I'm a little confused about when to feed the fry

[bhali333]

I am a little confused as to when to offer the first feeding to the fry!

OK my fry hatched yesterday I found them hatched at 7:00AM and I am assuming they hatched sometime during the night.

The actual spawning took place at around 3:00 PM on Monday 7-30-2012 three days ago.

My question is when do I feed the first feeding to the fry?

I have live plants that have been in the tank for about three weeks and I will be feeding BBS as I am waiting for MW and VE cultures to arrive. I am going to hatch 85% BBS eggs so how long before the first feeding is needed do I start the first BBS hatch?

I appreciate all the help guy's

[tpocicat]

IMO, about a week after hatching they will be ready for their first meal.

[Oldfishlady]

It can vary based on several factors-how mature your tank, number and species of live plants and if you have any common snails and their diet.

While the plants will help to a degree in the microorganism in the tank-its the snails that produce more of the infusoria based on their diet.

The more mature the tank-the more microorganisms-but this also depends on the type of water changes you did too...

Depending on the water volume, how mature the tank, how you cleaned it, number and species of live plants, lighting, number, type of snails and their diet and number of fry.....You may or may not have enough microorganism to support the fry much longer than 2-3 days and so giving an exact day when you need to start adding food is really hard to say.....

With that said-look at their tummy-usually if they are eating microorganism the tummy should look round with black/dark colored dots.

The fry will feed off their yolk sac for about 2-3 days after they hatch-more or less depending on water temp, pH, GH/KH- Some can develop faster than others-remember that since the eggs are not dropped at the same time-they don't all hatch at the same time either and an hour difference in age can be a big difference in a Betta-especially when they are born, grow up and reproduce within the first 3-6 months of life.

Anyway-I would get 2 BBS hatchery going 24h apart with small amount of eggs by day 4 at least. You want to feed newly hatched BBS (NHBBS) with their yolk sac intact for best/most nutrition to the Betta fry-especially since BBS is going to be the only food source-otherwise you can have mass die off or major health issue both short and long term.

NHBBS absorb their yolk sac in about 24-36h from hatch-usually by the time they go through their first molt-Once the yolk sac is absorbed they have very little HUFA and nutrition that the Betta fry need.

NHBBS are generally small enough-plus the Betta fry will tear them apart to eat too. Betta fry can eat much larger things that you think.

As you can see...rearing Betta fry is not any easier or simple as the production of natural foods in the spawning tank itself....Lot of things can vary with both.....

Congrats and good luck.....

[bhali333]

I have the ten gal. tank set up for almost three weeks with one type of live plant I picked up in a pet shop. I also have some snails that came in with the live plants and some small pink rams horn snails. I have not fed the snails anything but they seem to be growing.

I have 2 BBS hatcheries ready to go, when you said "by day 4" did you mean the fourth day after hatching or the fourth day from spawning?

If you meant the fourth day after hatching I would start the first batch of BBS on the 5th of Aug. and then the second batch 24 hours later and keep that going around the clock.

I am also waiting on a microworm culture and a vinegar eel (ready to use) culture. Which I should have in a couple of days.

So as it stands now my fry hatched on the 1st so I will give them their first feeding on the 5th.

If this sounds good let me know, thanks for all the help!!!

[jeffegg2]

Just start out slow, feed a few microworms and bbs. If they are ignored then wait...

[bhali333]

OK, checked this morning and the fry are free swimming. I removed the male.

When should I offer the first BBS which is all I have at the moment.

[tpocicat]

I would wait a couple of days. They will eat insuforia for a couple of days at least before needing something else IMO.

[bhali333]

Thanks tpocicat,

You have been such a big help!!!!

I have another question, well 2 really.

When do I start shutting the light at night??

And when do I start the sponge filter??

[tpocicat]

Personally, I've never left the light on when attempting a spawn. When it's night, the lights are off, and when it's day, they are on.
IMO, the sponge filter should be turned on when the fry are free swimming. The flow needs to be as low as possible so that the fry aren't thrown all around.