Betta doesn't seem to notice food

[Gideyon]

Something I've been noticing with my betta is that he doesn't notice when I drop food in. At first I thought because he's new and not used to it. But it's been 3 months.  

He just swims right past it.  At one point, he saw some, ate it, but then seemed to be looking for more, and yet there were two pellets resting right on top of his head. 

Is he just a little slow?  Maybe vision problems?   I know he's not blind.  He maneuvers around the tank well. 

 

 

[Colu]

I remember reading that some bettas like dragon scale can suffer from sight prolems

[Gideyon]

He's a butterfly.  Should've mentioned that in case it is a breed issue. 

[Gideyon]

I'm beginning to wonder if the lights are too bright. I always turn it on before I feed him.   It's also on a few times during the day. 

It's an old hood with incandescent lights.  I wonder if his vision was damaged temporarily or otherwise by it.  

[FrozenFins]

My Betta does the same. I've had him since Feburary, he's just too busy begging for food that he doesnt relize I dropped food in.

I found that a feeding ring helped and after a week or so he knew that the food would drop there, still though it takes him a while to see that I dropped food in.

Tankmates helped because when he saw the neon tetras start eating he would head straight to the feeding ring.

To help him relize that theres food I stick my finger in the water. He thinks my finger is food and starts swimming near. I then remove my finger and he sees the pellets.

[Gideyon]

On 5/3/2021 at 2:30 PM, James Black said:

I found that a feeding ring helped

I tried this.   I haven't seen him go to it, but I do see the food is missing after an hour.  Maybe he'll figure it out. 

 

Thanks!