# Breeding Bettas - Raising Fry



## MrVampire181

*RAISING THE FRY*​*Whew!! I got them to spawn and all went well!! *Well you’re not off the hook yet. THIS is the hard part. Now you have a tank full of little tiny bettas who require more attention than a litter of puppies. Lets get into the basics of raising fry and keeping them healthy.
*Food:*
· For starters most fry won’t eat flake or powdered food. I personally prefer baby brine shrimp but microworms and vinegar eels can be fed to. Eventually your fry will need baby brine shrimp so keep that in mind. 
· Microworms: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyKNCHlsHm8 
· Vinegar Eels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspaNSTu0k0 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-29NHnnwpE 
· Baby Brine Shrimp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8sNx9zTOnQ 
· Here’s 1fish2fish’s guide to fry food…a great article! http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=51144
· Betta fry require being fed at least twice a day. If feeding baby brine shrimp you can do one hatch a day and keep it all day for several small feedings. 
· Clean your tank with a turkey baster after every meal.
*Water: *
· Like adults betta fry require lots of clean water. Betta fry require even cleaner than average water to avoid disease outbreaks and growth stunts. The larger fry will produce a hormone that stunts the growth of the other fry…the only way to get rid of this hormone is to clean your tank often. 
· For the first week or so work on dripping water slowly into your tank. Once it’s full you can start water changes.
· For water changes on your first spawn I recommend either using a turkey baster or airline tubing siphon with an airstone on the end. The latter will completely avoid sucking up fry but will remove nasty, stunt hormone filled water. I recommend removing 25%-50% of the water with each water change and drip the water back into the tank. As you gain experience you can find what works best for you. Like now a days I just drain the water until just a little bit is covering the heater and then drip water into the tank. But for a first spawn just stick with small water changes until you get comfortable.
· I recommend using small plastic cups to fill with water and float in your tank. I can fit about eight, 16oz cups in a 10 gallon. After an hour I dump the cups into the tank and then fill them back up for another addition of water. As long as the water has been aged and is of the same temperature as the spawning tank and is added slowly it’ll be fine.

* The growout: *
· Now your fry have survived the difficult first two weeks, and now have started putting on size during weeks three and four. Now if you’ve been doing things right they should be about ½” long but if not it’s ok.
· A growout tank should be at least 20 gallons. Any less is pointless since they’ve been living in a tank that size anyway. The larger the better. 
· The growout can be either decorated or left bare. As long as it’s heated it’s fine.
·  Now what I do at the end of week three I fill up my growout tank and add the heater and plants. After the tank has been set up for a week I then remove everything from the spawning tank and drain the tank to about four inches of water. I fill a few cups with water and grab my brine shrimp net. I net the fry out of the tank and place them into the cups. Once all the fry have been collected I float them in the growout for a few hours and then release them. 
*Feeding the juvenile fry:*
· Food is still an important part of raising your now juvenile fry. During their first few weeks in the growout you should continue to feed baby brine shrimp. As they grow you should start feed frozen baby brine shrimp and later frozen bloodworms. I really like feeding Atison Betta Pro when they start getting to adult size. It really gets them to grow. 
*Water changes on juvenile fry:*
· I like to change 50% to 75% of the water in my growout tanks every three or four days. Sometimes every other day. By this time I’m just pouring water in using my fishroom buckets. 
*Jarring the fry:*
· Now once fry start fighting many people grab the jars and start pulling the males. But doing this too soon can cause growth problems. Unless they are really terrorizing each other I’d just leave them in there. Like puppies and kittens betta fry have play fights.
· An example of a play fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Ulal2pNXY 
· Once the fights get more extreme then begin jarring. Try cleaning your jars everyday and continue feeding them a lot. 
*Selling the adults:*
· Now here’s where breeding quality fish is important. People want a unique fish. Also many breeders want to know the genetic history of the fish. Be sure to document everything. Sell your fish on forums, aquatic auction sites (i.e. Aquabid), or on your own website.


*Well you survived raising a spawn. Hope this helped!*


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