New little spunky sweetheart spits out his food

[EmZajex]

Okay, so on September 4th afternoon I got my new fish, Angry Russell the Misunderstood Betta, Angry Russell or just Russell for short. I want to help him, I don't want to be a bad mommy Also, I don't know if it matters but I got him at Petco and I don't know what they feed them there. He had a lot of stuff on the bottom of his container though but I'm not sure if it was uneaten food or just poop (I think it was poop)

The day I got him he not even acknowledge his food. Today he took a bite of one pellet and spit it out several times until getting swimming away. It seems he got a LITTLE food off the pellet but not enough to keep him sustained. I have been switching between Omega One Betta Pellets and TetraBetta Floating Mini Pellets and he doesn't seem to have shown a preference. He has a lot of energy and I know they can survive around 2 weeks without food.

If he does not eat his pellets, should I leave them floating on the top of the tank so he knows they are there and is comfortable with them as long as I keep the tank clean? Should I try, say, feeding him something like bloodworms or something else that you suggest after another day or two? Any other ideas?

I posted a picture of him and of his tank. It seems to have enough to stimulate him but he keeps just swimming back and fourth the back two walls, I think he's stressed out. He's also spitting out a lot of bubbles. Any suggestions on how to keep him happy or should I just give him more time to adjust?

Thank you for any help

P.s. Sorry the photos of him are blurry. It's hard to get a good picture of a moving betta on a phone camera





His tank setup:

[Thomasdog]

Can he not fit them in his mouth? If he was trouble fitting them in, then you might want to cut them in half and see if he is more temped by a smaller size. If he seems stressed out, I would keep his tank dark and quiet for a day or two and that should help him adjust. I see that you have a heater, which is great, and your tank is a good size, so kudos there, but I would try to cut his food in 1/2 and keep his tank dark and quiet for 1 or two days and see if that helps! :)

[EmZajex]

That doesn't seem like the problem but hey you never know. I'll cut the food in half (if I can! It's so tiny!) tonight. I'll keep his light off for today too and let you know how it goes

[Sapphoira]

Most of my bettas wouldn't eat for the first week that I had them, sometimes they just need time to adjust before they feel comfortable enough to eat :) You can try soaking the food in some garlic, it's supposed to make it extra tempting for them :)

and OH MY GOSH I just love your song you made for your sadly departed fishy!

[Seki]

+1 to Sapphoira

I never feed my boys on the first couple of days I get them. They are stressed from the move and the change in environment (remember, your little guy just endured a car ride, temperature changes, water change, and environment change), so it is normal for them to not want to eat.

Be patient and give him a day or two of darkness, like others have suggested. Then, when you feed him, make sure you feed him one pellet at a time. Give him a few minutes to eat it, and if he doesn't, remove the food. If you leave it in there, all it is doing is rotting and creating ammonia. If he doesn't eat it in the first couple of minutes, he doesn't want it, so leaving it in there won't help anything. When I feed my fish, I make sure I have their attention before dropping in any food pellets, and I make sure they eat each one before dropping in another.

Hope that helps some. :)

[Jupiter]

It's totally normal for bettas to not eat for a few days as they adjust to their new home. If he's acting healthy otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.

Keep offering him pellets and eventually he'll come around, just make sure to remove uneaten food so it doesn't go bad. ;)

Nice tank btw! I like that egg thing...

[EmZajex]

UPDATE:
I just tried to feed him the two different types of pellets. He showed interest in every one I dropped in but still spit them all out, even when I crushed them smaller. Should I try feeding him something else tomorrow?
I kept the light off today so hopefully that helped ease him into at least showing interest

Thank you guys so much, you've actually helped a lot so far. I didn't think I'd get him to this step even


@Jupiter haha thanks, it has a dinosaur in it and is supposed to rise up and make bubbles but I don't have much of a clue on how to set it up. My last little betta liked to sleep in there so it didn't even matter anyway haha