Urgent Help Needed (fry Just Hatched)

Hi,

My betta's fry has just hatched. They have started to fall from the bubble nest, and I saw the male eating them. So I removed the Male from the breeding tank. I put some live plants for the fry and a heater set to 27 degree Celcius.

Most of the fry are just resting on the bottom of the tank. Is that how its supposed to be?

I am from Dubai, UAE and I don't know where to get live food to feed the fry. Please advise. All I have with me is the regular fish flakes.

 

Try crushing up the fish flakes into very fine pieces and feeding those

 

At the bottom of the container there is usually very fine dust, that is good fry food

 

Is it normal for them to lie lifeless on the bottom of the tank? If I shake / move the tank, they will all try to swim up. But while swimming down, they again act like they are dead, and just fall down. Is that the way its supposed to be?

 

I have no idea, I don't have any experience with fry, all I know is how to feed them from books

 

How much water do you have in the tank? Try lowering the water line so they don’t have to swim as far to get a breath. Are the water parameters ok? Crushed up flakes should work. I’ve raised a lot of cory fry and mine were active from birth.

 

Are you sure he was eating them? For the first 24 hours or so it is his job to pick them up and spit them back into the bubble nest. He will start eating them once they are free swimming though. It sounds like these weren't free swimming yet if they are just laying on the bottom now.

It will surprise me to hear any of this spawn surviving. If you decide to try again I highly suggest you find a way to get a microworm culture growing. I am not sure betta fry will eat crushed flakes. Google infusoria and how to grow it. It is also something newly hatched fry can feed on.

 

He wasn't eating them but putting the eggs into the nest because they need to be kept moist, but not drowning wet and the bubble nest has oxygen rich air for the eggs, where the water does not. Betta fry won't go for crushed flakes because it doesn't simulate the movemts of live prey and so they don't recognize it as food. When they fry can swim away from the nest and not sink (the free swimming stage), you need to remove the father and feed live foods. Sorry, but I think they won't survive.

 

I don't know where to get live foods from, and can't start an Infusoria culture, as it will take days to develop. So what other options do I have? I have live plants. Will that help?

Also I have another land based plant, which is submerged in water for about a month. Will that water have the food source for the fry?

 

There may be some food on a used sponge filter if you happen to have one running in your tank but I don't know if Betta fry would recognize it as food. Live bearer fry do but they are usually much bigger than betta fry.

By removing the male too quickly I fear the fry will drown. You wouldn't think a fish could drown but Betta fry can.

You could try the plants but sadly I really don't think these little guys will make it. I hope I am wrong but I don't want to give you false hope either. It really takes some pre-planning before breeding Bettas. To live and thrive they really need microscopic live food.

 

Since it sounds like you don’t have pet stores that sell live food, I would suggest putting out the word among fellow hobbyists to see if anyone will sell you some. Try any local fishkeeping groups on Facebook and try posting on online classifieds (like craigslist) if you have them. Sadly, I doubt the fry will be able to survive at this stage with neither the father nor suitable food. I would suggest doing some serious research if you plan to attempt breeding bettas again. The fry are very delicate and you do need to have everything ready before breeding. It might be best to just keep them as pets instead of breeding them.

 

I have put the father back. So now he is putting back all the fry to the bubble nest.

 

I have put the father back. So now he is putting back all the fry to the bubble nest.

He will go from giving them tender loving care to eating them once they are free swimming. I do speak from experience. Many years ago I decided to breed my bettas. I read up on it an had every thing ready for the big day. Every thing went just as planned but I made the mistake of leaving the male in too long. I woke up to all babies turned into snacks over night.

The next time I watched more closely and all fry survived to adulthood. If you reach that point be prepared to put each of the males in their own container. I had shelf after shelf of 1 gallon glass jars.

Once old enough a local pet store took most of them and sold them for me. It was a very rewarding experience for me but one time was enough. I didn't make enough from selling them to make back what I spent and all the time I put into them but I didn't do it for the money.

Wishing you good luck in you endeavor.

 

He will go from giving them tender loving care to eating them once they are free swimming. I do speak from experience. Many years ago I decided to breed my bettas. I read up on it an had every thing ready for the big day. Every thing went just as planned but I made the mistake of leaving the male in too long. I woke up to all babies turned into snacks over night.

The next time I watched more closely and all fry survived to adulthood. If you reach that point be prepared to put each of the males in their own container. I had shelf after shelf of 1 gallon glass jars.

Once old enough a local pet store took most of them and sold them for me. It was a very rewarding experience for me but one time was enough. I didn't make enough from selling them to make back what I spent and all the time I put into them but I didn't do it for the money.

Wishing you good luck in you endeavor.

What did you give the fry as food?

how many of your fry survived to grow as adults?

 

What did you give the fry as food?

how many of your fry survived to grow as adults?

I started them on microworms. I made sure my culture was growing lots of worms before I ever put my male and female together.

I can't remember exactly how many but I remember having my 4 foot long 4 shelf bookshelf filled with gallon jars with male bettas in them and a 10 gallon tank with lots of females.