Raising betta fry...?

Question

I need some info on raising betta fry.. like if you have personal experience. How can i change their water? With a turkey baster? What water do i add? Cold or warmish water?

Answer 1

What are you feeding the betta fry?  How big is the tank and are you using a bare tank or one with gravel?  What kind of filter are you using?  The ideal environment for raising betta fry would be a bare tank with a sponge filter.  That way you can siphon off uneaten food and debris from the bottom of the tank with either a turkey baster or a siphon hose.  Always use water that is the same temperature as the water in the tank.  A few degrees higher is safer than a few degrees lower because you don't want to chill your babies.  You can easily adjust the water temperature by putting tap water into a bucket, checking the temp. and then adding hot tap water until the water temp is correct, and then adding your water conditioner to the bucket of water.  Stir with your hand for a minute and you're ready to add it to your tank.  

If you are using a tank with gravel to raise your baby bettas, it will be harder to clean the tank but do the best you can with the turkey baster, etc.  If you are using an outside power filter or any other type of filter than can suck up the babies, you will need to put fine meshed nylon over the filter intake.  Cut the toe part off an old pair of nylon stockings and secure it with a rubber band.  

Betta fry are very tiny and finding the right size food for them can be a challenge.  You should try raising microworms as a first food.  You can buy a starter culture off of eBay if you can't find a fish store near you that sells it.  The instructions should come with your starter culture.  

Answer 2

Betta fry are very fragile. Extreme water changes done too fast, with too different temperatures or other parameters can kill them.

I do my first partial change when the babies are about 5 days old, after they've been free-swimming for 2 days. I take a small piece of airline tubing (about 5-6 inches long) and stick it in the end of a turkey baster. It gives you a little bit better control over where you're sucking up goop, and when you go to take it out of the water you can turn the end of the airline tubing up to avoid the 'dribbles' of water that usually result from using a regular baster.

Take out about 1/2 gallon of water this way. To replace it, use water of the same temperature in the tank (like I said, temp changes can kill betta fry very easily) and slowly filter it back in. I use a long piece of airline tubing with airstones at each end to siphon clean water back in - just have a bucket of clean water at a slightly higher level than the tank, and do a reverse-siphon thing. With the 2 airstones, it's very slow, but that's what you want. Do this every other day to get the junk off the bottom of the tank.

After a week, you can replace about a gallon with each change. You can also start using a small siphon rather than the turkey baster. Just be sure to check for babies that decided to ride the water slide! After 2 weeks, start replacing 2 gallons of water. As they age, you can make the replacing of the water faster by using airline tubing without the airstones, or you can buy an 'acclimation kit' from Drs. Foster + Smith. I love that thing - you can regulate how fast the water goes back into the tank, so you can use it for all ages of betta fry. Plus, it's only a few bucks.

Personally, I change my fry water every other day. At about 3 weeks old, you can add a sponge filter to help keep the water clean. Don't add it sooner than that - even the slow pull of a sponge filter can pull weak babies in.

Good luck!