antbfc

HI,

I am goign to pick up my first siamese fighter fish on saturday :-) really excited. I have sorted his tank and everything out all ready for him and have been doing research on bettas. Now before anyone posts i know this is a touchy subject so i'm not asking a moral question here just a practical one...

I am aware that bettas thrive on live foods. A friend of mine has a tank of guppys and platies and they breed like mad. He has said that i can take baby ones to feed to the betta. My question is, will this be benificial to the betta nutritionally? I've read that it helps them be stimulated. Also how many is acceptable per day? And if it should only be done once a week or every other day to vary diet. Sorry if this question offends anyone i am not trying to kick off a debate!

mare2009

..I am going to jump in here, being that I love my Platy tank, and the cute fry...I also know that fish eat other fish. In the wild they need to, of course. I do think that the food and supplements that is available today for the home aquarist is extremely beneficial. The need is not there IMO to feed your betta with live platys or guppies.
In answer to your question, the food varieties, frozen brine shrimp, blood worm, etc is sufficient for a balanced healthy diet.
( and your friend can find a LFS to take in their fry ).

whisper

In my view that is totally expectable. Many people use fry as food for a variety of fish. It is true Betta's love live foods If you do I would only give it one a day, maybe every other day. This of course is in place of other foods. Remember Betta's stomachs are only as big as there eyeball so one at a time would be plenty. Maybe other members would have a better idea.

antbfc

thankyou for your replys. thanks whisper, so whenever i get hold of any i will feed him one a day every 2 days and on the other days i will use flakes or bloodworms etc. Sound ok? Anyone else?

Amanda

My Oscars snack on my Con fry....when they can get to them. Keeps the population in my 55 in check IMO.

antbfc

thats exactly what my friend is going to do. Keep the population down.. that amunt seem ok? Just been seeing the size of the fry, there very small!

Amanda

Use pellets instead of flakes, because flakes will make a betta bloat. But every few days should be okay.

antbfc

ok i'll get some betta pellets then. so if i make a feeding regime of

day 1
1 guppy/platy fry

day 2
3 betta food pellets

day 3
1 guppy/platy fry

day 4
3 betta food pellets

day 5

1 peeled pea (for digestion i've read?)

day 6

1 bloodworm

day 7

3 betta pellets

all those days where i've put fry if i haven''t got any i can just swap for bloodworms mosquito larvae etc

Red1313

Sounds like a plan. I've read (on recently) about feeding betta other fish but just keep in mind that with live foods disease control will be a big deal. Also the nutritional value of the fry will depend on what they've been fed. Just a few things to keep in mind.

antbfc

yeah some good points. I'm lucky because the guy whos giving them to me keeps his tank in good order feeds them quality foods etc. Can i ask where you read the info? I'd like to read up on it myself but cant find much online :-)

Red1313

It was just a comment no real info to go with it. Usually people with betta's don't supply live foods (after all they come from mud puddles <eyeroll>) and i haven't heard of many keepers who feed them fry. However as a guideline the more nutritious the diet the fry get the better they'll be for the betta. I would (just a word of caution) keep in mind that betta's naturally eat insect larva and the like from the surface of the water so fish fry are a bit outside they're natural diet (not a lot since betta will eat their own fry) but watch for digestive problems, you're water quality my deteriorate faster due to the carnivorous metabolic activity so watch that as well.

Lastly I'm sure you trust your friend to take care of his fry but remember that what his fish may be immune to your may not be. Limit shared tank water and if possible QT the fry. (not sure how fast the fry grow so that might not be an option).

Good Luck

sirdarksol

Generally, the live food referred to with bettas isn't fry, but rather insects and insect larva.
If the betta will eat the fry, and if the fry's parents are taken care of, it wouldn't be detrimental, however.