conditioning bettas

[cutecotton]

freezed dried bloodworms
betta pellets

those are what tehy are eating righ tnow. would conditiong them with:

live BBS
frozen brine shrimp/bloodworms

be okay? i can't get my hands on micrworms, so i'm stuck with frozen and live BBS..

 

[endparenthesis]

Sounds pretty much like what I used.

 

[kgrehm]

To add to this subject, the sell frozen daphnia at my lps, is that healthy to condtion bettas?

 

[shrks1fan]

BBS and microworms for adults? They're a bit small (although I have heard of some adults going after live BBS, but never microworms, so don't worry about that). Frozen Daphnia would be fine as would the BW's and adult BS. Feed at least twice a day for conditioning, basically all they want to eat (within reason).

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[f250fisherman]

Probably the most nutritious food for conditioning would be Black Worms. I don't use them myself, but those who do swear by them. I use Mysis shrimp for my first choice. Also frozen Brine shrimp, enriched Brine shrimp, and frozen Daphnia. MWs are a waste of time for adults, and I don't like to give conditioning adults live BBS, because I don't want them getting used to eating such small, wiggling foods. In my opinion, it could get them eating fresh hatched fry. I don't even use the Daphnia right before I put them in the tank, for that same reason. It may resemble eggs. I know nature should take over, and the paternal instinct override any thought of eating eggs or fry, but I'm not so sure it always does. My thought s are to condition the male as long as I can. The conditioning of the female depends on just how big the spawn is that you want to end up with.

 

[cutecotton]

alright...thanks for replying guys

i can't get my hands on blackworms either (my lfs sucks they dont' have ANY live food..and i don't like ordering online ). Good point about teh live BBS and wriggling fry though.

Okay, how about this:

at the beginning of the condition process i feed live BBS, frozen bloodworms + their regular food

towards the breeding time i feed frozen bloodworms, less live BBS, and everything else frozent that i can buy (for variety) like daphnia or wahtever else the lfs sells that's frozen.

As for food for the fry..i think i'm going to start them out on infursia (lquid fry food), as they get older, live BBS, and if i aboslutely HAVE to...i'll order a microwrom culture online *sigh*

does that sound like a good feeding schedule for the fry?

 

[endparenthesis]

Microworms are insanely easy to make millions of, and from what I've read utterly worthwhile for the fry (see why here). I'd consider them indepensible.

I'm sure they're keeping my fry alive at this point. I never really understood why people would do the breeding in a small tank and then move them to a bigger tank later. Seemed stressful to them when you could just put less water in a big tank to start. Now I know why they do that. Once they scatter, who knows where they are and what they're doing. But the fact that the microworms are always moving is probably making sure that my fry can always find food without me needing to have a certain feeding location (or small area where I know they'll all be).

 

[shrks1fan]

I would highly suggest the microworms or vinegar eels (although they can be a pain to harvest) along with the infusoria for their first foods. BBS can start about a week later. Are you sure there is nobody in your area that has a microworm culture you can get a starter culture from, to save you from buying off the internet?

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[endparenthesis]

I can probably send some. I don't know how customs (US to Canada) feels about microworms, but hey, I don't have to add a return address.

 

[cutecotton]

haha if i can buy some off you that would be great, i just asked around my lfs today to see if tehy had any live food...to my surpirse, they said no I'm still quite a ways away from breeding my betta though (aiming for august right now). *sigh*