How long can a betta fry last without food?

Hello. I have recently bought a "baby betta" from Petco, and introduced him to his cycled, filtered, heated 5 gallon. He (I say "he" lightly based on Petco's judgement) is about and inch long, maybe just a milimeter shy, and has been eating 3 HikarI Micro Pellets twice a day and a couple of small brine shrimp per day. Something has come up and I will have to go out of town for about 3 days. I know the adults can handle it easily, but how long can an inch long fry last? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Not sure about babies, but I know and adult can for about 1-2 weeks. They sell vacation feeders, I believe that's what they are called at the pet store for while your away.

 

Not very long. Probably won't make it through the day. Fry need to constantly be fed. A baby betta is not fry, but still young. But, DO NOT USE VACATION FEEDERS. It is more likely you will come home to a dead betta than a well fed one. They release too fast and pollute the water, and bettas can be picky about food, and will most likely reject the feeder. See if someone can come in and feed him. Or, let him starve, it will be better to see a hungry fish than a fat dead one. Plants, help, as they can be eaten as a last resort. Make sure he is well fed before you go. I would say an inch is a bit young to handle 3 days of no food, but he will most likely make it. You can also invest in automatic feeder, which will really help and can be used for week long vacations.

 

Betta "babies" are really juveniles. Provide some plants such as java moss and he should be fine for 3 days. My month old fry, around a millimeter in size, handled 5 days without food. I fed a large meal right before we left and have some java moss in there that they could pick microorganisms off of. Provide some java moss or a similar plant and he should be fine.

 

Yes, I am VERY against vacation feeders. I tried it once in my 29 gallon communiy a couple years back and came home to sick fish and clowdy water. Never again. I can possibly ask my neighbor to come in, but he is going off to college soon and I don't know if he'll have time. There is java fern and anacharis in the tank. I also have an automatic feeder but it is one of those dumpp oned and I'm afraid it would dump way too much food for him. If I can't get siomeone to come, I guess lots of food before I leave could be a last resort. I might be able to come bact sooner, but not positively. Thanks for the help.

 

Yes, I am VERY against vacation feeders. I tried it once in my 29 gallon communiy a couple years back and came home to sick fish and clowdy water. Never again. I can possibly ask my neighbor to come in, but he is going off to college soon and I don't know if he'll have time. There is java fern and anacharis in the tank. I also have an automatic feeder but it is one of those dumpp oned and I'm afraid it would dump way too much food for him. If I can't get siomeone to come, I guess lots of food before I leave could be a last resort. I might be able to come bact sooner, but not positively. Thanks for the help.

With plants, he should be fine. As for the dump style, put little in, and there has to be a way to adjust it. I don't have one, but maybe you can change what angle it dumps at, or maybe there is a door controlling how much goes out? Glad to help

 

I would try to get a plant with a large root system or a moss of some sort.

 

I got the feeder used, so it doesn't have instructions, but I believe there is a setting for how fast it turns? I will need to google the feeder. Is the Penn-Plax Daily Double Automatic Fish Feeder.

As for plants, there is a marimo moss ball with him, would that do the trick as a last-resort meal?