Feeding Betta Fry

[Rembrandt]

Successfully bred my first bettas in the last few days - the fry are just at the "dangling" phase and i'm waiting for them to swim horizontally before feeding with baby brine shimp I have lined up. I was curious if anyone could tell me how long BBS stay small enough for the fry? I have lined up hatchers to have a fresh batch every day but a buddy has suggested that may not be necessary.

Any thoughts much appreciated.

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Hallo and welcome to the forum Rembrandt...... Bettas are one of those fish where it is essential to have Infusoria as a first food due to their minute size.... I normally put 5 to 7 drops of liquifry (for egg layers) into the hatching tank about 3 days before they are free swimming..... (to develop some infusoria) and then when they are free swimming.... I add 2 drops 4 times per day (equally spaced timings) for another 2 days before I start to feed newly hatched brine shrimp.... supplemented with tetra baby food for egg layers.... (approximately the amount that sticks to a wetted toothpick emersed in the fry food to a depth of 1/2 inch).... Only after a week of being free swimming..... I switch to a diet of exclusively BS.....

As for how long....... I even feed the adults BBS to condition them, so that is basically your choice.

 

[Rembrandt]

Hi, thanks for the welcome and advice. I do also have liquifry which I added to the tank when the eggs were layed so I hope I'm doing OK so far although I did expect to be feeding the newly hatched BBS from day one. So, if i leave that for a couple of days I presume my original plan to have a daily hatching still applies? This was the part that my buddy questioned but I'm working on the assumption that they are most nutritious when just hatched.

I also cultured some microworms but I don't see much reference to feeding betta fry with these. Any thoughts?

Thanks again.

Hallo and welcome to the forum Rembrandt...... Bettas are one of those fish where it is essential to have Infusoria as a first food due to their minute size.... I normally put 5 to 7 drops of liquifry (for egg layers) into the hatching tank about 3 days before they are free swimming..... (to develop some infusoria) and then when they are free swimming.... I add 2 drops 4 times per day (equally spaced timings) for another 2 days before I start to feed newly hatched brine shrimp.... supplemented with tetra baby food for egg layers.... (approximately the amount that sticks to a wetted toothpick emersed in the fry food to a depth of 1/2 inch).... Only after a week of being free swimming..... I switch to a diet of exclusively BS.....

As for how long....... I even feed the adults BBS to condition them, so that is basically your choice.