siamese fighting fish

hello all,

i just bought a siamese fighting fish yesterday and today it's not looking very well...its looking lifeless floating about the tank and its not eating any food.

the rest of the fish are fine but he looks like he can't bothered!!!!!


any clues/ help making him look abit better


Confused fisherman

How big is your tank?

If you've only had it for a few days, don't worry about it not eating. My first betta took 5 days before he started the food I was feeding him. They're apparently fairly finecky eaters and are slightly resistant to new food, so don't worry; he's not an annorexic fish

About his listlessness; it could be because the water is too cold. What are you keeping him in?

mred31 said:

it's not looking very well...its looking lifeless floating about the tank and its not eating any food.

Click to expand...

Hi Mred31,

Is your fish floating sidways like the betta in the picture? Was it eating heaps the day before?

If the answer to both questions is yes, it is most probably suffering from SBD (Swim Bladder Disorder). The fish in the picture suffered from SBD because it was overfed. It recovered after 2 days of fasting.

SBD could also be caused by constipation, an injured/ruptured swim bladder or internal infection. The following site has some info on SBD.

http/bettas.fishjunkies.com/Disorders/sb...sorders/sbd.php

Most new bettas don't eat for a couple of days, my first one ate right away but my second one didn't eat for three days.

what r u feeding him? i know my bettas absolutly cant stang flake food, the wont touch the stuff, if ur feeding him tropical flakes he's definately not going to like them right away, id suggest betta bites for the most part bettas are pretty lazy and mope around most of the time, try a mirror, maybe that'll excite him into action