Food for baby bettas fry

Raising Betta Fry and Care

Spawning the Betta Splendens is an awesome achievement!

If your just getting started, selecting the best healthy specimens of the type of betta you want to breed is discussed in Breeding Bettas Part 1, Selecting and Sexing for the Perfect Pair. Once you’ve chosen the best breeding stock, everything from conditioning to spawning your Bettas is outlined in Breeding Bettas Part 2: Spawning Bettas in 5 Easy Steps.

Breeding the Siamese Fighting Fish is very rewarding in and of itself, but getting a pair to spawn and produce eggs is actually only the beginning. The true success of the breeding experience comes from growing out the fry. This is the tricky part because these tiny little creatures are very fragile.

Raising fry successfully requires the proper environment for theses little fellows and diligence in their care and maintenance. They must have regular feedings of the proper foods for each stage of growth. At first they will only be able to eat very tiny foods, but as they get bigger so must the foods.

The number of fry can range anywhere from about 50 to 300 or more, so the supplies needed and the methods for raising the baby bettas can vary. However the water quality must be kept pristine and live foods are a must, as that is the only thing newly hatched fry will eat. You must also be ready to move them into new containers, especially as the young males begin to assert their territorial personalities.

Fry grow out tank

There are different methods for growing out betta fry. Some aquarists will transfer them immediately into a new tank designed specifically for raising them. Other aquarists will keep them in the breeding tank for about the first 3-4 weeks, or even 6 weeks, before moving them into a grow out tank. No matter what method you use, there are some basics that are needed for all grow out tanks

Aquarium
A grow out tank that’s 20 gallons or more is optimal.
Aquarium heater
A heater is needed to keep the temperature in the mid to high 80’s.
Aquarium filter
The tank needs a filter to help oxygenate the water and help keep the water clean.
Lighting
Lighting is needed to grow out fry, but it can be either standard aquarium lighting or natural daylight.
Aquarium cover
A top on the aquarium is a good idea to keep the fry from inadvertently jumping out, and keep anything from falling into the tank.
Syphon for water changes
When doing water changes, the regular gravel syphons will pull too much water and too quickly, so syphoning with either a turkey baster or flexible tubing like airline hose works best.
Live Plants
Live plants are not absolutely necessary but they are beneficial. They provide infusoria, which is a natural food source for very young fry, and they are also thought to help promote growth in the fry.

Betta fry foods

Betta fry have a natural instinct to feed on anything that is moving and smaller than them. However they won’t eat anything that is dry like flakes or even powders, so will need live foods.
Infusoria and tiny free-living nematodes such as Vinegar Eels, Microworms, Banana Worms, and Walter Worms, as well as baby Brine Shrimp, Daphnia, Fairy Shrimp, and Grindal Worms are all great fry food. Live food cultures are not always readily available in a fish store, but can often be special ordered or be purchased online.

It’s best to obtain cultures before starting the breeding process. Once your Betta Splendens spawn you’ll want to start growing cultures to have them available as the betta fry become free swimming. Most cultures like dark areas and they can be smelly, so you may want to store them out of the way.

Feeding Betta fry

Betta fry under a bubble nest

Newly hatched fry will be bunched up in a cluster near the top of the tank while they are still feeding from their egg sacks. During this time they won’t need to be fed. Once the majority of them are free swimming they will be ready for their first feeding. Some will become free swimming quickly while the majority of them are still in a clump, so this is where infusoria from live plants can help.

It’s best to feed the fry with several small feedings daily rather than just a couple large feedings. Smaller meals will help to insure that most of the food gets consumed. Foods that don’t get eaten will start to contaminate the water. Feeding 3-4 small feedings a day works best.

For the first three days after becoming free-swimming the fry will need very miniscule foods. Infusoria and tiny free-living nematodes like Vinegar Eels, Microworms, Banana Worms, and Walter Worms make great first foods.
After 3 days they will be large enough to also start feeding on baby brine shrimp.
After a week continue to feed baby brine shrimp, but feeding the tiny nematodes will no longer offer any nutritional value.
At 3-4 weeks continue to feed baby brine shrimp, but you can also introduce finely grated frozen foods. Frozen Bloodworms and frozen Daphnia work great. The Hikari brand is a good choice because their frozen foods have vitamins added before packaging and the food goes through a strict parasite decontamination process.
At 4-5 weeks you can keep feeding brine shrimp, but you can also introduce live Blackworms. These are aquatic worms and are great because they will live in the tank until they are eaten. Grindal Worms are also a good food that can be introduced at this time. Brine Shrimp, Blackworms, and Grindal Worms can all be fed to adult bettas as well.
At about 8-9 weeks the fry are starting to mature. Live Brine Shrimp and Bloodworms are still ideal foods, along with frozen foods. At this time dry foods can also be introduced.

As they become larger sized and are readily eating dry foods the number of feedings can be reduced. Feeding them once a day will be okay, but feeding twice a day is best until they are fully grown.

Fry tank maintenance

Betta fry are very susceptible to unstable tank conditions, which includes the quality of the water and the temperature. Good water quality is very important for a successful spawn, but also for the health of the fry and to stimulate fast growth. Keeping track of the water temperature and doing water changes are a necessary part of the daily maintenance. The ideal pH is between 7-7.2 but if you have lower or higher, it’s best to just leave it alone.

Water Temperature
Water temperature is a crucial element to successfully maintain the fry. Keep the temperature around 85-88 degrees F. for the best and optimal growth. Check the aquarium heater regularly and keep it as constant as possible, they cannot tolerate much fluctuation.
Water Changes
Changing out part of the water daily will be needed to keep the water quality perfect. The first water changes can be when the fry are two weeks old. At this point you can start doing regular water changes.
Some breeders suggest changing out 25% of the water twice a week while others suggest a smaller daily water change. In the wild, the larger betta fry are known to release a Growth Inhibiting Hormone (GIH) which stunts the growth of the other fry. Besides providing optimal water quality, more regular water changes can reduce the amount of any inhibiting hormones that may be released into the grow out tank.
Using a syphon to remove water works best and the syphoning action can also be used to remove dead fry and dead fry foods. However regular gravel syphons are too strong to use with the fry. At two weeks old these guys are still very small, reaching only about .6 cm in length. Gravel syphons pull too much water at one time and pull too quickly, sucking the fry up or killing them with a sudden rush of water.
A turkey baster or flexible tubing work best for syphoning and refilling the tank. Airline hose works great and you can also put a slender stick, like a chopstick, into the end that you put into the tank to help slow the water flow down and have more control.

Separating the fry

Generally at about 8-9 weeks of age the fry will start to show their colors. An occasional batch may start coloring as early as 2 1/2 to 3 Weeks of age, but this is unusual. At this age the males will start to assert their nippy personalities. When this happens they must be separated into their own tanks or containers, a process known as “jarring. ”

Jarring containers
Each male will need its own home which can be a jar, bottle, cup or other container. Females can also be moved into jars, but if there’s not enough space for that they can be kept together in a tank. However, the larger fish will eat their smaller siblings.
Maintaining the jars
Maintaining the jars can be a big job, depending on how many containers you have. To maintain the temperature you can place the jars into a large tub of water and keep a single heater in the tub. Water changes will still be needed for each individual jar, just as it was for the grow out tank.

Once your fry are grown out and have obtained their color, they will be ready to trade or sell. You may be able to find homes for them through friends or a local pet store that is willing to take them or trade for them. Show quality Bettas can be shared with other breeders and even sold to Betta lovers online. The entire process of breeding the Betta Splendens is fun and ultimately very rewarding!

All sorts of Siamese Fighting Fish varieties have been developed in each of the 5 basic fin types. See the Betta Splendens information page to learn all about these different types, as well as other Betta species that you may encounter.

Clarice Brough is a team member at Animal-World and has contributed many articles and write-ups.

Photos provided courtesy of Animal-World.com contributors on Dr. Jungle’s Pets and Animal Photos of Siamese Fighting Fish – Betta and Aquatic Passions contributors.

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Last Updated: February 27, 2023 by Flora Gibbins

If you have some experience, you already know how rewarding and tricky the breeding process is. After all, betta fries are fragile and have a hearty appetite, eating three to five meals a day!

Yes. Tiny, but big eaters!

[FREE DOWNLOAD]: How To Avoid The Top 5 Mistakes New Betta Owners Make

So, a healthy diet can help you grow the best fish in the shortest time. But what food should you feed your betta fry? When should you feed them? And how much betta fry food do they require? Keep reading to get the answers.

What to Feed Betta Fry

We’ll go over the different types of good food to give your baby betta.

Egg Yolk

When betta fry hatch, their bodies are too small for fry foods, and they can only consume liquid-based foods. So, they find the essential nutrients in their egg sacs.

Then, they start swimming around the nursery, looking for food. In that phase, it’s helpful to provide the betta fry with small amounts of runny egg yolk from boiled eggs. However, clean the filter after a few hours to avoid any foul smells.

Infusoria

After egg yolk, betta fry can start feeding on infusoria, a single-celled organism, and natural food source, because it’s tiny. It’d help if you had live plants as part of your betta fry tank because their leaves and stems contain infusoria.

If you don’t know where to start when it comes to raising an infusoria culture, just hit the pet store or find an online fish store. We recommend you get a live food culture before you start breeding the betta fish. So, when the eggs are laid and you check that they’re fertile, start your infusoria hatchery. This way, it’ll be ready when your fry is free-swimming.

For instance, you can add a tablespoon of microworms to a bit of water in a 3/8″ cup. Then, when the culture is ready, put it under an overhead light, and look for any glistening movements. That usually signals live worms.

Remember that we’re talking about newly free-swimming fish. In other words, if they’ve only just left their egg sac. And, for three days, betta fry survives on infusoria. So, you need to catch the infusoria in an eyedropper and squeeze it into the fry nursery tank.

Typically, you only need a few infusoria per meal. The fry eats this natural source. Then, their mouths grow enough for them to eat small particles.

Nematodes

If you’re wondering what to feed your fry, free-living nematodes are some of the best live foods (along with infusoria). When they become free-swimming, they’ll need tons of protein and fat, which they can find in tiny nematodes, including vinegar eels, microworms, banana worms, and Walter worms.

About five weeks later, when you introduce live worms, you can stop feeding your fry nematodes, as they’ll no longer provide them with any nutritional value.

As for how to supply them with it, you can mimic the betta fry’s natural habitat by using aged water, adding a bundle of hay in the corner of the breeding tank, and planting many aquatic plants.

What the hay does is that it infuses in the water and makes it more green or yellow. Also, it hatches numerous organisms, including bacteria, rotifers, protests, and, sometimes, nematodes.

Baby Brine Shrimp

Now that they’ve eaten infusoria for three or four days, start feeding betta fry baby brine shrimp. Of course, the little ones will benefit from this meat-based protein source. Adult brine shrimp is too large for the baby betta fry to consume, but you can use it for breeding. As for frozen brine shrimp, this variety isn’t suitable either.

As your fry grows up, you can still feed baby brine shrimp while introducing other foods to them. Even when they’re eight to nine weeks of age, baby betta can still eat live brine shrimp!

Like infusoria, a baby brine shrimp hatchery is a good idea. Start it early on to ensure your fry have a good food source. Then, use an eyedropper to catch the baby brine shrimp, and squeeze it into the grow-out tank.

[FREE DOWNLOAD]: How To Avoid The Top 5 Mistakes New Betta Owners Make

Frozen Foods

Your baby betta fry should be three to four weeks of age before you add frozen and freeze-dried foods to its diet. You can keep the frozen foods out overnight. Then, crush the food with a blender to create a powder. Also, storing the grounded food in the freezer for a few days is an option.

Examples of finely grated frozen foods to give your betta fry are Bloodworms, Micro worms, Daphnia, and Tubifex worms. These worms should provide them with tons of protein, which will help them grow fast.

Live Worms

Four or five-week-old baby betta fry fish are ready for live Blackworms and Grindal worms, which are rich in nutrients. These live foods are also great for adult bettas. We like that Blackworms are aquatic worms, so you can grow them in the tank when raising betta fry. Needless to say, you need to establish cultures for these worms.

Commercial Fry Foods

You can feed your fry commercial betta fish fry foods if they’re eight to nine weeks old. And you’ll find them in the form of micro pellets or a powder, which should be more convenient than the hassle of live cultures. However, some betta fish won’t eat dry foods, so it’s best to try it out before purchasing huge quantities of these products at your local pet store.

As for suggestions, you want to feed your betta fish carnivore dry pellets, and always check the ingredients lists to ensure there are no plant-based ingredients in them.

Tip: Notice that the size of fish food grows as the fish fry grows. In other words, you’re feeding them the biggest food that their mouths can fit.

What Not to Feed Betta Fry

You don’t want to hinder the growth of your fry, so maintain proper care, and avoid feeding your fry these foods:

Some Commercial Foods

Commercial products aren’t generally recommended because they may be low in protein and moisture and full of digestible filters. Accordingly, these dry foods cause your betta fish to grow much slower and give them digestive issues. That’s especially true for products with fry algae in their formula, which is a big no.

Plant-Based Foods

Avoid feeding your betta fish any leaf matter, as they can’t digest plants and will bloat, which will delay their digestion and absorption of protein. As a result, your betta fish fry will grow slowly.

Certain Human Foods

Don’t feed your betta fish just any human food. So, avoid giving them cows, pigs, other farm-grown meats, bread, stringy fruits and vegetables, and citrus fruits. Instead, if you want to have your betta fry eat human foods, try these foods:

Shrimp
Tuna
Leafy greens
Peas
Mango
Corn

How Often and How Much Should You Feed Baby Betta Fish?

With newly hatched fry, you want to give them several meals a day with very small portions. This way, they’re more likely to eat all the food, which will ensure the grow-out tank doesn’t get dirty fast. Otherwise, the discarded food would undermine its water quality.

Additionally, when you keep the meals small and many, especially in the early stages, you can get your fry to consume large quantities of protein, giving them an optimal growth rate. In that way, the feeding instructions differ according to age.

We’re talking three to four small meals a day. As the fry becomes larger fish, you can reduce the number of meals you give them to two a day. Once is acceptable, but we wouldn’t recommend it until they’re fully grown.

When it comes to quantities, a rule of thumb is to give your fry enough food in each meal that they can consume in five minutes. That’s usually two to three sprinkles of food, but it depends on how many fries you have. If there are a lot of them, you can place the food on an offered leaf.

Fun Fact: We have a post regarding adult betta food. Read our article on Best Betta Food: Yummy Treats For Your Aqua Pal & Other Info for the best choices!

Watch This!

Frequently Asked Questions

Will betta eat its fry?

Betta fish tend to be great parents and get protective over their baby bettas. Nevertheless, bettas eating their fry is possible, and that’s especially true for male betta fish.

How do you know if your betta fry is hungry?

Typically, your young fry will remain close to the bottom of their grow-out tank when they’re hungry and low on energy. They might even lurk about their bowls. This behavior should be noticeable since betta fries are, by nature, active and social creatures.

Conclusion

Ultimately, it’d be best if you considered how old your betta fry is to choose the proper food for it. You can start with egg yolk, nematodes, and infusoria; then, introduce baby brine shrimp. Afterward, it’s time for frozen food and live worms. Finally, they become old enough for dry food.

As for the number of meals, you can give your fry three to four small meals a day and gradually decrease their number. This way, you’ll grow quality bettas in optimal time!

[FREE DOWNLOAD]: How To Avoid The Top 5 Mistakes New Betta Owners Make

Newly hatched fry - Mafia Betta Splendens Cockerelfish

The eggs will hatch in 24-48 hours depending on the water temperature. The new brood will hang with their tails down in the bubble nest for a few more days, gradually beginning to assume a horizontal position and swim horizontally. Sometimes their jerky movements will cause them to fall out of the nest and the father will bring them back. The male is very busy during this period, as there are many fry, and some sometimes lie on the bottom. waiting for the male to find them and return them to the nest. But they do not lie at the bottom for long - sometimes they will try to return to the nest on their own, or will lie until they can swim away.
This is a very exciting time for parents when suddenly an empty sterile container is dynamically filled with new life. On the first day, it seems that in the nest of bubbles it is literally raining fry that rise from the bottom, penetrate the bubbles and beat their fellows so that they fall to the bottom. From afar, the male can be seen frantically swimming from the bottom to the surface in a fierce determination. Broods are quite easy to see, even if they are very small and transparent - but the fry have a white yolk sac. I recommend using a magnifying glass because looking at newly hatched fry is a real treat.
It is not necessary to feed the brood while they are still hanging tail down in the nest, as they are fed from the yolk sac. As soon as they begin to swim horizontally, they swim out of the nest and begin to search for food and hunt for prey. The male will try to keep them all in the nest, but his work will become more and more tedious. Most breeders remove the male at this point as he will be nervous and trying to keep all the fry under control and may eat some of them. Be careful when you catch a male - do not accidentally catch the bubble nest with a net. You can lure the male out of the nest with food and take him with a clean net or a small container (glass). A good idea when using a net is to keep the captured male in the water for a while so that if he has fry in his mouth, he will spit them out. If you are using a glass or cup, wait a few minutes before transferring it to another container to see if there are fry and if it has spat them out. If you see fry, collect them immediately using a small tube and syringe. It's a good idea to remove a male and add "Bettamax" to him for a few days because some males get depressed when they are separated from their brood and become more vulnerable to disease.( "Bettamax" is an effective aid for the treatment and prevention of bacterial infections, fungal infections of the mouth and body, tail and fin wear, lethargy, poor appetite, cracks or holes in the fins and tail, poor water quality, discoloration, and beriberi ).
You can start feeding the fry as soon as you see that they have swum horizontally. They do this at different times, so don't make the mistake of thinking that if they're in the nest, they don't need food. The fry will starve to death if they don't find something to eat right now. During the first week I give ciliates three times a day, and egg yolk once a day. They grow well on egg yolk - a piece the size of a rice grain of a hard-boiled egg is dissolved in water and fed into the nest with a pipette. As a result, even the smallest fry can eat a liquid suspension of small yolk particles. The disadvantage of this method is that the uneaten yolk decomposes and the water quickly deteriorates. Instead of giving the yolk all over the aquarium, I give a few drops in the immediate vicinity of the fry piles - where they like to congregate, and then collect the undigested part from the bottom. For simplicity's sake, I feed the fry egg yolk in the morning, and siphon the tank before bed. This gives everyone plenty of time to digest their food.
Other types of brood food are: Artemia, NABBS(?), vinegar fly larvae or Nematode (micro worm), liquid fry food (micro slurry). I've tried everything with varying degrees of success.
3 and 4 weeks of life.
When the fry are two weeks old, they are large enough to start eating Artemia nauplii, or BBS(?). I always keep ready nauplii because I have several broods of different ages. If you have one brood, then you should prepare to hatch brine shrimp at the end of the second week. Artemia eggs can be purchased online or in a store.
Use any container, container, fill 3/4 full with salt water (1 tablespoon of salt per quart (1 L)) and add 1/2 teaspoon of eggs. It is necessary to connect an aerator so that the water is mixed and saturated with oxygen. Eggs should always be in suspension, which will be helped by placing a porous stone from the aerator at the bottom of the incubator. Eggs hatch within 18-48 hours, and the rate depends on the temperature of the water. Stop the air flow in the incubator, put the light source at the bottom, and wait 15 minutes - the eggs will remain floating and empty shells, and the nauplii will go to the light source at the bottom. Now they can be removed with a thin siphon tube, and filtered with nylon or nylon. Nauplii are orange-red in color and are few in number. Then rinse well under running water and give the fry with a pipette - this will make it easier to control the amount of food, and makes it possible to avoid overfeeding.
I give nauplii to fry at 2-3 weeks of age once a day - in the morning. Around noon I offer Perle Dorate (Golden Pearl) dry food, or Nabbs(?), remove excess food in the evening, and feed the hookworm micro-worm. This procedure will be repeated until the fry are 3-4 weeks old. By the end of the 4th week, I give chiromonus larvae (bloodworm) frozen, chopped, and also stop feeding microworms (nematode micro worm).
With a spawning volume of 10 liters or less, siphon the bottom and do water changes every other day or at least twice a week. Depending on the number of fry, you can do more or less frequent water changes. If there are 100 with a small betta in the tank without a filter, it is required to change 50% of the water twice a week, and if there are 50 fry with a filter, only one change per week. Remove daily excess food, feces, and debris from the bottom of the tank - this is important because these things encourage bacteria to grow and it is likely that fry with too many bacteria in the water will not develop their pelvic fins(?). So keep the bottom clean. After about 3-5 weeks, you will see that the fry float to the surface to take a breath of air. For this reason, make sure the water is clean and not covered in film. If water changes are infrequent, then to remove plaque - put aeration, it will not allow the film to form, breaking it. At 4 weeks, the fry will begin to develop, become individuals with their own habits.
5th and 6th weeks of life.
The 4th week of life is a very important period! The fry are already quite old, they begin to differ in their characters, habits and completely different colors. It should be noted that there is a huge difference in size between brothers and sisters, and it is also possible to watch with horror how the largest of the fry eat their smaller brothers and sisters. Some breeders separate broods at this age to minimize the risk of damage and allow the fry to grow. During growth, small bettas secrete a hormone that inhibits the growth of fellows - a survival tactic - the larger they are, the more they can secrete the hormone.
At 4-6 weeks of age, the brood should be gradually weaned from nauplii and other small foods, given a wide variety of dry, freeze-dried, pressed, and frozen foods.
At four weeks old, I transfer the brood from the container where they lived to the aquarium for growth (aquarium 20 liters or more). Twice a week I siphon the bottom of the nursery and also change 1/3 of the water and replace it with fresh water. Males showing aggression - I catch and isolate.

Source: http://bettaitalia.interfree.it/

How to feed cockerel fry? Food for fry

If you find some betta fry in your tank one day, don't panic! Keeping betta fry can be a rewarding experience and if fed properly they will grow into beautiful, colorful adults.

Tip: Feed the fry 4-6 small meals a day

The first few days

Once the male fry have hatched, they will consume the rest of their yolk sac in the next three to four. During this time, the fry receive the necessary nutrients and they do not need much additional food. To make sure your fry have food, place a small piece of boiled egg yolk in a jar of water. Shake the jar vigorously to dissolve the yolk, then add the dissolved yolk to the betta fish tank. After the fry begin to swim freely, they will be ready to eat small live foods.

Infusoria

Infusoria are a type of food often recommended for betta fry. This type of food is ideal for newly hatched fry because the ciliates are small enough for the fry to handle with ease. Plus, ciliates move, and this also attracts fry very much. Infusoria can be purchased online, and at pet markets and some pet stores you can buy ciliate cultures and breed them yourself. To feed ciliates to your betta fry, simply use a dropper or small hose to collect some ciliates from the container they are growing in.

Artemia nauplii

A few days after feeding your ciliates to your fry, the males should be big enough to eat the larger food. The "fry" of brine shrimp are called nauplii, and they are an excellent food source for young bettas because they contain a high percentage of protein. Artemia nauplii can be purchased online, pet markets, or pet stores. Feed nauplii in much the same way as ciliates. The goal is to collect as many nauplii as possible without eggs. To do this, you need to get the atomizer from the container with nauplii and illuminate one side with light (nauplii are photosensitive and always go to the light).

Betta fry

Feeding of adolescent bettas

At three to four weeks old, betta fry can be fed a wide variety of live, frozen or specialty dry foods. You can continue to feed Artemia nauplius fry but should diversify the diet by adding some finely ground frozen foods such as bloodworms or daphnia. Frozen and freeze-dried food, it is better to purchase from a trusted seller. You must be sure that the food is not contaminated with parasites and harmful bacteria. If you want to feed dry food to betta fry, you should crush it into a powder and pour a small amount into the aquarium to see if the fry will eat it.