caring for many baby bettas

[babystarz]

Originally Posted by bethyMT

Thanks everyone for your help. I have learned a lot from you.

I will be acquiring baby brine shrimp today. I still feel sick, and I'll be lugging my two little kids with me, but I want to be prepared when the babies arrive, and that could be any time now.

Again, thank you.

No problem. I thought of a few more tips to share with you based on my own experiences :)

1 - Be careful with decorations. I had a fake plant fall on a baby and kill her.
2 - Babies tend to be more sensitive to temperature fluctuations, so try your best to keep the tank away from drafts and steady at 81 degrees (babies do best with a slightly higher temp)
3 - If any babies arrive especially stressed or weak, they may need special attention for a few days. Separate them from the others in a quarantine tank so they don't get bullied or don't get enough food.
4 - Babies are especially sensitive to medications, including aquarium salt. If you need to dose them with anything, use less than you would for an adult.
5 - Sometimes a baby will just inexplicably die. It's not your fault, so don't beat yourself up over it. If you believe a contagious sickness was involved, immediately quarantine any others that look under the weather.
6 - I'm not sure what kind of filter you have, but baby-proof the intake with pantyhose if it's not air-driven. They're so curious that it's easy for them to get trapped in or near the intake and drown. I lost several to this :(

[bethyMT]

Thanks! Those are incredibly helpful suggestions! I will be very careful with the decorations...most of the plants in the 20g are real but I bought a few silk ones to provide more cover. I will be watching closely for that.

I do not routinely dose with salt. The only thing I use is Prime when adding or changing water. Hopefully I will not have to add any medicines at all. Hoping...

I have a HOB filter on there. I really hate it, but unfortunately it's what I've got. I will safeguard the intake. I have already baffled the outflow.

Temp is steady at 81. Pure luck I got that right. But I do know bettas like it anywhere from 80-82, according to some sources. Anyway, it's been very very steady...the tank has been set up for a few days now.

As far as a quarantine tank goes, I have a 5 gallon set up for this purpose, it's not heated nearly as efficiently or as warmly as the other tank....gonna go to wally world here and see if I can remedy that. I will also buy several two liter pop bottles (my DH will just have to drown in Dr. Pepper LOL), so that I can put them in the 5 gal when I have to start separating them.

They shipped this morning, should be here tomorrow. I'm so excited! He says he sent extra fish though...whoa boy, this could be a serious adventure sitch.

Thanks again.

[babystarz]

I'm glad to help, it sounds like you're well prepared :) Feel free to PM me if you ever need advice.

I've had lots of online sellers include extra fish in case some die on the way, and none have ever died XD In fact my guppy tank is still overstocked because none died during shipping and none have died since I got them! Fortunately babies are pretty flexible about space, the only concern is more water changes when things get crowded. And Tupperware containers are very useful in emergency space situations :P