# New To Breeding Betta - Already have eggs



## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

I currently have a ten gallon tank filled with a batch of Betta eggs with their daddy diligently taking care of them. They were just laid earlier today. The mother is now back in her own ten gallon tank and I have another tank for the father to go into when the times comes. Atm I have just a regular filter in the tank but I have it off due to not wanting to loose any eggs during the process. Being first time Betta Breeder I would really appreciate any and all advice. 

Thanks


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Do not turn the filter on until they are MUCH bigger. Do you have live foods for them?


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

No I don't. Where can I get that? I have a local pet store not far from me.


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

So you bred without having cultures (microworms, bananaworms, bbs) ready... You need those. Do you have live plants in the tank, or could you add some? These will provide single celled foods for the first few days. Do you have a good lfs that sells brine shrimp eggs near you?


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

I don't have a real plant but I could get one asap. And I do have a LFS near me that I'm sure would order me some if they don't already have it


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Well you need live foods from day one. Get what you can ASAP if you want to be successful.,


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

When they start free swimming give them boiled egg yolk mixed in water unless youve gotten yourself microworms by then.


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## wish4coner (Mar 22, 2013)

trilobite said:


> When they start free swimming give them boiled egg yolk mixed in water unless youve gotten yourself microworms by then.


Yep..I used egg yolk and IAL mixed in. You put the size of a pea in a medicine bottle (washed wall), squeezed up between your finger tips and shake it vigorously. Keep it refrigerated and only use a small amount. I make sure it is all tiny specks, and no chucks. They love it and it is loaded with protein--but, you will have to siphon out daily, after they eaten or it rots. It is very good for them and you will notice they grow well with it.

That will get you through until you get a culture. I use Ebay and, have never spent more than 3 dollars. Then, I make my own cultures constantly so I never run out. For 3 bucks I now have 9 batches, 3 of each of BW, MW and WW. I use Q tip and move it slowly around the water. you just have to ensure you keep it moist with just a few drops of water. They multiply big time.

Also, if you go to the frozen section of the LFS, they have Hikari BBS, frozen. I put that in with a few dabs of live worms. The worms attach to the frozen bbs, that is thawed out with some IAL and, then I use a medicine dropper to put in. This way, as they are getting the "live, moving food", they also get the taste of the frozen bbs and, eventually, they will eat that without needing worms in it. 

That's my experience, anyway and, I now have 2 good sized batches of fry, growing very well.

Best wishes with the spawn.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

wish4coner said:


> Yep..I used egg yolk and IAL mixed in. You put the size of a pea in a medicine bottle (washed wall), squeezed up between your finger tips and shake it vigorously. Keep it refrigerated and only use a small amount. I make sure it is all tiny specks, and no chucks. They love it and it is loaded with protein--but, you will have to siphon out daily, after they eaten or it rots. It is very good for them and you will notice they grow well with it.
> 
> That will get you through until you get a culture. I use Ebay and, have never spent more than 3 dollars. Then, I make my own cultures constantly so I never run out. For 3 bucks I now have 9 batches, 3 of each of BW, MW and WW. I use Q tip and move it slowly around the water. you just have to ensure you keep it moist with just a few drops of water. They multiply big time.
> 
> ...


I just called me LFS and they do have some of the frozen for only a couple bucks which I'm going to pick up in a little while and I can also pick up some yolk as well. Now I've NEVER done any kind of culture so I was wondering if any one can tell me or show me how to do this. Thank you all for your help


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

This should help. If you have any questions about them go ahead and ask them there.

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=146745


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Thank you sooo much. I am going to get started ASAP. I just called another pet store near me and they have Baby Brine Shrimp eggs but most likely I would have to wait a week to get Mircroworm eggs if I ordered through them. I just did a quick search through Amazon and was wondering if these would be ok?

http://www.amazon.com/Carolina-Micr...1370189551&sr=8-1&keywords=microworms+culture


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Oh and I forgot... I am also going to purchase today Frozen Baby Brine Shrimp also.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Better yet I just found some on Ebay for even cheaper


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

From what I've read, betta fry most likely would not go for frozen foods..


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Yes, frozen foods will have to wait until they are older.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Thank you. I ended up not purchasing the frozen food but I did order some microworms off of ebay. I will be feeding the fry the egg yolk until I can get the microworms


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

The fry have hatched and I am truly fascinated by the whole process. I have the Microworm eggs on the way and I can't wait to get started. I was wondering though when I can start doing water changes on the tank?

I also want to give everyone a BIG thank you for all your help and support in my journey.


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

You wont be doing any water changes until your fry are big enough to be avoided. 10 days at least imo and even then it can be a little tricky dodging them.

Good luck with your spawn.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Thank you. I'm very excited. I was planning on turning my 30 gallon into something completely different but now I'm planning on going more in depth with my Betta.


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

After about day 7 you can start adding 1g of dechlor water to the tank per day until it is full. You can then start to remove some of the water via an airline tube with an airstone at the end. This keeps the tiny fry from getting sucked in. Just make sure to add water very slowly and keep the water going in as close to exact same tank temp as possible. Fry do not handle temp changes very well.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

I was wondering how soon I should start feeding the fry. I should be getting the Microworms today but I've been feeding them egg yolk just in case.


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

IMO you should start doing water cahnges much earlier (4 days old) and 50%water changes, I have another tank full of treated, heated water I use for water changes... I have fry who are 3 months old, and the size of 6 week old fries.  From not doing enough water changes. 

And a few fry will eat frozen food, but for the most part, they will not eat it. So its good you didn't buy any  I wasted money buying my bettas some  luckily my guppy fry gobbled it up  

I rely on microworm cultures, Atisons Starter, and BBS for raising my fry. Be careful, too much BBS results in SBD and will kill most of your fry  After the fry are about 6 weeks, I start feeding them powder food, like Atisons betta Starter - but I've heard First bites works well too, though, i've never tried it.. 

and last but not least, I HIGHLY suggest you get a sponge filter(about 3 dollars on ebay), and not use a regular filter (either hanging, corner, quiet flow that hangs inside the tank) A small mini sponge filter, will help, as betta fry do not breathe air until 7 weeks old. So you should have some air going in there. Have a gang valve to restrict the flow of air to about a bubble per second. I never turned mine off, ever. 

Also when your microworm culture gets to your house, be sure to have oatmeal  I didn't have any and ended up using potato bread, but oatmeal works 30x better. . . 

You need to be feeding fry their first meal of microworms when they are free swimming and you remove the father. Not all will need to eat it, as some may not be free swimming yet (but dont worry), the ones that absorbed their egg sack the fastest will need food  and the worms will swim around for a few hours. But if you find you have a lot of dead worms on the bottom of the tank, you're feeding too much.


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

:Update: The fry are now one day short of being 2 weeks old and so far everything is going really well. They are already growing really fast and I can't wait to see their colors shine. I again want to thank everyone for all their help

:Question:
Besides the 10 gallon tank the fry are in I currently have a 10 gallon sorority and a 30 gallon with just daddy (my male betta) and 4 cory catfish. My question is I was thinking of switching my sorority of 7 girls into my 30 gallon and was wondering if that if it would be ok to also add the female fry into there once they get to a certain age. My male (Hatchi) will of course not be included into this tank but a tank of his own. Either way I plan on putting the female fry into the 30 gallon when the time comes.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

How many fry do you approx have? The more fry, the bigger the grow out. 

Do you know your male's character? I often put an adult male in with fry 1.5cm up. My males won't bother tiny bettas.

Congrats on your success. Keep it up


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## lillyandquigly (Nov 24, 2011)

I really like this thread, it's helping me learn more


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

indjo said:


> How many fry do you approx have? The more fry, the bigger the grow out.
> 
> Do you know your male's character? I often put an adult male in with fry 1.5cm up. My males won't bother tiny bettas.
> 
> Congrats on your success. Keep it up


Even with their ever growing size it's still hard to calculate how many there are. Plus of course add up their speed and their constant moving and it's almost impossible. There are quite a few in there at least 20 if not a lot more. 

They are two weeks old now and dad is already in the tank above them. He shows no signs of aggression except for the first time I fed the babies with him in there and he tried to attack the Q-tip. That was actually pretty funny. Would it be ok to place him back in there?


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

No. Do not put the male back. Those are no longer "his" so he will eat them. He should only be with them until free swimming, or he could eat themto make his job easier of keeping them inthe nest. He shouldn't even be in the tank when you start feeding the fry.


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

I do not reccomend putting the dad back with the fry. Big fish eat small fish. And they're now at the age to fend for themselves


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I agree with everyone - yourr fry are currently bite size so you shouldn't put the male in with them. Aggressive males will even kill 1-1.5cm fry. If you want to put male in with fry, wait until fry are much bigger (I forgot your fry are only about 2 weeks old when I wrote the comment - sorry, my bad).


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## cdouglas93 (Jan 8, 2013)

Okie Dokie that's no problem. I wasn't that worried about placing the male in with the babies. It was just when Indjo commented about it I figured I'd ask.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

bettafishlover101 said:


> He shouldn't even be in the tank when you start feeding the fry.


I agree not to place the male back in, but I will have to disagree with this statement as MANY breeders keep their males in with the fry until they are ready to be jarred at a couple months of age. Fry and juveniles do much better with the father in with them overall. 
It will depend on the male though - some males may eat the fry, some won't. You can watch him and see how he is with them to determine whether or not he should be left in there. If he is tending and caring for the babies, he will actually feed the babies himself by chewing up his food and blowing it out through his mouth and gills and then he will wiggle his fins to cause a vibration, which in turn will call the babies to him to eat. It's how they do it in the wild.. 

I've had great success with keeping a good daddy in with the fry.. I feed the fry and he waits patiently and I then drop his food in and he gobbles it up no problem. Never ate the fry.. would carry them around sometimes, but once they were swimming all over he was just content at watching them and making sure nothing came near them  

It's quite common and many recommend to leave the male in with the fry for as long as possible.. just have to know his temperament and limitations and keep a close eye during the stress times such as cleaning the tank, etc.


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