Betta Breeding By Mistake

There's around 22-25. The grow tank is a 36g bow front that's only filled partially because it cracked near the top a few weeks ago. There's no filter for obvious reasons, I don't want my fry getting vacuumed up, but they're so small atm that they don't make much waste.
I'm probably going to actually keep most of the fry. I don't have many, probably around 20-30, and who knows if all of them will grow up or not. I will look into selling off the less colorful males though.
How would you move them? I don't want them to get tossed around by pouring them out.
Edit: Lol, PascalKrypt ninjad me. Whoops. Yeah, that was what I was wondering about. When would you recommend that they leave the 1 gallon?

Around 7 to 10 days old is when I would normally consider it, though a 1 gallon is indeed very small. Hm. Perhaps the best thing to do is daily water testing on your 1 gallon. If you see the water quality plunge from one day to the next (remember nitrates should also be near 0 ideally because fry are very sensitive to them) then move half of them, regardless of age. Otherwise you'd be at risk of losing them anyway.
I would also do daily water changes of maybe 20-30%, just make sure do it slowly with thin airline tubing in and from a cup, so you keep flow at a minimum and can catch any fry being sucked out and put them back in the tank with a spoon. Better even if you can put a piece of panty hose over the intake. It is sometimes advised against doing water changes on young fry, but bad water quality is way worse for them than a little fluctuation so I would start on them today. Just make sure to carefully temp match the water.

Edit: As for moving them, find a small container (1/2 liter (1/8th gallon) or so, and slowly dip it in the tank. Drop some live food in it, wait for fry to swim in and then slowly raise it out. Move the container to the tank they should go into and float it for an hour or so before slowly replacing the water (with airline tubing or with a shot glass) with the one in the tank.

 

I've been summoned at a not so great time, running on half a bottle of wine but I will do my best

Provided dad is a good boy and takes care of the eggs/fry w/o eating them, here's a quick run down.

The eggs have already been laid and are now developing. In about 36 hours they will hatch and around 2-3 days later they will be swimming around and wanting to eat, at which point you should remove the male. Infusoria, micro worms and baby brine shrimp are the first foods that are best suited for them. The tiniest food being infusoria is what's best for the first several days. I've gotten by with simply having lots of leaves in the spawning tank (infusoria factories in short) and adding micro worms a couple times a day. In a pinch you can try hard boiled egg yolk, they won't want to eat it as it doesn't move but some may survive on it. Just add a tiny bit mixed with water, say a couple drops around the tank, feed a few times a day.

If you little ones make it a week after free swimming then you are doing fairly well. Get some brine shrimp eggs, do some researching and feed them 3 times a day while also doing small water changes daily. A seasoned sponge filter set on low and a temp about 82F is best. Larger water changes can suffice in no sponge filter is available. Betta fry can be raised with just about any non aggressive/smaller fish needing the same temp and dietary requirements. I have OB peacocks with my older betta spawn right now and so far I've seen no aggression between the two, just among their own kind. Granted they cannot stay together as adults, most things can work with fry.

My first successful spawn ended up with a whopping 14 bettas. Other spawns yielded about 30-40 and my last spawn had a mere 3 tiny fry. It's a toss up and if you don't pay attention to the little ones things can go bad real fast. Separating the males takes some creativity, Oddly enough I have 2 young males in my sorority and no one has any battle scars. Separate the aggressive ones as they appear and go form there. Talk to you local pet stores, ask friends and family if they want a little friend.

Did I mention doing research on your own? That will do the most for you and your fish, always do research and read several things to make sure the facts add up.

HikarI First Bites is a powder that works very well for fry.

 

There's around 22-25. The grow tank is a 36g bow front that's only filled partially because it cracked near the top a few weeks ago. There's no filter for obvious reasons, I don't want my fry getting vacuumed up, but they're so small atm that they don't make much waste.
I'm probably going to actually keep most of the fry. I don't have many, probably around 20-30, and who knows if all of them will grow up or not. I will look into selling off the less colorful males though.
How would you move them? I don't want them to get tossed around by pouring them out.
Edit: Lol, PascalKrypt ninjad me. Whoops. Yeah, that was what I was wondering about. When would you recommend that they leave the 1 gallon?

I would say it should be fine as long as you monitor it and the guppies are not growing too much faster than the bettas. They won't try eating them now but if the bettas are indeed struggling for food and growing space while the guppies grow quickly, they may begin to see the bettas as food. However with 18g of water and I'm assuming frequent feedings they should all be fine.

I've raised numerous bronze corydoras fry for their first month in a filtered 5 gallon, and I've never had the problem of fish being sucked up. Fry are good swimmers; they will dart away if they feel like something is sucking them up. It may be worth getting a filter (obviously not with big holes to minimise the chances) to ease the amount of maintenance the tank needs. Although they are only small fry and won't be producing too much waste individually, lots and lots of them will add up. I'm assuming you do daily water changes?

 

HikarI First Bites is a powder that works very well for fry.

It does indeed work well for some fry, but bettas and several other of the tiny egg layers will only eat moving food. Betta fry often starve in the first few days of free swimming because they refuse to eat prepared food, such was my mistake in the beginning. You'll have a much higher survival and growth rate when using live foods.

 

I would say it should be fine as long as you monitor it and the guppies are not growing too much faster than the bettas. They won't try eating them now but if the bettas are indeed struggling for food and growing space while the guppies grow quickly, they may begin to see the bettas as food. However with 18g of water and I'm assuming frequent feedings they should all be fine.

I've raised numerous bronze corydoras fry for their first month in a filtered 5 gallon, and I've never had the problem of fish being sucked up. Fry are good swimmers; they will dart away if they feel like something is sucking them up. It may be worth getting a filter (obviously not with big holes to minimise the chances) to ease the amount of maintenance the tank needs. Although they are only small fry and won't be producing too much waste individually, lots and lots of them will add up. I'm assuming you do daily water changes?

Not sure if you have any experience with betta fry (please disregard my comments if you do) but you know that they are far smaller than guppy fry right? Especially given that guppy fry are already older, I don't think they would mix all that well. Guppy fry do eat other fry when the size difference is large enough, and I'm not quite sure if that would be the case in this situation or not, but at best it is doubtful.
It helps if there is vegetation for the fry to hide from each other.
It can also be hard to feed very young fry in a large (15G+) tank because they will have trouble finding the food. Given that the guppies are probably more voracious it is a real danger that they will starve in that large mixed tank.

This is all just speculation though, I don't have experience with trying that set-up either, but I would have my doubts about it. I would try it with a few fry first to see if it works out.

Aside from what Demeter pointed out, in general feeding live foods is safer as well because they live for a while even when not immediately eaten and so foul your water much less quickly.

 

Not sure if you have any experience with betta fry (please disregard my comments if you do) but you know that they are far smaller than guppy fry right? Especially given that guppy fry are already older, I don't think they would mix all that well. Guppy fry do eat other fry when the size difference is large enough, and I'm not quite sure if that would be the case in this situation or not, but at best it is doubtful.
It helps if there is vegetation for the fry to hide from each other.
It can also be hard to feed very young fry in a large (15G+) tank because they will have trouble finding the food. Given that the guppies are probably more voracious it is a real danger that they will starve in that large mixed tank.

This is all just speculation though, I don't have experience with trying that set-up either, but I would have my doubts about it. I would try it with a few fry first to see if it works out.

Aside from what Demeter pointed out, in general feeding live foods is safer as well because they live for a while even when not immediately eaten and so foul your water much less quickly.

I haven't bred bettas myself, but I am aware of their size. I still don't think betta fry could be eaten by 7-10 day old guppy fry. I don't think they would fit in their mouths. However, I am aware of the possibility of the guppies out-competing them. I think with 22 of them, if enough food is provided they should have enough, although like I said it should be closely monitored.

Really, it depends on how fast the guppies are growing. If they are growing very fast then the betta fry becoming food is a big possibility as they get bigger.

 

Sad news, it appears that either I moved the dad too early or the fry just seemed to have disappeared. There's one left, hanging motionless at the top of the tank. I don't think it's alive.
I will definitely try again, as the parents seem willing to breed and they are fantastic fish. What would be a recommended wait time to try again?

 

Sad news, it appears that either I moved the dad too early or the fry just seemed to have disappeared. There's one left, hanging motionless at the top of the tank. I don't think it's alive.
I will definitely try again, as the parents seem willing to breed and they are fantastic fish. What would be a recommended wait time to try again?

Sorry to hear that. Even if you startle the tank there are no swimmers?

 

Sad news, it appears that either I moved the dad too early or the fry just seemed to have disappeared. There's one left, hanging motionless at the top of the tank. I don't think it's alive.
I will definitely try again, as the parents seem willing to breed and they are fantastic fish. What would be a recommended wait time to try again?

I would stir the tank gently with a spoon, shake the plants, etc., just to make sure that there really are none in there.

Around 3 weeks is probably a good pause period to let them recover and recondition them. Do use the time in between to get food cultures etc. ready and read up a little. And set up a larger breeding tank so no moving will be required next time