[Animal Lover37]

So i had a question about what you guys feed your fry? I was planning on making infusoria and i have a microworm culture coming but i also have been reading that egg yolk is really good too apparently. now the only reason i doubt this is because i tried this method to feed my molly fry and out of a batch of about 20 only 3 survived. so ya any thoughts, comments, advice?...

 

[hrutan]

Don't bother with the egg yolk, most betta fry won't eat it. They want live food only. Infusoria for the first few days, and then microworms (since you already have them) + something else. Vinegar eels are a popular choice and easy to culture, baby brine shrimp can also be good but make sure no egg shells make it into the fry tank. Don't feed microworms only, they seem to have either a deficiency that makes it so the fry don't grow ventral fins, or encourage some kind of bacterial problem that contributes to missing ventrals - this doesn't appear to happen as long as it isn't their sole diet. A balanced diet of several different types of live food is probably best, and the fry need to be big enough to eat what you're giving them.

 

[Animal Lover37]

Oh ok ya I read there were a few diet problems with baby brine as well. Ill get some vinegar eels. Would frozen or freeze dried brine shrimp be ok just as a small portion of their diet?

 

[lilnaugrim]

Banana worms are good for the first few days too!

 

[Animal Lover37]

Do vinegar eels HAVE to eat apples or can I put like potatoes or rice in there cause I have the apple cider vinegar ready to go. Just want to know if I can use stuff I already have around the house

 

[Imzadi7]

I always use egg yolk for the first few days. Never had any trouble with fry eating it. Also it's a good idea to have some live plants in there so you can get a natural form of infusoria.

 

[Animal Lover37]

I got some snails but ill get some java moss too

 

[LittleBettaFish]

I just had my vinegar eels in a mixture of 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% water, and then just put some cut apple in the bottom of the container. I had that culture for a year and never touched it, but when I gave it away to someone else it was teeming with vinegar eels.

I wouldn't put a potato or rice in there as I have never heard anything but apple being used. I think they use the sugars.

Foods such as microworms and vinegar eels are not very nutritious, and are mainly used to keep stomachs full until the fry are big enough to take foods such as BBS and grindal worms (this is what I use once my fry reach a certain size).

BBS can cause swim bladder issues if you overfeed. If you are feeding microworms, you have to be thorough in cleaning the bottom of the tank as it's believed there is some link between bacteria relating to decaying microworms and missing ventral fins.

I would recommend looking into grindals. They are stupidly easy to culture, seem to reproduce very quickly provided you feed them adequately (mine get fed daily) and give good growth rates. I've had fry around the 1.5cm mark taking grindals with no issues at all.

Once the fry are big enough, then you start introducing dried/frozen foods.

 

[Animal Lover37]

At what age is "big enough" exactly I was thinking maybe 4 weeks