hi every1 new member needs help

[henshooter]

Hey guys names sean but my nicks henshooter thanks for providing a great forum and look foward to many great reads and posts

anyways down to my problem
my bettas have sucessfully but accidentally (went on holiday for a week and left them in care of my sister in law...... dont ask) spawned and i now as of tonight have a nest full of fry which were thought to be unfertile eggs or a meal for the male which hes done last 2 spawns
because of this i have no cultures ready for my fry and have heard you can feed the fry either egg yolk which IMO is a very messy experience for you the fry and their precious water (used to feed my tetra fry on that)...... OR infusoria is much betta (hehe pun intended)
i read on the net somewhere that you can harvest infusoria from ponds and lakes and was wondering what your guys oppinions as i read one bloke who feed the fry from a puddle of dirty water near a rubbish tip (never think of doing that for fear of contamination) but.......
i was wondering if it would be ok to feed them with water from a local lake full of rotting vegitation (ie infusoria) as its way to late to get a culture going now and the lake is quite far from houses and such so contamination is not a big issue at all
please help me ... im not religious but believe in caring for life so extermination of the fry for me personally is not an option and i live in melbourne victoria australia and not sure weather i can buy a living culture for feeding
so in short

would it be ok to harvest and feed infusoria from a lake/pond to my fry
thanks in advance and its great to be a member of this sight
regards Henshooter

[BlueHaven]

Best wishes to you and their care! it's always great to give them a chance before deciding to kill them just becaue they showed up unintentionally.....but it makes sense if you can't take care of them at all...

I don't know enough about breeding to help, but hopefully someone else will come along.
Here is something that might help!
http://www.bettatalk.com/what_fry_eat.htm

[Panthera]

Personally I would just go with the egg yolk. Not only do you not know whats in that water, but you have no idea if it even has infusoria or not. Egg yolk will only last them a few days to a week though, so your going to have to get SOME type of food, be it live BBS or even frozen BBS. Just feed sparingly with the egg yolk, and after 5 days- a week you can start doing small water changes, and adding more water each time, so the tank will become full again.

[vilmarisv]

Yes, egg yolk rots very quickly in the tank but at this point you need an emergency plan.
Just keep up with the daily water changes as pick up fome frozen baby brine shrimp from your local petstore.
Best of luck with you surprice spawn.

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome and congrats on your spawn.....I collect a lot of native/natural food items for my fish and as long as the area is free of pollution it is usually safe...I have never had any issues with disease or parasites, however, I have had problems with predators...little monster that come in egg or larva form that grow up and eat the fry......dragonfly and damslefly nymps are the two biggies that I have problems with here in the US with native live fish food collection....

Depending on what stage the fry are at now and how mature your setup, live plants, common snails...etc...-you may have several days before you need to add food....I would get some BBS and start hatching them....usually it only takes 24h....

Good luck and keep us posted....

[henshooter]

Thanks guys for all the good advice

im thinking of using the egg yolk for their first few feeds and then alternating between green water and yolk ill definately keep youall posted on their progress
its sad that i wasnt prepared for their arival but im hoping with some patience and a careful eye on the water i should be ok
regards Henshooter:than kyou:

[JKfish]

Best of luck with your spawn. :) I'm under the impression that the mother and father were living in the same tank together... hopefully that's not the case, because you really shouldn't house bettas together. If the mom's not out yet, then she definately should be.

[henshooter]

ok ill explain missus and i went on a holiday for a week and left my babies in charge of my sis in law IN SEPERATE TANKS and she decided they looked lonely appart so she added them together to my breeding tank thinking it was my display tank ergo supprise spawning
not andry too much at her but would have been nice to get a phonecall to ask first now i have to contend with a heap of fry i wasnt ready for so ive got no cultures and sush for feeding them

[MrVampire181]

I sell microworms and vinegar eels. PM me if you're interested.

Good luck with your surprise spawn!

[Ethan]

Originally Posted by MrVampire181

I sell microworms and vinegar eels. PM me if you're interested.

Good luck with your surprise spawn!

He won't have enough time to buy those.............the best option is to do the egg yolke in a spray bottle.