Advice on growing stunted "Fry"?

[Panthera]

Okay so some of you may remember me, I haven't been on this forum for a few months though. Back in May I spawned my Red Dragon HMPK to my Black Dragon HM Female, and successfully had a batch of fry from them. Since then be it me not changing enough water or not feeding them the greatest foods, or something else I don't know about, the remaining fish have barely grown.

They are now 8 months old, and the biggest is just barely 1 1/2". The 4 biggest LOOK like adults, they are short finned Red/Black Dragons, but are still the size of 2 month olds basically. The rest are all around 1", some being a bit bigger. They are all very aggressive just like adults, one even jumped the divider and tore his brother up. I have been feeding them a mix of crushed pellets, Tubifex worms and occasionally Brine Shrimp, and changing the water 2-3x a week.

I don't know what else to do, but I'd like to eventually sell/spawn them, but not when they look like fry still

Advice?

[GreenTea]

What was your water change/tank like? What have you been feeding them and what are you feeding them now?

[HatsuneMiku]

quoted from Mr. Vampires breeding guide (found in this sticky http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=82911)

"The larger fry will produce a hormone that stunts the growth of the other fry…the only way to get rid of this hormone is to clean your tank often.

=) i think the best way to help them grow would be to do some extra water changes .. or remove/jar the larger boys/girls .. especially if they are already being overly aggressive towards one another

[indjo]

Sorry but a stunted 8 month old betta is hard to grow. You have given them good care - good food and sufficient wc. Try keeping them in a fairly big tank - say about 10 in a 20g fully filtered and feed as much and as often (preferably blood worms, mosq. larva - no pellets, avoid tubifex because it contains too much fat). If they grow too fat, reduce feeding and accept their size (sorry). But if they remain balanced, keep it up and hope for the best.

Stunted bettas can be bred. They will produce normal fry - given proper care. I often intentionally stunt my females (not the males) so I can inbreed to fry..... in case you had doubts.

[Panthera]

They are all currently separated in their own jars and have been separated for about 2 months now. I have the 4 biggest ones in a divided 10 gallon and change that water about 2-3x a week, and change the jars twice a week.

Should I try breeding them? I mean they still look like babies lol and I cant even tell if some of them are male/females. Should I just assume the smaller ones are female?

[GreenTea]

That doesn't sound safe if you don't know the sexes.

[Panthera]

Originally Posted by GreenTea

That doesn't sound safe if you don't know the sexes.

Yeah thats why I have them all in jars, they'll kill each other lol

[indjo]

Originally Posted by Panthera

They are all currently separated in their own jars and have been separated for about 2 months now. I have the 4 biggest ones in a divided 10 gallon and change that water about 2-3x a week, and change the jars twice a week.

Should I try breeding them? I mean they still look like babies lol and I cant even tell if some of them are male/females. Should I just assume the smaller ones are female?

The ones in the jars are unlikely to grow. You need to move them to a much bigger container if you want to see growth. Or at least give them daily 100% wc.
I wouldn't place them in one big tank since they've been jarred for a long time.

1.5" is about 3.5cm .... yes you could breed them. But you must be sure of their sex. Assuming that they're HM,

Male:
color should be more vibrant
should have longer caudals - about 1/2 of their body length
Dorsal should also be bigger
when viewed from above, the males should look slim and long
still viewing from above, males have more "blunt" heads
should not have an eggspot but if he does, it usually looks more flesh like or brownish.

Female:
color may be vibrant but usually show sort of "breeding bars"
should only be 1/3 (like a pK).
Smaller dorsal
females should look shorter and thicker
females head look more pointy
should have a distinctive white eggspot

[Bambi]

+1 to everything indjo said.
If you can get them to flare sometimes checking for beards also helps with sexing.

How many do you have(not counting the 4 in the ten gallon).