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Questions and Answers to all aspects of keeping Betta Fish!
Questions and Answers to all aspects of keeping Betta Fish!
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Welcome to
BubbleNest.com
Questions and Answers to all aspects of keeping Betta Fish! |
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What are the different kind of fry food? |
| Victor Chan - You should consider live daphnia. I've read somewhere that the nutrition value of the daphnia drops drastically when they're dead. Also, in a packet of live daphnia, there are younger daphnia that are just the correct size for your smaller fries. Their source of food is bacteria and algae, so they should keep your fries tank clean also - Jan 12, 2001 |
| Adrian - I find microworms the most cheapest and safe fish food for fry. Studies from the internet shows that the protein in microworms are equal to that of BBS. See link. - Jan 16, 2001 link |
| iatfai - egg yolk smashed into powderry form works, but it got a disadvantage, and that is it really pollutes the water. - Nov 25, 2000 |
| Donna - I'm really sold on vinegar eels as the first food because they don't sink to the bottom the way microworms do. Although they will live for several days in freshwater, the eels won't multiply in it (so they're not like daphnia), but they keep the new fry off the bottom of the tank, which I think may be important for the proper development of the ventral fins. And once your jugs of vinegar eels are growing, there is considerably less maintenance than for microworms and they can be left in a closet and forgotten for months at a time. Check out the link for more information. - Jan 26, 2001 link |
| Hans - What Liquifry does is to feed the infusoria (micro organism) in your tank, not the fry. Liquifry promotes the growth of infusoria so that your fry can eat them as first food. Therefore, if you think you have infusoria in your tank (usually in aged water with plants), then using Liquifry No.1 will help, but only 1 drop per 4 litres of water maybe 2-3 times a day - not any more or you'll risk fouling the water. And when you drop directly into the tank, try to diffuse it, perhaps using a dropper to suck/squeeze at the water near the droplets. Also, the fry do not eat during the first two days after it hatches (hanging vertically). They still carry a little "york" as their first food until it's finished, before looking for food. Therefore, do not "overfeed" with Liquifry. Actually, I have many success WITHOUT Liquifry, but using micro-worms as the fry first food (after their own york ;). Micro-worms stays alive in the water for a day or two, do not foul the water as much, and the fry grow up faster with it as compare to infusoria.... Try NOT to use egg yorks...it'll foul the water VERY easily if not careful. - Jan 28, 2001 |
| - Mike Reed's No BS (Brine Shrimp) Fry Food, eliminates the need to raise baby brine shrimp to feed and rear superior fry, or baby fish. Tests by breeders and hobbyists show that No BS Fry Food grows fry to equal or bigger size faster and more uniformly than does baby brine shrimp or any other diet tested. In addition, traditionally-fragile strains stopped experiencing typical fry losses and grew at the same rate as more vigorous varieties. See Link. - Dec 17, 2000 link |
| Victor Chan - So far, I think fish less than a month, when fed on daphnia, grows really fast. I find that for my fries, when they are about a mth old and fed solely on microworms, the growth rate is definitely slower. When I switched from microworm exclusive diet to daphnia, I saw that the fries resumed their fast growth rate. I find that on the microworm exclusive diet, after 1 mth, my fries are still too small to eat tubifex. With the recent increase in disease in my bettas from tubifex, I don't think I want to feed the fries that. Looks like they have to make do with daphnia until they're big enough for frozen bloodworms - Jan 12, 2001 |
| Donna - When the fry are free-swimming, I start them on vinegar eels for the first 10 days to two weeks. Then I start rotating bbs with Golden Pearls Clusters for about two weeks and then change from the clusters to the artemia and/or rotifer Golden Pearls. At about 6 weeks of age I start rotating in Mike Reed's No BS fry food, large size (my younger fry just will not go for the small size) and the Golden Pearls juvenile food. By 8 weeks I start adding in live blackworms. - Feb 18, 2001 |
| Kok Onn - what I can think of is BBS, Microworm, Tubifex worm out of these 3, I find that they're quite good obviously tubifex will have the best growth rate, BBS clean but only got the shell problem but if you've got good BS Eggs then that won't be a problem and for microworms, sink , slow, and stay in water for a longer period, but the only disadvantage to some people is the smell of the culture, some might faint when not get used to it.. :> some claim that using egg york but many complains that it is dirty, another food should be daphina but only limited place in Singapore sell them.. that's my $0.002 of thoughts - Jan 12, 2001 |
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Hans - In the first two days after they hatches, use liquifry No.1 to feed the fry, but in very small amount like 1 to 2 drops per tank per day. Otherwise, it'll quickly foul the water. Liquifry starts a protozoan culture that the fry can feed from.
After that, feed them micro-worms for another week or until they are big enough to feed on baby brine shrimps (bbs). From then on, feed them a variety of food from bbs, daphnia, tubifex worms, etc. Leave a light on for 24/7 so that the flies can feed any time. It's good to use live food like micro-worms or daphnia which can stay alive in the water for some days, and be ready food for any hungry flies. - Nov 13, 2000 |
| Donna - The long-neck, square-shouldered bottles that mixers for drinks come in make great "harvesting" bottles, and I have a number of these for rotation. I just use an eyedropper to remove the eel-laden water in the top and squirt it into the fry tank. I keep my "maintenance" solutions in assorted gallon vinegar jugs and apple juice bottles, wine jugs, etc. I punch holes in the plastic lids so there is plenty of air. Oh, I ordered my starter culture for vinegar eels from mail order. See link. - Jan 26, 2001 link |
| JJ - I noticed that only bettas which are younger, at around 1cm or so, will eat flakes. As they get older and bigger, they tend to stop taking flake food and prefers pellet. This is what I've observed with my bettas, and it could be because I prefer to feed pellets as they grow so by the time they are older they won't want to take flake anymore. If your fish eats flake, then it's totally ok to feed them flake. Just try to give them a variety of food, preferably both frozen and dry. About daphnia being used as food for bettas, I have heard that they can act as a laxative if taken in large quantities. Not too sure if it's totally true, but a little bit of everything can't be bad (unless the water that the daphnia comes in is very polluted, which is usually the case). - Jan 14, 2001 |
| - After those 2-3 days you can use hardboiled egg yolk by crushing them into crumbs (gets the water kind of dirty) or you can use micro powder food found at your LFS (local fish store). - Nov 14, 2000 |
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bettamom - Week 1: Feed each morning and afternoon with a sprinkle of tetramin "e" fry food and two drops of liquifry. After the third day add microworms or newly hatched brine shrimp each day. Keep the light on so the fry can feed 24 hours a day. Keep the fry tightly covered.
Week 2: Feed each morning with newly hatched brine shrimp or microworms. Each afternoon with golden pearls or ground flake food. Keep the light on so the fry can feed 24 hours a day. Add light aeration after the first week to break up surface scum as the labyrinth will develop this week and fry need to be able to break through the water surface. Week 3: Watch for leftover food when you feed. If there is none, you are underfeeding. If there is leftover food you are over feeding. Feed as frequently as you can to maximize growth. Begin to transition to golden pearls, ground flake, and decapsulated brine shrimp eggs and away from live brine shrimp. Begin water changes this week. Week 4: Add frozen meats to the diet including ground beef heart mixtures, seafoods mixtures, and thawed brine shrimp. More frequent feedings, variable diet, and frequent water changes will maximize growth. Move from the 5 gallon aquarium to a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium this week. - Feb 18, 2001 |
| ddyess_39073 - To grow fry fast, my experience has been good with the NOBS from Mike Reed. http://www.mreed.com The bettas I've raised on NOBS I am compairing to last year without it the growth is twice the size in the same amount of time. I feed twice a day 5 times a week. I mix it with the same water the fry are in by using a mixing jar and then pouring it in the aquarium, the other two days I use BBS and golden pearls or decapsulated brine shrimp. - Dec 28, 2000 |
| JJ - Depends on how big the fry are. For my case, I usually feed them BBS until they are old enough to each micro pellets, or frozen brine shrimp. That should be when they are about 8mm or bigger, especially for the frozen bbs which they can choke on. Getting micro-pellets is not difficult, but getting one that is not too hard may prove otherwise. I think the fry are capable of eating micro pellets which are harder, but I'd prefer to give them something which is softer. Look around. Sometimes normal baby size pellets (1mm plus size) is ok after they soften up in the water. Once you get past the 8mm to 1cm size, you can probably feed completely on frozen bbs, and include frozen bloodworms into their diet. Try to feed an assortment of dry foods too, just to add variety and nutrition. Another reason to use dry food occasionally is that it'll be easier for your Mom or siblings to feed them if you ever need to go away for a few days. : ) - Jan 12, 2001 |
| zlher - I had had several spawns there reached 3/4 to 1 inch in only 4 weeks. It may be genetics or just pure luck, but it can happen. There is no condition as a perfect condition, but feeding around the clock is a GIANT factor in determining their sizes. This no doubt is a lot of work, but it does work. - Nov 25, 2000 |
| Victor - Live daphnia. There's a mixture of big and small daphnias and they can cater to different sized fries. - Jan 14, 2001 |
| - Just found another food for fry... Its "green date powder" Ladies use it for facial, but its particles are very small, smaller than tetramin e baby food. Chinese call it "Li Chao Fen" - Mar 10, 2001 |
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JJ - The choice of first food for fry is very important. If you want to have very
high success rate with fast growing fry, then many breeders will tell you to
use bbs. Other foods such as infusoria and microworms would also work, but the
degree of success may vary. Some breeders may have better luck with microworms
and not bbs because they can culture microworms better than bbs, so the result
to that breeder is that microworms is better.
Take myself for example. I've come to a conclusion that live tubifex is like a
death wish for my bettas. Almost every time I feed live tubifex to my bettas,
I will either get complete wipe outs or have my favourite betta die. This is
why I've stopped using live tubifex for my bettas for many years already. Once
in a while I'll try again to remind myself of the deadliness of tubifex, and
each time the same thing happens. However, not every breeder has this problem.
I know of at least a few who feed tubifex regularly and have no problems with
their fish. Wrong source? Maybe. I don't clean my tubifex well enough?
Maybe. I'll never know.
What I'm trying to say here is, all the advice that you can get on bettas may
or may not apply to every individual. Sometimes you have to try them all to
see which ones are the best method for you.
As for feeding them dry food...Remember that there is always a certain amount of infusoria in the fry tank. Therefore, when you find that the fry are still alive after a few days of feeding dry food, they may actually be feeding on the infusoria to keep themselves alive. Sometimes when you try feeding with bbs, and all of the fry die after a couple of days, it could be due to disease, and not the food. Sounds like a big jigsaw puzzle doesn't it? : ) - Jan 21, 2001 |
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