# What to feed fry?



## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

Would micro-worms or white-worms be okay to feed your fry? 
I know a lot of people say to feed them brine shrimp aswell, put brine shrimp etc here are REALLY expensive, I mean, the eggs and a hatchery cost around $200+ and I don't have that. But micro-worm and white-worm cultures are cheaper. Would they be okay? 

Also, would it be okay to raise the fry in the same spawning tank? 

Thanks - I'm trying to learn as much as I can before I try to breed, which I'm looking at doing


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## tanseattle (Jun 28, 2012)

I feed MW for 4 weeks. Then decap bbs and bbs. By 6th week they can eat micro pellet (Hikari), and by 9 weeks they can eat micro waffer.

I think you will need decap bbs in place bbs.

I also have grindal worm after bbs (about 8-9 weeks).


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## tanseattle (Jun 28, 2012)

What I did was added extra decap bbs with MW after week 1. Then just add little more decap bbs each day.

I also feed MW on the morning, decap bbs afternoon, and MW dinner. I am sure they will eat decap by the 3rd week.


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## KansaiBlonde (Oct 22, 2012)

If you don't have a lot of other options, I've heard of some people using boiled egg yolk and straining small bits to feed the fry. I have also been using brewer's yeast and they seem happy enough to eat that. Although live food is much better, you can try these in the meantime.

My fry are just developing their pectoral fins now. They are adorable little things - good luck!


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

KansaiBlonde said:


> If you don't have a lot of other options, I've heard of some people using boiled egg yolk and straining small bits to feed the fry. I have also been using brewer's yeast and they seem happy enough to eat that. Although live food is much better, you can try these in the meantime.
> 
> My fry are just developing their pectoral fins now. They are adorable little things - good luck!


Thank you! We do have BBS here, but some things here are way ridiculous (price wise) - $250+ for BBS! (And a little hatchery) I wasn't sure if the shop was trying to joke around or not -_-.

Would white worms and micro worms be okay, though? Or would I have to feed them something different? I would probably prefer live food, but I will keep your ideas in mind too.  Thank you, what type of Betta did you breed together?  I want to make sure everything is ready and perfect before I breed.


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## KansaiBlonde (Oct 22, 2012)

moonsand0wls said:


> Thank you! We do have BBS here, but some things here are way ridiculous (price wise) - $250+ for BBS! (And a little hatchery) I wasn't sure if the shop was trying to joke around or not -_-.
> 
> Would white worms and micro worms be okay, though? Or would I have to feed them something different? I would probably prefer live food, but I will keep your ideas in mind too.  Thank you, what type of Betta did you breed together?  I want to make sure everything is ready and perfect before I breed.


I know what you mean. The store that I work at didn't have BBS at all and if I wanted to order some in, I would have had to get a BIG package that I wouldn't really need. Thankfully I ended up going to Toronto and found what I needed there - one small pack of BBS for 3.99! You could try Big Al's online and see if they can ship to your area?

Microworms would be your best bet for new fry. I never managed to find any cultures but they are small enough and slow enough so that your fry should catch them. You can also try making infusoria (there are instructions online) and I actually ended up getting some frozen BBS and thawing portions out that I dripped into the tank. Some of them will be too big but I definitely noticed some being eaten!

I bred a red, white, and blue halfmoon with the dark blue/red delta/plaket in my userpicture. Not sure what I'll get - or how many babies will survive. I had a mass death when I left my father and sister in charge when I went away for the weekend and it was horrible.

I don't know exactly how long after the fry hatch it was, but I put a small breeder sponge/airstone in the tank to promote proper water quality and get the scum off the surface. The fry mostly hang out near the surface of the water after they hatch and even once they learn to free swim so perfect water quality is imperative.

Also make sure you get a turkey baster - not sure what the technical name is - from a fish store. It will really help you when you need to clean the bottom of the tank and don't want to disturb the nest. Make sure you always squirt the water into another container before you dump it to ensure you don't have any of the fry caught up!

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I'm not as knowledgeable as a lot of betta breeders but I'll do my best to help out.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

KansaiBlonde said:


> I know what you mean. The store that I work at didn't have BBS at all and if I wanted to order some in, I would have had to get a BIG package that I wouldn't really need. Thankfully I ended up going to Toronto and found what I needed there - one small pack of BBS for 3.99! You could try Big Al's online and see if they can ship to your area?
> 
> Microworms would be your best bet for new fry. I never managed to find any cultures but they are small enough and slow enough so that your fry should catch them. You can also try making infusoria (there are instructions online) and I actually ended up getting some frozen BBS and thawing portions out that I dripped into the tank. Some of them will be too big but I definitely noticed some being eaten!
> 
> ...


Thank you lots  And be sure that I will... I'm trying to learn as much as I can :roll:


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

That price is outrageous! Are you sure you're asking for brine shrimp eggs? Reach out to local aquarist groups, I'm sure they will point you to the right direction. 
You don't need a hatchery, those are expensive. All you need is a soda bottle, and airpump and some airline tubbing. You can find many tutorials online if you search for a do-it-yourself. 

I would not feed Microworms exclusively. Those are good for week 2-4 at the most. White worms (not walter worms) are good for after the microworms if they are big worms. 
I stopped using mw because there are some problems that can come with them. 
Another food option is daphnia.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

vilmarisv said:


> That price is outrageous! Are you sure you're asking for brine shrimp eggs? Reach out to local aquarist groups, I'm sure they will point you to the right direction.
> You don't need a hatchery, those are expensive. All you need is a soda bottle, and airpump and some airline tubbing. You can find many tutorials online if you search for a do-it-yourself.
> 
> I would not feed Microworms exclusively. Those are good for week 2-4 at the most. White worms (not walter worms) are good for after the microworms if they are big worms.
> ...


Yeah, things have been getting really horribly expensive here, due to the wrong government being in power... tax rises, food price rises, gas rises, everything. It's horrible and things are insanely expensive. What is airline tubbing? I do have a soda bottle, and a air pump. I might look into making one myself and just looking for cheap eggs to hatch. I was also looking into daphnia and I think I might try get that too. How much of a variety of foods do you recommend for them? And also, what problems are there with mw?

Thank you


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Airline tubbing is the hose you connect to the airpump to pass the air to the filter. 
It's super easy to make one!
They don't need a lot of variety, just foods that will fit into their stages. 
You can use daphnia in place of bbs and jump into white worms at week 4-6. 
I fed infusoria up to day 3, then switched to bbs until week 3 and fed grindal worms up to week 7 or 8. After that I fed NLS Grow pellets and freeze dried tubiflex worms. 
They are now on regular adult pellets. 
I only used mw a handful of times when I was on a hurry. 
Mw sink to the bottom which keeps fry there and baceria lives at the bottom of the tank because of all the waste and food. 
If tank is not kept immaculate, your fry can suffer from missing ventrals. 
Because bbs swim, they keep the fry active and searchign for food. Which IMO also helps with their development and aids faster growth.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

Sorry, one more question. Would this feeding-plan be OKAY? 

*First three days:* Daphnia
*Three days to four weeks:* Daphnia (or BBS) if I can get it. Or Micro-worms if it's all that's in hand?
*Week four to 7:* White worms
*7 weeks +:* A mixture of blood worms, white worms, and what I feed my adults? (Tetra's Betta Tropical Mix Medley - flakes and dried shrimp)

Does that sound okay? I'm trying to find out as much as I can and some things I can only learn properly by asking people who have had trial and error. Apologies for the questions.

Thanks


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

All you need in their first week is infusoria and that you just get by placing a plant in the spawn tank with the parents. By the time your fry are free swimming you will have many critters in the tank for them to feed. 

If you must use microworms, then I wouldn't feed past the 2nd week if your fry are growing nicely. 

Have you checked buying brine shrimp eggs online? I'm sure if you dig hard enough you'll be able to find someone who ships to NZ. Eggs are expensive here but not as much as there. 

If you can't get bbs or daphnia I would feed the white worms as soon as your fis can eat them. You will think they are too small but they will still go after them.


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

So... I won't need to actually introduce food into the tank on the first week as long as I have live tanks in the plant? 

I am checking brine shrimp eggs online right now - there is 454 grams for $153.50, though I don't think I will need that much, would I? - And there's a 20 gram part that's $13.50. Would I need a LOT of eggs? I don't think I want to use micro worms now. I'm going to try and avoid them.

Would daphnia, white-worms and adult food be an okay variation past four weeks? 

Sorry for the questions. I'm making a book so I can learn this.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Age water with dried leaves and live plants outside (where you know there are lots of small insects) for about 2 weeks. Use 2/3 top part of water for breeding - add more regular water until you have the desired level. This should give you infusoria for their first few days.

I usually dump lots of daphnia and leave them to die. After 3 weeks there will always be tones of micro critters. Then I add some tubifex and daphnia as I put the male in. About week 4 I breed. I feed egg yolk (just a tiny bit) for the first few days to 1 week (depending on fry growth). I start adding daphnia around day 3-4 and hope they will reproduce and supply fry with tiny food. I keep feeding daphnia until fry is big enough to eat blood worms. Tubifex is always in there since dad goes in and until fry is big enough to eat frozen blood worms. 

BBS/tiny worms are IMO the best first food for fry. Later switch to daphnia and tubifex until they can eat crushed/chopped adult food.


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## crowntaillove (Sep 3, 2012)

I don't mean to interupt your thread, but since we're on the topic I thought I'd ask. :]

Why isn't it a good idea to exclusviely feed one type of food?


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## moonsand0wls (Jul 7, 2012)

Thanks


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