my Betta fish wont eat

Question
My Betta fish won't eat his/her food that is Nutrafin Max Betta Food he (or she I can't tell which) will not eat them. Why?
And I just went to the pet store and bought a Betta Starter Kit  and it comes with a Bowl Conditioner. What is that? And how long to I let the tank water set before I put him/her in? Please help me! I don't want him/her to die. It's my first Betta fish. How long do they live around?

Thank You for helping me. Have a Great Day!
Bye


Answer
Hi Amanda
There's several different types of bettas, but the more common ones at the pet stores usually sell, the males have real long flowing fins.  If that's what yours looks like, it's a male.  The females tend to have shorter non flowing fins.  Here's a couple of good links with info on bettas and their care:

http://www.healthybetta.com/

http://www.bettacentral.com/index.php

And this one tells how to tell the difference between a male and female:

http://www.healthybetta.com/articles/New%20To%20Bettas/malefemale.html

How long have you had the betta?

Bowl conditioner/water conditioner is a dechlorinator.  It removes chlorine and chloramines from your tap water-very important to use if you're on city water.  Most water companies now are using chloramines in the water instead of chlorine, so just letting water sit out doesn't remove the chloramines like it used to with chlorine.  

So, if you're on city water, use the dechlorinator/conditioner.  I'm not sure how big that starter kit is, I'm sure it's not very big.  Anything under 1 gallon, you'll need to be changing out 100% of the water every 2-3 days.  Make sure the new water is close to the temperature of the old water.  

I had one betta I had to keep in a smaller shallow bowl, and I kept the original "cup" she came in.  I would scoop her out into the cup with some of her old bowl water.  Rinse her bowl out, add the new water and conditioner.  Then, slowly add some of the new tank water to the cup she's in.  Take at least 30 minutes and keep adding a little bit of the new water to her cup.  Then you can add her and the water to the bowl.  This way, if there's any difference in temperature, or ph she won't get shocked because you let her adjust to the new water slowly.  

I would also advise not adding any gravel to the bowl as well as not many decorations.  Uneaten food and fish waste(poop) will get trapped down in the gravel.  And, since you have to do such frequent water changes, the gravel will get in the way.  But, if you don't clean out the gravel as well, all that uneaten food and waste that's trapped in it will pollute the water causing stress, disease, even death for the betta.

My experience with pet store bettas, I kept them all in larger fish tanks.  They live on average 1-3 years.  For  better quality bettas, you should buy them directly from a breeder.  Theirs I"ve heard live a bit longer, some up to 5-7 years.  But, all that depends largely on water quality and food and their basic care as well.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have more questions!  And definitely read those links above.  They have lots of info on their care and such.  The only thing I don't agree with, I think on the first one, is how often water changes should be done.  I'm a fan of doing them frequently, and don't think fish should be subjected to having to swim around in their potty water lol.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Christy