Betta Fry

[Lenna]

My fry hatched 2 days ago. Wohoo! There are so many, I can't even begin to count them, definately over 300 though. I plan change 10% of their water every 3 days and was wondering if this is enough. How often and how much do people here who breed bettas change water in their fry tanks? (BTW its a 12g UK/14g US about 4" deep). Also, can they eat right away? I noticed they had "egg sacs" attached to their bellies at first and wondered if they were capable of eating immediately of do they just live off this sac? I thought it was better to be safe then sorry and have been feeding artemisia a few times a day. Also what is the best temperature to keep the water at? (it's 25 degrees C at the moment). Sorry for the heap of questions, its just that the pinned topics have gone that was hoping to go off.

 

[iloveyou]

start feeding them when their yolk sacs are gone.. tomorrow is a good day to start feeding id think

 

[Nina7777]

hey there, can't answer any of your questions but wanted to say CONGRATS on the babies!

 

[shrks1fan]

Start feeding when they become free swimming and can go after the food, when they are still hanging vetically in the nest then they live off the egg sac. Some people don't even remove water for the first couple of weeks, they just add to the half filled tank (not sure if you only had your spawn tank half filled or not). I personally change water every couple of days to vacuum out some of the crud on the bottom, but with a large spawn like my recent one it becomes impossible to do without sucking up numerous fry which I then have to turkey baster out of the container I drain into and put them back in, makes vacuuming a very long ordeal, Lol. I may just remove some water from a safe area and not worry about the crud until they are a bit bigger and stronger and can get away from the vacuum. My first spawn wasn't nearly as large so I didn't have as much a problem as I'm having right now.

Question though, are you prepared food wise with any or all of the following, Vinegar Eels, Microworms & live baby brine shrimp? These are the foods they will eat for best growth and survival, so hopefully you already have your cultures going.

Congrats on the spawn

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

 

[Lenna]

Yes I have live baby brine shrimp that I started feeding them today as they've started swimming. I had the same problem with vacuuming up the crap. I ended up spending half an hour catching the vaccumed babies out of the bucket with an eyedropper. Now that they can swim I don't have to worry about them falling out of the nest and drowning I can just add new water to the tank (it was only half full). Thanks for the help, I just needed reassurance that I was doing the right thing. Also, what sort of survival rate should I be expecting?. This spawning is massive compared to the last one and it looks like I'm going to have to find homes for a lot more than I expected! Its all good though bettas are very popular around here, the LFSs sell out of them within a few days usually and friends are interested.

 

[shrks1fan]

Survival rate can range from 0-99%, depends on many factors including the genes of the fry (did they come from healthy stock) and how well they are cared for (water quality stays good, proper feeding etc.). Sometimes you know what causes many deaths and other times you just don't know. If you don't have room for all the fry as they grow up (not enough containers for all the males) then you may need to start culling as they get older, such as the ones with deformities, runts etc. But that is of course up to you and if you have the room to keep them all. My first spawn has a high percentage of runts, and most breeders would have culled them by now, however since it's my first spawn, a small spawn, I have plenty of room to give them more time to grow. So it's all a personal thing. Do expect to see some dead fry though, and as long as it's not numerous a day, you should be fine, there will always be some weaklings that just won't make it. Some will also come down with swim bladder disorder, once again, as long as it's not a large percentage, it's just nature taking it's course, they are weak and the swim bladder didn't grow properly.

Most importantly, enjoy them It's a blast watching them eat their BBS and watching them grow each day and week. If you haven't already, start measuring them every couple of days, chart their growth, it's fun to keep track of

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

 

[Lenna]

Thank you, I'll do that!. Fortunately I haven't seen any die yet, I thought some were dead after the first day because they were lying on the bottom under the nest and the male wasn't bothering to pick them up like he usually does. I thought I'd better get them out (dead bodies rotting etc) but it was mostly these ones that I had to recapture from the vaccum bucket. It's been pretty interesting so far, the fry have gone from clinging vertically to everything, even their dad to free swimming overnight. Now there are hundreds zipping around all over the place. The very exhausted dad has been taken out so he can finally have something to eat and a bit of rest. He certainly had plenty of work to do after the fry hatched, keeping them together and picking the up off the bottom when they fell out of the nest.

 

[shrks1fan]

Sounds like things are going perfectly then, you're doing a good job It is a crackup watching the father trying to keep the hanging fry all in the nest, it's amazing what they go through. Then when some start to become free swimming and he's trying to keep them in the nest and they're trying to swim around, Lol Too funny

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

 

[Lenna]

He he, mine did that too. Eventually he had to give up though. With over 300 fry zipping around he didn't stand a chance He's having a break now, poor guy