There are three (four?) reasons why bettas chew on their fins. Don't worry, this is a very common occurrence, and Melafix will heal up his fins in no time (unless he's like my fish, who hates Melafix and will chew even more whenever Melafix is in the tank). First, your betta may be bored and understimulated. Have him flare at a mirror or move your fish a more trafficked area of the house to stimulate him. Second, your fish may be overstimulated and is effectly chewing his nails in sheer anxiety and nervousness. Move him to a quieter location, and don't startle him by turning lights on and off suddenly. Third, he may require a differently-sized tank. Usually people can solve the problem by doing one of the two things listed above, but it's also possible that he's not happy where he is. My fish never chewed on himself while living in a temporary 1/2 gallon, but when he moved to the 2.5 he'd chew constantly. In fact, he just did it today. Speaking of, your water may be dirty, and he may be chewing it as a result. I know that if I see my fish's tail in ribbons, that means I have to change the water. (he's picky and sensitive, which means I do a 50% water change every 3 days. The things I do for my fish!) He may just be a chronic tail-biter. If it comes down to that, Melafix and salt are your two best friends.

Lexie, First let me explain a couple things......I have a masters in fish, maintained my own fishroom for more than 20 years, write for fish magazines and more. I have bred show bettas and many other fish. I have showed fish and won Best in Show on numerous occassions.I have many years of experience just keeping fish healthy and happy. The reason, that you get posts about the size of your aquarium is because you are not providing the proper care that is needed to keep two bettas alive and happy in a 2.5 gallon tank. We are not judging you....just trying to make you understand that you are not providing the right conditions that your pets need. Your bettas may live for a while....one is already not eating....so that one won't live long.....The other one won't live long either in the conditions that you said you have provided. Bettas need high temps from 79 to 82. If your room temps don't make the water in this little tank that temp.....then a heater is a must. Small tanks without heater also have greater and faster fluctuations of temps as the room temps change....this can cause major stress to your fish. A healthy betta or any healthy fish will start eating the next day after transportation. A stressed or sick fish won't. Most breeders feed a large variety of foods, so that their fish will do well and eat well in their new homes, regardless of what is fed. The fish that are raised on farms, don't get that care, and that is what you will find in most pet stores. These fish are stressed to begin with when they are transported to your pet store.....and then on top of that they are moved again to the customers tank, usually in a couple of days....only to cause more stress. May I strongly suggest you do a google search and read as much as you can about bettas or any other fish you might possibley be interested in. Here are a couple of books you might also want to look for. 1. BETTAS A Complete Introduction by Walt Maurus..this book is a tfh publication 2. Bettas Gouramis and other Anabantoids Labyrinth Fishes of the World by Jorg Vierke.....this book is also a tfh publication. You can of course choose to do as you please with YOUR fish....but they won't live long in poor conditions. Sorry that is just the facts. Some of us are actually trying to help you. Good luck!

I wanted to post this on the net in as many places as I can, and I'm starting here, as this is one of the first places that "betta won't eat" turns up on google. My wife and I bought a betta about three weeks ago for our son, who just turned four. The fish was happy when we put him in his ten gallon filtered tank, with two guppies (both female) We were told that this was the max amount of fish to cycle a tank with. Within twenty four hours, the guppies died (aww... poor pippy longfinnies...) but the betta (Elvis) made it just fine. However, he wouldn't eat. We kept putting in food, and he wouldn't eat. After a week, I was beginning to wonder how long a betta could go without eating. After two weeks, I bought these betta pellets to put in the bottom of the tank which would fall apart, and the betta could nip at, at his leisure. He still didn't eat. These pellets turn to dust, and the dust wasn't even remotely disturbed. At two and a half weeks, I did a 10% water change, just to try to get rid of all the uneaten food in his tank. Also, at this point, I was giving him only one pellet a day, just so he would have SOMETHING to eat. But after the pellets became water logged and sank, I counted them. He was literally eating NOTHING. Or maybe just a quarter of a "betta bit" a night? At three weeks, I assumed that Elvis was going to die. He looked healthy, the acid, ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate, were all fine, he was totally active, but he absolutely WOULD NOT EAT! I looked up every fish disorder I could find, and it wasn't Tuberculosis, ich, fungus, parasites, dropsey, or anything else I could put a finger on. He looked like a perfectly healthy, remotely active (which I hear is somewhat common for a betta) somewhat depressed, betta. I even got him some blood worms to try. He watched me put them in, followed them to the bottom as they sank, and stared at them for a minute or two, before swimming away. Finally, (yesterday) I got him some friends. I wanted a good clean up crew for my betta, since I KNEW there was tons of uneaten food in his tank, and I was fighting the ammonia BIG TIME! I got him four loaches (these are supposed to be nearly neutral on the ammonia impact, since they eat uneaten food) as well as 15 ghost shrimp (I REALLY don't want to deal with algae at all) two "glofish" otherwise known as extremely altered zebra fish, (my son really likes the color pink right now, so we let him pick two fish, and he got the pink "glofish") and one german blue ram (I like cichlids, and this is the only one I've heard about getting along with bettas, about 50 percent of the time) So all of a sudden, Elvis got 4 loaches, 15 shrimp, 2 zebras, and a ram!!! If he wasn't eating because of loneliness, that was about to change! And guess what... IT DID! He still wouldn't eat, after my son fed all the fish. He did his typical *stare at the food until it gets water logged, then watch it sink to the bottom, then swim away* But then the ram, zebras, and loaches gobbled up all the food. It took about 12 hours before I discovered a ghost shrimp's eyes, and face, sticking out of Elvis' mouth! The creature hadn't eaten for three weeks, then he goes after the largest living thing in the tank! He couldn't get any air by swimming (his mouth was full of shrimp) so he stayed by the very top, gasping for breath every 20 seconds, trying to swallow the shrimp. It took him over 30 minutes to get that shrimp down, and then my male betta looked pregnant! And I'm pretty sure that now he thinks he's wild. Elvis wouldn't flare before... at all. Even when I put a mirror in front of him, he would just swim away like he was scared, then stay in a little cave that I made for him of slate. But that shrimp totally changes his attitude. He's chasing the german blue ram (a cichlid!) around the tank, and flaring at it like crazy! I'm actually a little worried for the ram, which I never thought would happen, since Elvis has been the (as my wife and son put it) "the most boring fish EVER" So a tad bit of advice for all you betta keepers out there who are doing everything right (one betta to start a ten gallon tank with filter, heater, three plants, and places to hide) your incredibly boring betta might just be... well... bored! Get him a buddy or two. My betta wouldn't even eat blood worms (which I hear are their favorite food) but after the extra fish, and eating that shrimp, I also found some mosquito larvae in a five gallon bucket in the yard. I scooped them out, filtered them several times, (got all the extra plant and dust matter out of the glass) when I plopped the netful of them in the tank, every fish in the aquarium went nuts! Even the (pregnant looking) Elvis! So, if you don't want to get him any tank mates, try some live food first. And remember, my scrawny little betta went 3 weeks in a filtered, heated tank which was going through it's initial cycle, without eating one little thing. And then, with friends, and live food, he went NUTS!

I wouldn't worry so much about the older dog as the younger one when his friend passes on. Might need 2 younger dogs! My mom always replaces her elderly dogs before they die. She knows that if she lost her only dog, it would be hard to start searching. If she already has another dog, it eases the grief and you never have to torture yourself with the question of "do I want another dog and if so, when?" I do things a little bit backwards. I had a 10 year old Husky Aleksander, and a 4 year old Husky Anastasia, when my 6 year old Rottie died. I didn't get another dog for a couple of months when a 6 year old Lab pretty much landed on my lap. Then I adopted an 8 year old Rottie from school. Then Aleksander died. Taht's when I got Tatya, my 1+ year old Husky. I don't have time for a younger dog, especially with school, so a one year old was perfect for me. Plus I didn't have to wait as long to start running with her (better to wait until dog is 18-24 months). I just get dogs that I love at random times and at random ages. Tatya was the first dog that I sought out since my first 2 dogs 11 years ago. All the others were just joyful happenstance.