Would Dion Eat My Guppy Fry?

[Aleydis]

Hey all. Aleydis here... Lil' Mama (the lone survivor of the spawn of Big Mama) gave birth to her first batch of guppy fry. There's probably a few dozen fry cramped in a hatchery in my 20gallon tank, and I need to find a place for them.

I've been told by my friends that I should take my Betta, Dion out of his 5 gallon heated tank and use it for my guppy fry, but the only other place for Dion to go is into a 1 gallon unheated tank. I would much rather he stayed away from it. I don't think the fry would like it there either, as it is extremely hard to clean without sucking out the fry all the time. Plus, what happens when they get bigger...? No fish deserves to live in that prison... But I do grow green beans in them (Tasty...)

ANYWAYS.

I was thinking of putting all the guppy fry in with Dion... I put 1 fry in this morning to experiment, see how Dion would react. I made sure he saw the fry as it came in, and he didn't even spare it a passing glance. I lured him to the fry again with his favorite stick, but still he would rather bite my finger than the fry... I've heard that sometimes Bettas are docile towards fry, and even now, after a few hours, the fry is there there, zipping around Dion, looking for food...

...Would it be a good idea to put all the fry in, or would Dion start getting territorial and eat them all? ):

And if I were to put the fry in, how long would it take before Dion starts to act territorial with them?

Thank you for your time and help

 

[Syphoniera]

If he's not interested in eating them, they should be ok for a while - but so much depends on the individual betta.
I had endler cross guppies in with Silk, my best-natured male betta, (sold as a half-moon but has never flared in his life, or at least in the 3? -ish years I've had him, so couldn't check,) and he did not eat the fry nor has he ever become territorial with any other fish.
On the other hand, somewhat more recently, he was hanging out in the plant-tops of the jungle playing crocodile and eating unwary White Cloud Minnow fry lulled by his strategic immobility into swimming too close to him.
I suspect that much of his good nature depends on his certainty that his flowing finnage will slow him to a point where pursuit of other fish is pointless...

How heavily planted the tank is, and how much get-away room exists, would be major factors, but especially if they'e big-tailed Fancy guppies, I'd plan on getting a separate tank for them, if your parents will let you.

But since they're guppies, the population will continue to grow, and some arrangement will ultimately have to be made regarding the excess.

And you're absolutely right - a one-gallon tank is more suited as a drinking water container than any sort of fish-keeping, although I wouldn't have thought there was room for raising vegetables, either...
VERY clever of you, btw.

 

[loraxchick]

i honestly can not imagine a healthy betta NOT eating (or trying to eat) any guppy fry you put in with him. if you provide lots of cover for the fry in the way of plants or decor, surely some will outhide the betta, but id be very surprised if he didnt eat as many as he could catch/find.
not that its bad for him. very natural actually, and a good way to not be over run with fry.
all the best