# FINALLY have a betta, and now it's twitching?



## Kehy

This is a bit of a story, for the real question, skip the first paragraph!
Somehow by pure random luck I was in a Walmart today. Not just any Walmart, but one where the fishtanks were clean, had live plants, and the quality of fish was comparable to that of a fish store. Then I noticed the employee working there talking about her 1000 gallon flowerhorn and arowana tank. And then some guy walks by, muttering about oscars. The betta cups were full, and all were lively, healthy specimens. There were several very nice looking females (especially a pink one and one that was a lovely dark blue and had funny spots/stripes on its fins) and then I saw him. Set out right in front was a gorgeous red crowntail with a light blue blush over his tail end. It was a very tough call choosing between him and one of the girls, but I think I chose my crowntail well. He was the largest, and upon seeing the lovely girls, was doing his best to impress them. 

Anyways, once I got him home and was acclimating him, I noticed him twitching a lot. I added a very small amount of salt, thinking it might be parasites that I couldn't see, and for a while he didn't twitch. I put him in the tank, and (after trying to eat my dwarf sag, the gravel, and a small snail) he continued to twitch. Nothing physically seems to be wrong with him, but is there any reason why he's twitching so much? Also, are there any tips for teaching a betta to eat flakes? For the moment, that's the only food I've got around.

Also, for anyone who's been waiting for a pic of my tank, I give you:

Sorry for how blurry it is, I took the picture on my iPod


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## majerah1

Twitching could be a parasite but it can also be small particulates floating about irritating his scales,like fine grains of sand.

I would just keep an eye on him,feed him some garlic soaked food(may also help him in eating flakes)and keep him warm and clean.

On the food he should eat them in a day or so,but you can try to find some frozen bloodworms for him as a treat.If he doesnt eat the flakes in a few days,get him some pellets.Flakes are not the best for bettas anyhow.


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## Kehy

I know about the flakes, not my first choice, but I don't have any other food for a bit until I get back to my apartment. All that's doing is feeding the snails. I'll try the garlic when I get there too, it's the second day and he's still twitching. Not quite as bad as before though, but it gets worse it he's excited. He's not acting sick though, no clamped fins or anything, so I'll take that as a good sign.


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