Feeding Spawn

Working on a strict budget here and all I have available near me is petsmart and petco. I have a male tending to the nest currently... it's only been a few days but I want to go ahead and buy food for the babies. I already have flakes and pellets (they are both mixed with about 3 different foods to give the fish variety)... can I just crush the flakes to a powder?

These are bettas

 

Your best option on a budget with be HikarI frozen baby brine shrimp.

Adult brine shrimp offer little to no nutrional value.

 

"Adult brine shrimp offer little to no nutrional value."

I believe this to be an internet myth.

Adult brine shrimp are 56% protein, naupliI are 52%.

 

They offer no nutritional value to something that can't eat them, the babies need live food to trigger the feeding reaction, most will not take dry foods for the first few weeks because they don't know it is food.
I would say get yourself a brine shrimp hatchery going (make it yourself, order the eggs or buy them in store, make sure you have a good salt ratio to get them to hatch).

 

Ok now explain how to do that...

 

Brine shrimp hatchery? You need a container, a bubbler, salt mixture (some hatchery eggs come with salt mixed in already, so you dump that into the container that is large as instructed), and eggs. Mine take just under 24 hr to hatch, but I make my own mixture for the eggs to hatch in and make sure the water is in the 70s for temp.

 

Brine shrimp hatchery? You need a container, a bubbler, salt mixture (some hatchery eggs come with salt mixed in already, so you dump that into the container that is large as instructed), and eggs. Mine take just under 24 hr to hatch, but I make my own mixture for the eggs to hatch in and make sure the water is in the 70s for temp.

I'm not really prepared to have a new tank and I'm not experienced at all with brackish or measuring salinity. Unless I can do it all in my grow out tank

 

I'm not really prepared to have a new tank and I'm not experienced at all with brackish or measuring salinity. Unless I can do it all in my grow out tank

It isn't a tank, it can be simply a two liter bottle with the bottom cut off (about four inches, this supports the inverted top). You could also just do live cultures of walter worms, white worms, or even micro worms.

 

"Adult brine shrimp offer little to no nutrional value."

I believe this to be an internet myth.

Adult brine shrimp are 56% protein, naupliI are 52%.

It is not a myth. Brine shrimp in theory are good. The ones available to us at our local pet store are not.

Aquarium Invertebrates: Nutritional Value Of Live Foods For The Coral Reef Aquarium, Part 2

Personally, if you're on a budget I wouldn't start a brine shrimp hatchery. It can be very hard to successfully keep them alive after hatching, the eggs can be fairly expensive, and if you need a steady source of food immediately, I'd go with the frozen baby brine shrimp.

But live brine shrimp is definitely something to look into.

 

I'm not a specialist, and my way might not be the best, but I've fed Betta spawn with just crushed dry food twice and got a few healthy adult fish from those families... not lots of them, but I don't need twenty Betta (my tanks aren't big enough for that!) and am quite happy with just two or three healthy babies each time.

 

I just ordered a live Microsoft culture. How do I keep that alive?

Currently my grow out tank is a 20 tall and it is full all the way. Should I empty it halfway before I add the babies to it?

 

It is not a myth. Brine shrimp in theory are good. The ones available to us at our local pet store are not.

Aquarium Invertebrates: Nutritional Value Of Live Foods For The Coral Reef Aquarium, Part 2

There is no objective information in that article to support your theory.

 

Omg I thought I had a few more days but the babies are here already! Somr scoot along the bottom and some float in the nest! Now what?!

 

Do you have any java moss or other bushy plants? Place them in the tank they can feed off the microorganisms on the leaves for a couple days, you may have to add more plants at that point if you are still waiting for the culture.

 

Can do!

They were bred in a th tank. When should I move them to their 20 gallon grow out

 

They were bred in a th tank. When should I move them to their 20 gallon grow out

Once they have reached about three weeks in age, they should be larger at this point, you likely can hold out til four weeks but by that point you should be able to move them, they will need multiple water changes weekly to help with growth and cleaner water.

 

I was going to do a water change on Wednesday when They Are a little stronger. I was going to put the siphon against a sponge to make sure I doing get any babies. And dad can stay with them for a week or 2 right?

 

I was going to do a water change on Wednesday when They Are a little stronger. I was going to put the siphon against a sponge to make sure I doing get any babies. And dad can stay with them for a week or 2 right?

Dad might be able to spend that long with them, but he may start culling them the longer he is with them. It depends on how good of a parent he is.

 

You seems awesome! Very attentive, very protective, by the evening time there are some babies on the floor by the morning time they're gone and back in the nest

Siery, I was talk texting! Lol I means he seems awesome, but you are pretty awesome too