# How Do You Grow Out Your Fry....



## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

I like to see how other people do things, I talk with vitoria from Bettysplendens.com and Aquastar71 from Thailand all the time via email.
I love to hear how other people do things, Specially when they are having great success at it. The reason for this is, I love to take all this info in and tweak my breeding method so I can be a master at what I do, Or at least be as good as my resources will allow me.. With the internet its sky the limit. I can get anything.. So anyway
How Do You Grow Your Fry Out....

1) I breed in a 10 gallon Live planted and indian almond leaves 20% weekly water changes with sponge filters
2) I move all the fry when they are about 3/4 of an inch long. Into a 20 gallon long all natural planted and indian almond leaves 20% water changes weekly with sponge filters
3) I move them when I start seeing trouble and they are starting to get there finage.. They go Into a 55 Gallon Live Planted and Indian almond leaves also 20% weekly water changes with sponge filters
4) After they are about normal to full size they all still pretty much live together in the all natural planted 55 gallon, But the one's that do start trouble, the one's that are mean. Get moved into my Betta drip system!
I have a 45 betta drip system with 45 one gallon containers...
But with the bettas being kept together there whole life they do awesome, Males and females all together. But dont get me wrong there is some bad guys and girls..
And I did an expirement, I took 6 bettas, All living together, boys and girls. I put them in 1 gallon tanks all by there self. After a week I put them back together into the 55 gallon. No matter if I put them into the tank one at each end, Fight's would break out right away. No matter what i did they would fight.. If I never would have put them in the gallon tanks and seperated them they would still be living together..
Anyway back to the subject, All my tanks are live planted and ran by sponge filters.. I tried to use a hang on the back on the 55 gallon but its just too much for the betta splenden.. I am looking forward to hear some of your guys method.. Thank you...


----------



## beat2020 (Dec 31, 2009)

Here's the method I just recently spawned with...

1) I spawned in a small 2g container with java moss and IAL. I started feeding BBS and Atison's Betta Starter about 3-5 times a day.

2) At day 5 I moved them into a 20g growout. I started doing every other day water changes. (25-50%)

3) At 2 weeks old I started doing everyday water changes (75-90%) and I'm getting pretty good growing results at day 18 so far.


----------



## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

It depends on the spawn. I love movin my fry around. They'll be bred in a plastic tub and then they get transferred to a bigger tub and then maye even another tub or a 30 gallon. Different spawns - different raising methods.


----------



## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Very nice info... I'm planning to do things differently myself with my new spawn... gotta post that, btw.
I've had slow growing fry in the past and I'm pretty sure it was due to a combination of not enough feedings a day and lack of food variety. 
I'm planning to give them a variety of foods 3-5 times a day and keeping the water closer to 84 instead of 80. 

*FloridaBettas:* Do water changes have an influence in the grow rate of your fry? Seems your formula is very different from what I've read.

*Beatbeat2020:* Do you find Attison's Betta Starter too big for such young fry? I used to crush it with the back of a spoon before feeding it... now I plan to use the same method with NLS Grow as I didn't get good results with the Attison's.


----------



## FloridaBettas239 (Jun 29, 2010)

One thing that aquastar told me is ''water changes''.... He said that the day the frys are born he fills up soda bottles with water and float's them, After the water has aged for a couple days which would make the fry 4 or 5 days old he will dump the water. Then fill the bottles up again and float them right away, After a couple days he will dump the water and keep repeating this.... He said clean fresh water is the key to power growing bettas. I asked vic about it and she confirmed, She stated that the fry release a hormone that is to stunt the growth of the weaker and smaller fry, She called it ''Only the strong survive type thing''... So then the stronger fry can grow and have plenty of food, And then the more water changes the faster they grow.....
Also the bigger tanks helped out a lot, When I got the 20 long which is awesome, Its really long so they have a lot of room to go back and forth really far, The regular 20 gallon is only as wide as the 10 gallon, Its just taller. and the 55 gallon helped a lot, And I did weekly changes, Then my betta's started growing fast. No matter if I just gave them flake food....


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Well conditioned breeders I have found to be really important to net healthy eggs to start-I condition my breeders with live foods- mass fed

I have found that the quality of food and water to be one of the driving force behind good growth and development of my Betta fry

I spawn using a more natural method by using a heavy planted soil based full to the top with water 10gal tank

Depending on my goal with the spawn-I may or may not remove the male once the fry are free swimming-this also depends on the history of the male if known

I don't use any artificial filtration in my spawning tanks

Due to my setups I usually don't start to feed fry until the 7-10 day mark or longer...I observe the fry's tummy-if it is round and appears full with the tell-tell signs of infusoria (black dots) and the fry appear healthy and active....I wait....

First added foods are newly hatched BBS with yolk sac intact-Betta fry are only fed NHBBS for the first 7-21 days and then they will be fed NHBBS and BBS that have been HUFA supplemented

Once I start adding live foods I start making 25-50% daily water only changes

I maintain a stable water temp of 80F for spawning and fry rearing...I have found going too high with the water temp results in G/D to fast and weak fry.

In the 21-30 day range-some of the fry are large enough to be transferred to larger tanks-I use 20gal and 25gal heavy planted soil based-water changes are decreased to 50% water only weakly-mass feedings of supplement BBS, mosquito larva, daphnia, white worms, seed shrimp add to the diet-water temp 80F and no artificial filtration, 12h photoperiod.

The smaller fry in the spawning tank continue to get NHBBS, supplement BBS and tiny mosquito larva- with daily water changes until they are big enough to go into the grow out tank.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

This is all very good info. It's nice to hear how everyone does things. I'll probably never spawn my fish but it's nice to know that if I ever did, there is all kinds of good info right here.


----------



## reaper0325 (Nov 23, 2010)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa56/ray_01_2007_2007/basin.jpg

They grow so fast this way!


----------



## reaper0325 (Nov 23, 2010)




----------



## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

1. I started out spawning my bettas in 10 gallon tanks with great success. I have found that bettas usually spawn faster in small shallow plastic tubs with around 3 inches of water with live plants from an infusoria culture. The air in the room is heated to 85 degrees, which keeps the water temperature at about 80 degrees without an internal water heater.

2.When the fry are free swimming, I transfer the fry into a 10 gallon tank and offer freshly hatched brine shrimp. For the first 2 weeks, I siphon the bottom of the tank with flexible tubing covered with panty hose. This prevents sucking up fry by accident. I gradually add water until the tank is full. 

3. By the time the fry are 3-4 weeks old, I beging using my water changer attached to my sink to begin daily 90% water changes. No more buckets for water changes! At this time, the betta fry begin to accept crushed Atison's pellets from a peppermill. I also offer frozen foods such as beefheart, mysis shrimp, and blackworms that are grated by hand. 

4. At 8 weeks old, I seperate the faster and slower growers in the spawn to avoid stunting of the smaller fry and cannibalism. The faster growers are usually ready for live blackworms at 8 weeks old. I find it interesting that some betta spawns grow very fast, and others grow more slowly even when they are given identical care.

5. I can usually keep most of the spawn together for up to 3-4 months without any threat of fin damage/ fighting. The occasional bully may need jarred earlier. In the past, I jarred my fry too early worrying about the playfights betta fry have. Betta fry will have playfights like puppies, and playfighting is not reason to jar yet, IMO. I have since learned that jarring too early leads to a smaller body size and premature fin growth in males. With daily water changes and a nice variety of foods, the males have very rapid fin growth once they are finally jarred. I usually don't jar my males until their body size is at least 1.25 inches.


----------



## Keyoda (Jan 15, 2011)

Do you try to cycle your plastic breeding tubs?


----------

