to counting pellets, size matters. I can see my bettas only eating three of the 2 mm pellets. But three 1 mm pellets? Wouldn't be all that much of a meal. Three 0.5 mm pellets wouldn't even be an appetizer.
> 
> There is no right number to feed. You either arbitrarily decide how much your fish is going to eat (based on....?) or you let the fish eat till it's full. I subscribe to the latter, but many people count pellets.


I guess 3-4 of the betta bio gold perfectly sized (mini) pellets seems about the size of their eye, so I feed them that amount twice a day... but I don't want to be starving them! If I feed them as many as they want, won't they bloat or get SBD?


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

huckleberry77 said:


> I guess 3-4 of the betta bio gold perfectly sized (mini) pellets seems about the size of their eye, so I feed them that amount twice a day... but I don't want to be starving them! If I feed them as many as they want, won't they bloat or get SBD?


The size of their eye really has nothing to do with anything. If you were to dissect a fish you would see that the empty stomach is much larger than the eye. In addition, the stomach is designed to stretch to accommodate food so the volume of food the fish can consume is a multiple of the eye.

Feeding a high quality food like NLS, digestive issues are not a concern. I would be concerned feeding lower quality foods. I do not consider hikari a high quality food and would not let them eat that till they were full.


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## huckleberry77 (May 31, 2014)

jaysee said:


> The size of their eye really has nothing to do with anything. If you were to dissect a fish you would see that the empty stomach is much larger than the eye. In addition, the stomach is designed to stretch to accommodate food so the volume of food the fish can consume is a multiple of the eye.
> 
> Feeding a high quality food like NLS, digestive issues are not a concern. I would be concerned feeding lower quality foods. I do not consider hikari a high quality food and would not let them eat that till they were full.


Thanks! I just found out that NLS and Omega One are better than Betta Bio Gold, so I plan to switch to one of those shortly. I also feed freeze dried bloodworms and brine shrimp. I suppose I should start increasing the size of their meals and see how they react.


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

They should look like they have food in their belly when they are done eating  That's the guide I would go by more than anything.


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## jennandjuicetm (May 4, 2014)

I start out feeding 5 (omega betta pellets) then go from there. I wait a few minutes and give two more. Rinse and repeat until they look full. If they started to have swimming issues I would scale back the next night until I find the happy medium between not full enough and too full.


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## Gallifrey (Sep 22, 2013)

Sorry! I forgot to keep track of this thread.

In regards to the amount to be fed, I conditioned my fish to eat 8-10 pellets a day. I started off with 4-6 per day, then gradually increased over the next two months to 8-10. Gally is going to have to be conditioned again.

That aside:

He started eating pellet food immediately when I switched him to the smaller tank. He started spitting out his food while in the smaller talk about a week and a half before I moved him into the bigger tank.

Once in the bigger tank, he was a curious little one. Observing everything, and actually acts a bit normal, aside from the food spitting. He'll eating freeze dried blood worms with ease, but tonight he actually spit it out for some odd reason. He'll eat a tiny pellet or two every few days, but not enough to keep him satiated. Otherwise, he still looks healthy and normal. He still does that thing he did in his smaller tank (hanging out on one part of the tank) in the bigger tank. I may be adding a teeny bit of green tea to see if that ups his mood, even in the slight.

Btw, he spits out any pellet, betta formula or Thera a. He spits out Thera a more often than betta formula. He even spits out the flake food I used to feed him, that he used to love because he wouldn't eat pellet food at all. This's been going on for three weeks since I posted this thread. At least he eats a little bit of something, rather than nothing at all.

Blah. Finicky fish! But I still love his little self. @[email protected]

Also, how long till your finicky fish decided to start eating his regular food again?


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