Betta and guppy fry

[Lion Mom]

I have a 3/4 month old male VT that is in a 10 gal. tank. In another 10 gal. tank I have two pairs of guppies. Yesterday, one of the guppy females gave birth. This afternoon I put one of the guppy fry in for the betta who has been doing his best to catch it, but that bugger is FAST!!!

I am assuming this is ok since the hunting of live food is a natural behavior. Am I correct?

[Adastra]

As long as you don't care if the baby guppy gets eaten, it's fine. I have a few female guppies in with one of my female bettas--they get along perfectly fine.

[Lion Mom]

Originally Posted by Adastra

As long as you don't care if the baby guppy gets eaten, it's fine. I have a few female guppies in with one of my female bettas--they get along perfectly fine.

LOL, Adastra! The idea behind getting the guppies in the first place was to provide my bettas with live food without worrying about diseases.

BTW, that little sucker is STILL in there. Sheesh!!!!

[Phoxly]

I kinda like this idea :D

[puppyrjjkm]

Actually I've ready guppy fry is AWESOME for betta. Like nutrient wise :) I've purposely when I was completely overrun with guppy fry, put some in both male and females tanks. It takes them a while but trust be, they ate them :) Haha

[Phoxly]

I wonder if it would be wrong to feed betta fry to other bettas as a means of culling? :L

[XSprinkleFaceX]

Originally Posted by Phoxly

I wonder if it would be wrong to feed betta fry to other bettas as a means of culling? :L

That would technically be cannibalism...

[ReyesBetta]

Kingsnakes eat other snakes so I don't see a problem. Thank goodness in captivity they've been weened to mice, I could never feed a reptile a reptile. :S

1fish2fish said something about a breeder who only fed his fry pellets, and if they wouldn't eat it they died. IMO this is tough love and is what I'd do. I want to breed guppies now for something to occupy my bettas with, as I can't afford a culture of worms.

[Phoxly]

Originally Posted by XSprinkleFaceX

That would technically be cannibalism...

Not technically, it would be cannibalism lol, but it happens all the time in breeding where the mother will eat the fry before she is taken out, or the dad goes crazy and destroys the nest and kids lol.

[ReyesBetta]

Right, in the wild a person isn't there to remove the female lol. If the females and males never ate any of the eggs or fry, the wild would be overrun with bettas to the point they'd be a nuissance.