LA
With this many bettas to choose
from, you can easily find willing breeders.
Your
Work Starts. Baby bettas hatch from their eggs in 24 to 48 hours.
They live on the food stored in their yolk sacs until they become
free-swimming fry.
You’ve had it pretty easy up to now. Now the hard work
begins.
Remove the
Male.
Their old man kept them from drowning.
His job is done. Get him out.
Some males will start eating their fry.
(We’re
assuming you already took the female out earlier -- after she spawned.)
Feed the Right
Food.
Since you took away dear old Dad, your
job starts in earnest – feeding them the right kinds of food to keep them
alive. Hopefully, you started on this project a few weeks ago.
Feed them
Infusoria.
Breeders who start their baby bettas on infusoria usually rear 90% of
their spawns – some 400 to 600 babies. Get
your cultures started at least two weeks before you set up your breeders.
Use non-aerated quart jars half filled with aged water.
Good
Infusoria Foods.
Feed your cultures one drop of:
·
Infusoria starter powder, or
·
Powdered eggs, or
·
Powdered fish food, or
·
Liquid fry food, or
·
Pureed plant material, or
·
Milk.
“Clone” the
Best Culture.
Once you get one good infusoria culture started, seed your other cultures
with your best one. Get your
infusoria cultures well established before
you breed your bettas.
Pour into Tank.
When feeding your fry, pour 80% of your best culture into their tank.
(This is one reason why betta breeders spawn their breeders in
half-filled tanks.) Re-feed
your culture and refill it with aged water.
Feed Newly
Hatched Shrimp. Betta breeders who start
their betta fry on newly hatched brine shrimp will rear spawns about half the
size (in numbers) of those who start theirs on infusoria.
Frozen baby brine shrimp just don’t cut it. Really tiny betta fry operate
on instinct only. If their food (prey) does not twitch, they usually
ignore it.
Test Your Eggs.
Once again, start your hatching methods early so you know they work and
you know your “eggs” (really cysts) will hatch for you.
Best Second
Food.
For best results, feed infusoria their first week and start them on brine
shrimp their second week.
They will also accept microworms at this stage.
Second
Week. Your fry will form their air-breathing organs soon.
Start your aeration (sponge filter) to prevent scum from covering the
surface. This tough layer of scum could drown your fry.
Cleaning
Tips. Add large snails to consume any uneaten food. Siphon
out any crud starting to build up. Dirty water encourages the growth
of velvet -- a nasty parasite you do not want to encounter. Betta
fry that catch velvet rarely survive. Do frequent water
changes. Unhook your sponge filter and siphon your water out thru an
airstone. You will not lose any fry this way.
Rearing
Foods.
Past
the baby brine shrimp phase, you want to feed them something larger.
Frozen brine shrimp and frozen blood worms work fine, as does frozen beef
heart. Forget flake foods or pellets until they get quite a bit
older. Many bettas refuse to convert to flakes and pellets. They are
easy to convert when you have them in your rearing tank. When they
see the other guys eating, they want their share also. Competition
makes them hungrier.
Separating
Sexes. Around two to four months, males start developing
brighter colors and slightly longer fin extensions. If you keep lots
of them together, they fight a little bit, but not much. Once you
separate your males into individual containers, they start wanting to
fight. Many females also get very aggressive when you separate
them. And some females fight when kept with other females.
These are guidelines, not rules.
Change
Your Water.
Weekly water changes will make your bettas grow faster. So
will larger containers. So will adding a piece of Java lance
fern. So will frequent SMALL feedings. You can make betta
keeping a way of life if you’re
not careful.
We’ve seen it happen. Zip on over to Midwest
Betta Club if you feel these symptoms.
LA.
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© 2004,
© 2005
LA Productions
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Sixth Avenue
Corner
of Sixth & Euclid Avenues
Des
Moines, IA 50313
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