[Thomasdog]

Hi everyone,
we have a great local tropical fish store. They sell live brine shrimp. Can the fry eat full grown brine shrimp or do they have to eat babies? Thanks..
Also: At what age are bettas usally sold at? How long will they be in cups before I can sell them before they become agressive?

 

[JKfish]

As it is, baby brine shrimp can be a little big for new fries, so adult brine shrimps aren't a good idea. You'd need microworms, vinegar eels, walter worms, bananna worms, baby brine shrimp etc.

Age varies in petstores, but most are going to be somewhere between 3 months to about a year...

Bettas are naturally agressive. I do believe around 2 months is when they get aggressive enough to need to be jarred/removed from the grow out tank. However, it depends on the fish itself. Some of the boys might be extremely agressive where as others might be more relaxed and not need to be jarred (unless you want to) until a later day.

www.bettysplendens.com would be a good place to begin your research on breeding.

 

[Oldfishlady]

Also, adult or larger brine shrimp can lack nutrients-once they absorb the yolk sac the brine shrimp have very little nutrition for the Betta fry and as JKfish stated- they may be too big for the fry and too small for adults-on top of the limited nutrition....

With Betta fry if the only source of live food will be brine shrimp-you really need to feed only newly hatched BBS with yolk sac intact-more important in the first 2 weeks-once the Betta fry are 2+ weeks you can supplement the BBS without yolk sac with an HUFA supplement along with some NHBBS-this is if you are only feeding BBS-if you are feeding other live foods then you really don't have to worry too much in regards to nutrition of the BBS after 2 weeks.....

The shells of the BBS can be problematic to young fry too-BBS go through several molts during their life cycle and if young fry eat too many shells it can impact the duct and you can see many health related issues and death.

You also can have bacteria issues from the hatchery water that can compromise the Betta fry-so its really important to rinse the BBS really well before feeding them-never adding any of the hatchery water to the fry tank...

In the cooler months all I feed is BBS to my Betta fry-I like to keep 2 BBS hatcheries going about 24h apart-so that I offer just the smaller newly hatched BBS with yolk sac intact-(In the summer/warmer months I have lot of other freshwater aquatic life that I feed my Betta fry).

I also spawn using a natural method in full to the top with water 5-10gal mature natural planted tanks-complete with lots of common snails and shrimp that in turn help to create lots of microorganism for the Betta fry to free range feed on- (I usually don't need to add any food for the first 7-10 days from free swimming stage and have been very successful using this method for many years)....

One thing that I have observed in regards to growth/development of the Betta fry is that-proper nutrition can make a difference, water quality, heat/humidity of the air above the water and water temp, especially in eggs up to 10 days-too warm or too cool and the fry G/D too fast or slow causing them to be weak and you may see high mortality rates- all can be a factor between success and failure...

Lots of different ways to successfully rear Betta fry-it is finding what works best for you and what you have on hand-but knowing and understanding basic nutrition and water needs can help.....

 

[December]

Quote: I also spawn using a natural method in full to the top with water 5-10gal mature natural planted tanks-complete with lots of common snails and shrimp that in turn help to create lots of microorganism for the Betta fry to free range feed on- (I usually don't need to add any food for the first 7-10 days from free swimming stage and have been very successful using this method for many years)....

OFL : Can you elaborate more on your tank method either on this thread or a new thread? I am very interested in learning about different methods.

 

[EvilVOG]

search "Betty Splendens" she has a wealth of knowledge on different breeding techniques that must of us refer to.