Marine Betta help

Waters · Jun 30, 2020

I added a Marine Betta almost 2 1/2 weeks ago........still have not seen him eat.....or come out of his cave for that matter. I have tried bouncing frozen shrimp and silversides in front of him which he shows no interest in. I have tried direct and broadcast feedings of mysis and pellets. Anything live just gets devoured by the other fish in the tank. I had no idea these could be so difficult to get to eat. I am starting to lose hope

Any ideas?

scchase · Jun 30, 2020

Pretty common IME also they generally will feed off the rocks, often takes up to 6 months for them to be more active.

Chefwheredyougo · Jun 30, 2020

try feeding live ghost shrimp. The shrimp dies fairly quickly in the SW, but the movement definitely garners a feeding response. It's the only thing mine would eat at first, at a few months it slowly started taking to frozen

lion king · Jun 30, 2020

Hopefully he's scavenging, Betta's can be difficult to start feeding. Ideally he would have started in an observation tank in case you needed to start with live food. Being in the display with other fish to get the live food now makes it a difficult task. You can try something smaller like live brine shrimp, live black worms, or even some pods placed into the rocks, something that the other fish won't be bothered with. You can also try and block the other fish while herding some ghosties toward the Betta's cave. It's a 50/50 proposition at this point, these guys do come around but the initially feeding can be difficult.

Goodair · Jun 30, 2020

You can try broadcast feeding on the opposite side of the betas cave to distract em, and drop a live shrimp in front of the cave and use a net to ward off any one else. Try to position yourself where your hidden. This is not a guarantee, just something else you can try to see if you get a response. Also helps when you do it with dim lights.

Hugh Mann · Jun 30, 2020

Patience, Bettas usually take a while to come around. Mine took almost a month before it would eat frozen foods. Every now and again I would catch it out of the corner of my eye picking at something on the rocks.

Even now I have to put food in the tank and back off. Doesn't always eat when I am right next to the tank.

If you have a high flow, maybe try turning it down, but not off. They can also be pretty slow eaters, especially at first, cautiously approaching food, looking at it and then taking it. All the time mine ignores food if it's blowing around too much.

Mysis and brine is a good go to. Also small chunks of shrimp and scallop mine will readily eat.

Waters · Jul 1, 2020

Thanks everyone. Part of the issue is I have not seen him even leave his little cave......hard to even get food to him. If he sees me, he immediately turns his body and buries his head into the rock. As of right now, there has been absolutely zero interest in food....or even leaving his hole. I have a very non aggressive tank with normal reef fish so it definitely isn't an issue there. I will keep trying and hope for the best

Chefwheredyougo · Jul 1, 2020

He will eventually start eating, or at the very least picking the rocks when you aren't around. They are very adept at finding food. Just be patient with him and it'll be all good

Fourstars · Jul 1, 2020

Probably finding enough to eat. My male often turns his nose up at my offering, female always at the glass begging for food. I would not worry to much, I’m sure he/she will start eating soon.

Batsiel · Aug 27, 2020

I have a similar problem and have already begun to worry a lot. Thank you for comforting me ...

Batsiel · Aug 31, 2020

Well, I will use the advice that was written just above

tuan12321 · Sep 2, 2020

Do you have a lot of pods in your tank? They often hunt at night and could be getting enough food from pods.

Waters · Sep 11, 2020

Unfortunately he did not make it.....lasted a couple of months and slowly starved to death I guess

To answer your question, no, I don't have a lot of pods.....he just never showed any interest in feeding at all. Tried many different types of food with no luck.

John09 · May 2, 2023

Waters said:
I added a Marine Betta almost 2 1/2 weeks ago........still have not seen him eat.....or come out of his cave for that matter. I have tried bouncing frozen shrimp and silversides in front of him which he shows no interest in. I have tried direct and broadcast feedings of mysis and pellets. Anything live just gets devoured by the other fish in the tank. I had no idea these could be so difficult to get to eat. I am starting to lose hope Any ideas?

John09 · May 2, 2023

First few days of getting my betta fish I put it in a 10 gallon tank and noticed it never eats anything. So I tried putting the betta fish back into the plastic cup that I got it in during feeding time and dropped bloodworms, brine shrimp, tropical fish flakes and betta pellets soon after the 3rd day it started recognizing the food it will be getting. I also drop it in the same spot everytime nowadays he can't get enough of it.

Waters · May 3, 2023

John09 said:
First few days of getting my betta fish I put it in a 10 gallon tank and noticed it never eats anything. So I tried putting the betta fish back into the plastic cup that I got it in during feeding time and dropped bloodworms, brine shrimp, tropical fish flakes and betta pellets soon after the 3rd day it started recognizing the food it will be getting. I also drop it in the same spot everytime nowadays he can't get enough of it.

Hey John.....this is a thread from a few years ago....that fish didn't make it. You are talking about freshwater Bettas though......I had a marine betta.