Betta not eating?

[CatLover]

I have a male VT betta that seems to be unable to eat. He attacks his food with gusto as usual. After eating it, he burps it back up and then attempts to swallow again with no success. It has been a couple of days now.

I am giving him his usual betta pellets and have also tried tropical flake - both of which he has always liked.

Has anyone seen this happen with their betta or have any ideas what to do?

He lives in a heated, power filtered 10 gallon aquarium which is divided for two males. Both are used to each other and he has no reason to be stressed. Water quality is good and his neighbor (a large crowntail) is perfectly healthy and has ridiculously huge finnage.

Any and all ideas please:help:

Thanks

[kyle3]

is it possible he's constipated? this is a fairly common occurrence for bettas i've read. there are a lot of resources- 1 common recommendation is feeding peas. I've not had experience with this my self- so definitely read up on it to see if it jive with your observations

cheers-K

[CatLover]

Thank-you. That is a good idea I haven't thought of. I usually feed my bettas little pieces of skinned peas periodically, but I haven't in a while.

He ate one piece this evening and seems to have kept it down, so I'll see what happens.
thanks

[LauraL]

Ditto - sounds like constipation, so skinned peas all the way. One way to avoid constipation is to take a day off from feeding on a pretty regular basis. Some recommend skipping one day a week. I do it about 1 out of 10, since my guy isn't prone to that problem. Also, go easy on the brine shrimp or bloodworms if you feed those - they love 'em so much they'll stuff themselves like goldfish, and then...well, it's back to peas. ;)