Help! My Betta Fry Has Hatched And I Have No Live Food

Hi,

My betta fry has hatched, and I don't have any live food.

What I have with me is regular fish flakes and live plants. I read about infusoria culture, and I just prepared one right now. I boiled lettuce leaves and some other leaves, and put it in a jar along with aquarium water. How long would it take for the infusoria to grow? Is there any way I can speed up the process (because my fry will be free swimmers by tonight!!)

Its my first time breeding bettas, and I was not completely prepared for it. Anyone from UAE have any food source that I can give to these fry?

 

I rub the flakes between 2 fingers, in the water, to help it float around, and make it smaller for the fry.
they might not eat for a day or so, so vacuum up all the extra foods and poop heh

 

Do they eventually eat the flakes? I have heard people say that betta fry does not eat powdered flakes.

When should I first start feeding them? Now they have hatched and are under their bubble nests.

 

get some first bites, I scoop out a tiny bit and sturr that in.. Iv had fry eat flakes no problem.
got the first bites after, since seems better for the fry from others.. so trying it out
when they are 'free swimming' they probably nibble at a flake or 2 at the top if they are near and see it
just try not to over pollute with food
I use air tubing(connected with a stick as a handle) when vacuuming my fry tank so not to suck any up

 

Make some “egg drop soup” hahaha.

 

I would definitely not recommend feeding betta of any age flakes as it destroys their intestinal tract over time and the fry are much more likely to have deformities and swim bladder issues. Infusoria takes about 10 days. As a first food if you have no other options sera micron is ok. But I would either recommend trying to get them to eat hard boiled egg yolk or grinding up a high quality carnivore pellet to dust in a mortar to hold them over and get your hands on a vinegar eel colony as fast as you can. You feed them the first time when they swim away from the nest and explore on their own. Make sure you use only minute amounts of food. I usually do lots of small water changes (keeping the water parameters constant) using the air stone as a syphon so I don't suck up any of the fry