Feeding fry

[liz10]

First of all: Hello everyone! I'm Liz. I'm new to the forum and to breeding bettas.

My biology class wants to breed bettas this semester. Our professor has a female that is full of eggs right now and we are planning on introducing her to my male tomorrow. We have a well established tank with live plants in our classroom.

I'm hoping that some of the members on this forum can give us some advice.

*What is the easiest and cheapest way to feed fry?

*We don't have any food prepared for the fry. Is it too late to prepare food for the fry?

*If it is too late to prepare food for the fry when will the female be ready to spawn again?

*No one will able to feed the fry on weekends. Will this be a problem?

[1fish2fish]

I'll start with the biggest issues first...

Fry need to be fed every. single. day. Especially in the first weeks. Sometimes you can miss one day of feeding but it will stunt the growth of your fry.

Water must be changed every day, preferably more than once depending on the size of the tank. Not doing this will also stunt the growth of your fry and could lead to death because of the rotting food in the tank.

You will detrimentally lower the number of fry you raise to adulthood if you do not feed and do water changes on the weekends.

The cheapest way to feed fry is to culture live foods. Most cultures start out at about $2-3 (plus shipping) and then all you need is the container to culture them in and a food source. It usually takes 2 weeks to a month for the food to be properly cultured before you can harvest it to feed your fry.

Baby Brine Shrimp are another popular option but they must be continually cultured every 12 hours and will not last if left unattended over the weekend.

You can purchase dried foods like Hikari first bites but many fry will not eat this and will starve to death, again lowering the number of fry you get.


Your male and female must be conditioned to breed. Breeding is very stressful on both fish and just because the female is eggy does not mean she is properly conditoned. The pair must be kept apart from all other fish and fed a lot of high quality (preferably live but frozen works) foods for at least 2 weeks. After that you can introduce them into the spawning tank.



My other concern is what will happen to the fry. I'm assuming that this is not a good pair from a reputable breeder but just two random (probably VT) fish from a pet store. If your project is successful how do you plan to house and find homes for up to 50-100 fry? Are you going to be able to make sure those fish go to homes where they'll be in AT LEAST 1 gallon tanks with heaters and proper water changes?

Breeding animals is a serious thing. There are thousands upon thousands of bettas and other fish rotting to death in pet stores all over the world. Unless you have a good reason (beyond a "fun" science project) for breeding the fish I suggest you find a better project.

Are you aware that your male or his female could potentially die or be killed during the spawning? Many times fish (especially the males) get sick after being removed from the spawning tank because of lowered immune systems and die.

I'm not trying to be harsh but I want you to have all the facts and SERIOUSLY consider the consequences of this project.

[MrVampire181]

I'm sorry but your biology class sucks! Breeding bettas is a difficult and detailed process. One slip up could result in death of the fry. You'll need at least a 20 gallon tank to move them to at about 3 weeks of age with heating and filtration. You'll also need hundreds of jars/tanks with heating and water changes.

You know how many gallons I change on one (out of my many) spawning/growout tank everyday? 3-12 gallons! It's not reccomended for begginers OR a class room project.

Ok so 1: Fry need live food, several times a day.

2: Fry need large, frequent water changes every single day.

3: Hikari First Bites is a TERRIBLE food for a beginner breeder. I've been doing this for a while so I use it but I clean often.

4: I prefer BBS from the day dad comes out to the day they hit around 5 weeks.

VTs are numbering the millions throughout the wolrd...a single Thai breeder alone imports 25,000 of them to the US alone in one year. If you want your fry to be worth something and find good homes get a pair off Aquabid, it's on average $30 plus shipping but 100% worth it.

[JKfish]

I completely agree with 1F2F and Mr.vamp. Tell your teacher to research, and tell him or her what you learn from here. Because bettas are so agressive and rasing fry is so hard, this is definately not a good idea for a class project. It's really expensive as well. Personally, I suggest that you don't breed animals for this project. All animals have certain needs, and breeding isn't something you can do by sticking two creatures together.

read the breeding bettas sticky. that will give you a decent idea of what you're getting yourself into

[MrVampire181]

This is an even better page to what your getting yourself into: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=51624

[liz10]

ok that was seriously rude

if i'm asking questions it's because i/we want to do things correctly. we are not a bunch of jr high or high school kids. we are college students and most of us are planning on attending medical school. my family had a horse breeding operation for many years. i still breed and train horses. i've also been volunteering/working in veterinary hospitals since i was 12. if i can handle that i'm pretty sure i can handle breeding some fish.

before coming here i already had the majority of the information i needed. since the internet is littered with conflicting, unorganized incomplete information i came here to get a straight answer to my particular questions.

i did not realize that this forum was filled with people that have nothing better to do than sit at a keyboard and be rude to people that are trying to learn.

when you assume u make an a$$ of you and me

no, our bettas are not common pet store bettas. the female is very nice. my prof spent a long time looking for a good one. the male is a young crown tail with great fins. yes he came from a "pet store." this particular pet store is the best kept saltwater fish shop i have ever seen. the owner of the pet shop buys her bettas from a breeder. she travels 2-3 hours to hand pick her stock. yes we know that either one of them could be injured or killed.

the fry will not be sold and already have homes. students in our class, students in the pre-med club and some professors. if we

get off your soap box, take a pill and learn some common courtesy

[Waterbottle2]

Hi I dont think anyone was trying to be rude to you. They are just making sure that you know what you are doing and that this is a huge commitment for everyone involved.

Also a side note:
While I realize breeding horses takes ALOT of work dont be fooled bettas aren't the easiest things to breed and also take alot of work from what i've heard =)
Goodluck to you and your class!

[dramaqueen]

I don't think anyone was trying to be rude. People here have a passion for bettas and may, at times, come across as sounding rude but they are looking out for the best interests of the fish. They just wanted to maake sure you know what you're getting into and it sounds like you do.I wish you good luck with your project.

[Oldfishlady]

Hey Liz, I can help you out with the information that you need, if you would like we can go to PM...have a few questions....to get started....

How big is the tank, how many and what kind of plants-with a well planted mature aquarium-they can make enough food to sustain a limited number of fry-this depends on the size and number of plants and species-they can also help with water quality and this will help get through the weekends.

Supplement food will be pretty easy and helpful too, set up a brine shrimp hatchery another good project for the class

The female-I like to give at least 3 days between spawning

Conditioning is really important for both the male and female to get the best spawn, healthy eggs, strong fry

Anyway...tell me more about what you have as far as supplies and I will be happy to help your class with your spawn project.....

[Chicklet]

I have to agree with Liz10, came across as very rude to me too.
Look at it from a new members perspective,
Everybody means well but it don't always read that way.

If she doesn't return it won't surprise me.

People are going to breed no matter what any of us say,
It's Better to do it with some guidance then not,
Before jumping on all the reason why they shouldn't,
A person should ask for abit more details first,

As for water changes needed every day, Not entirely true,
As for not being able to go the weekend with no food, Not entirely true either,
Betta's are in fact one of the more easier fish to breed, Nothing really hard about them.

As for them being smaller if not all these things take place, Not entirely true either,
Many of my young lives entirely off the tank plant life,etc for several weeks and are lucky to get a water change every two weeks,
And everyone remarks at how much bigger my Betta's are.

We can make a thing harder then it actually is,

Oldfishlady is one of the best people to talk to on here in my opinion,
She's good at explaining things, will take the time to type out all the information you need and I believe has lots of yrs experience.

Everyone means well on here, But alot also lack the hard experience such as Oldfishlady has.

On another note:
I really didn't realize just how many young folks we have on this forum until just the other day when I decided to start clicking on names, and reading more details.