Mixing of fry.

[Dan78]

Hello I was wondering when I start to breed my bettas if I may mix the fry from them with my guppy, swordtail and mollie fry which are in a fry tank? I know that bettas have a stunting hormone will this affect any other fish or just bettas.

[indjo]

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum.

I would not suggest putting same sized betta fry with livebearer fry because they won't be able to compete for food and smaller betta fry may be harassed. But some put a 1cm betta fry with newly born livebearer fry. I'm not sure if the hormones will effect them or not. IME it doesn't seem to affect them (betta vs livebearer).

[Dan78]

Indio thanks for the welcome, never even consider the speed which the live bearers can swim at when born compared to the hatched young. Food I was hoping wouldn't be an issue, I was considering one of those timed food dispensers to help when I'm at work for the feeds during the day. I may now consider the new tank for the bettas it was on the plans but if I could utilize what I already have would have been better but guess the new tank and stand will have to come in the future.

[MSG]

Most autofeeders will dispense too much food & if mounted wrong, it will have issues with condensation buildup. Which can create mold/rot issues. Last thing you want your fish to consume is slightly decayed food.

If you have a large acrylic tank 20+ gallons, the autofeeders aren't designed to work with the factory cut outs.

If the live bearing fry you're placing with the bettas are the same size, it does work.

It will take at least 1-2 weeks for the betta fry to get larger enough to compete with a newborn guppy fry.

If you do try the multi-fry housing technique, take pictures/videos.

[Myates]

Not to mention you should be feeding your young bettas live foods such as micros and BBS, at least for the first couple months - tend to get better results with live foods. Can't do that in a vacation feeder..

Also.. many won't eat flake fry food, they tend to go after food that is moving and alive, as they are not omnivores, but rather insectivores by nature.

[Sena Hansler]

All fish have a stunting hormone. It's the "survival of the fittest" ruling, where they will do anything to get ahead. I have four random platy fry in with my 3 month old bettas. -.-; I barely notice them anymore and they've become "one of the pack". However, they are bigger (older age) and I would never place younger bettas with anything.

Say your baby fishies are 1 week old. The first two weeks are crucial, so making sure they are fed properly is a must. When I work longer days, I use BBS. Baby brine shrimp last a good amount of time in the tank, and usually lasts part of the day when I put in a whack load. Then when I come home I do the same thing.

[Oldfishlady]

I mix Betta fry and guppy fry all the time and as long as the Betta fry are a bit bigger than the guppy fry-All works out fine with the added benefit of the guppy fry teaching them how to eat processed food at an earlier age-or at least in my experience and the Betta fry seem to grow faster too IME anyway...lol...

As for the stunting hormone-I haven't seen any issues between the two species.

[MrVampire181]

Not until the bettas are a bit bigger. Livebearer fry are larger than betta fry.

[Dan78]

Well this is alot to take in, I will for the first ever betta spawn keep them in a growing tank guess this is a better option for my first time and see how well I go. Thanks MSG never had an autofeeder and all reports read say that they are great at least now I have an opinion which shows the bad side. The tank which I have ordered for the fry is a 170ltr tank which is a 4ft in length.

[Sena Hansler]

Nice tank!

And I have heard so much bad about the auto feeders it's scary.