i found out with one of my bettas especially the way to get around them not eating (unless theyre really ill obviously). my gabriel had eaten nothing in nearly 3 weeks. still acted the same, sat on the bottom of his bowl, did nothing. when food drifted past him he'd look at it and think 'nnnnnnnna'. even with live food! the way to combat this i have found is to actually touch their lip with the food (preferably blood worm paste with whole bloodworms like the tetra stuff). they GOBBLE it down. ive managed to get at least 5 good size mouthfuls of bloodworm down him every night for the past 2 nights since i started doing this. it works on everyone too. not sure how many people are gonna find this helpful but its here in case anyone needs it

I am glad that you have gotten him to eat. Thanks for sharing your idea!