# How much light do fry need?



## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

I have an elephant ear betta (AKA: Dumbo) who would not make a nest. So doing my research on the net I found a very arrogant guy on YouTube who says the only way to breed bettas is in a five gallon bucket and as a last resort I tried his method. Well as much as I did not like this guy his method worked like a charm. Anyway I was adding small amounts of seasoned water to the bucket till the fry were ready for a filtered grow out tank. So right before it was time to move the fry to there grow out tank I had a mass die off I have the bucket in a corner of the room with low ambient light do you think this could be the reason for the die off? Btw there still still about twenty left and being to scared to move them I just added a spong filter to the bucket with a 50% water change.


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

*How did you add the SEASONED water?*


How old are the fry?
What percentage of the water did you change out? 
How much water was in the bucket? 
Is the sponge filter already well established?

Temperature fluctuations & differences in the water is the most likely cause.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Good questions I know better to leave that out
The fry died off on day 6 now on day eight and the 20 survivors seem ok
About .25 gal daily water addition and the bucket that is now full
I started with about a gal
The sponge filter was not in the tank during the die off but was in a fish free bucket for about four day before adding it to the fry bucket
And by seasoned water I mean water that came from a well established tank with carbon filter that now has no fish in it


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

Filtration media needs to be very well ESTABLISHED before the spawn hatches to counter any ammonia they produce. I bred mine in a 5G, with 2.5G of water & jam packed with floating plants. 

I've been using a established AquaClear 150 Filter with a breeding cage as the prefilter. This filter is designed for a 30G tank. 

I've seen that tybetta fool on youtube. Some of his ideas seem plausible, but he leaves out a lot of small things that will end up killing your fry. 




What temperature are your tanks & buckets? 

What are you testing your water with? Ammonia results? 

What kind of food are you feeding the fry?


I'm not sure if anyone else here has used the "bucket" method.


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## iGoatfish (Dec 17, 2012)

Getting my male to start nesting worked very well but for the rest of his methods I'm not quite sure. But back to my original question how much light do fry need? Could I raise fry in a dark closet?


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

Depending on whether or not you have live plants. 8-10 hours of light should be more than sufficient.

As long as you provide a day/night cycle, I guess a closet could work. 

TyBetta is a proven moron. All talk, little to no evidence to back up his claims.


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## NeonELX (Nov 4, 2012)

Well if you think about it, in a Betta's natural home "Thailand" its mostly in wet grasslands(tall grass = shade), so ... i'd say, use more of a dimmed light, not too bright or too low , just enough to where they can atleast see their food . Like what MSG said " 8-10 hours of light" is perfect. BUT if you add plants then totally bright enough for the plants. A closet is fine, just make sure you leave it open sometimes .


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Fry DO NOT need light. If you have no live plants in the tank, you can raise fry in total darkness - though they might get disoriented about day-night. 

I mostly breed in black tubs and cover them, at least until they can take direct water pour and avoid drifting out of the tub (about 1 week - my plants have adapted to minimum light). Fry tend to hide from bright light, unless they've been given such condition since they hatched. 

IMO your fry died from ammonia. When using small tank/containers, it's best to change as much water as possible. So in your case that would be adding 1g - 2 water daily and later changing 30 - 50% plus 70-80% weekly.


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