thanks chickadee. i will start looking for atisons now. i still have some months to find it. but if i fail to get atison, i think i dont have a choice but to use bbs. or maybe ill culture mosquito larvae. how about dapnia?

While daphnia is a good food for adult bettas I don't think I have ever heard or seen it used on younger ones. I do know that it is a good food for sick fish and helps them to overcome times of stress but do not know if I would use it for a "growth" food. The fry need certain nutrients to develop and I do not think the daphnia will be a good enough substitute for their needs. So far with all I have checked into the two choices are the BBS and Atison's Betta PRO. I would not be comfortable telling you to use anything else for now.

I will continue looking into it and have some breeders I can talk to that are more into the actual breeding now than I am and I will see if they have ever used or know of anyone who has used any other live foods but the BBS.

Rose

If anyone can find another live food for new betta fry, it will be Chickadee. The problem is that the tiny fry must be able to fit the whole live food into their tiny little mouths. They do not nibble at it. The BBS are the right size to fit into their mouths, as is the Atison's Betta Pro. The wrigglers and daphnia will be too large.

Perhaps if you get the neighborhood children together and everyone works on the DIY brine shrimp hatchery together it wouldn't seem as complicated. It would also help them to feel more a part of their new little bettas. It would be a fun project. With their parent's permission, of course.

I have spent most of the day on with most of the people I know who still breed bettas and none of them have tried anything other than the BBS as they did not need to. None were willing to try the daphnia as they felt it was not complete enough and would not fit the mouths of the fry. The mosquito wrigglers are for sure too large for them at that stage. They are the same thing as the frozen bloodworms so I know that they are not appropriate until they get older.

I have one more option to check with a gent who is a marine biologist and if he does not know (and since his specialty is saltwater fish he may not) I am out of options as there is not a book or reference material that gives this information.

Rose

BETTAS by Jim Sonnier/foods

I went back to Jim Sonnier's information and looked up information on Betta foods and you have to keep in mind that most of this is about feeding ADULT bettas but he does list a couple of things that are good for baby bettas.

Microworms are specifically noted for baby bettas if you can get them frozen. They would be much smaller than the bloodworms.

BETTAS by Jim Sonnier/feedingfry

Read this carefully as it lists some things you can do soon..like the suggestion that you can start to use commercial foods at 11 days. But they have to be very small and should be high in protein content and low in fat content. You will have to read labels.

The information on INFUSORIA at the first is most interesting as it is something you can grow easily with no real special set up. But it is a first food like the egg yolk not an intermediate food. Most of the things on this page except for those at the bottom are for very young fry.

thanks a lot chickadee and fishfinder. i hope im not giving you a hardtime on my queries (but i think i am). anyway, im sad to tell you that when i cleaned the tank, i found a dead fry and another one in one jar.

It is not unusual for some to die. It is sad I know but I have not ever known of an instance even with the professionals when they could keep them all alive. Some have been lucky to keep 10% alive. They are terribly fragile when they are first hatched and your little ones have not had the most ideal of conditions and start to their life. I am not accusing but simply stating a fact. I would say that you will be very lucky to keep half of them going until they are ready to give away in 3 to 4 months and then some of those will not live after they are taken to new homes. This is reality and not unusual at all. People who have been breeding fish for a long time have this type of thing happen and this is the first time your fish spawned.

Even Jim Sonnier who is very much the expert, bred 9 different pairs and ended up with a result out of that 9 spawnings of only one female betta that lived to maturity. (from all nine spawns!) and even lost one breeding pair during the process. You kept your breeding pair alive and you have live fry so far and that is an accomplishment, but please do not beat yourself up for every death as they will not all make it and it is nature's way to keep those who are not strong from living and not being able to breed and weaken the species. Nor will all of the fry be perfectly formed and you will have to face the difficult task of "culling" the ones which are deformed or whose fins do not form right. It would be cruel to allow them to live in pain and with bodies or fins that will not work for them. You will not know for some time which ones they will be but there will be some.

I know these things are hard to hear but I want to be up front with you about what is ahead. I am sure you will be more able to take it when it comes if you know it rather than have it sprung on you later.

Rose

you are right maam and thanks for preparing me for the future loss. at least i wont be surprised. with their number now, i think even half or less is too much. the male and female are (i think) really eager to breed again. i felt im depriving them of something but i really cant handle another spawning. i also heard that it will shorten their lives.

I think we all love our fish enough that the loss of one is too many but unfortunately that is not the way nature works. It would be nice if they could all develop and be healthy and live but realistically how would we find good homes for every betta spawned in the world so I guess that the ways of nature are for a purpose.

We will just hope for the absolute best and I will hope that as many as are supposed to make it will be healthy happy little bettas for you and the neighbors. That is probably all we can ask for. I know you are doing the very best you can to help them be that way.

Rose

is it important to add vitamins in the water to make them healthier and grow faster? i saw angel drops vita in a lps and the label says it is essential for fish growth and health. i know chickadee and fishfinder know about this.

Personally I wouldn't add vitamins at this time. Hikari First Bites has vitamins in it. You could create problems with over feeding of vitamins.

alex, clean water and the first bites are all they need right now. I would say that you are going through a double dose of new father syndrome. You have new baby bettas and a new baby human coming. You are worrying too much. The baby bettas are getting all they need in just doing the water changes and giving them the first bites. Trust us. In a few more weeks they can start to eat other things but no vitamins until they get much older. The foods they are eating contain all the nutrition that they are supposed to get. And fishfinder is correct some of the vitamins are very dangerous when they get too much.

Rose

at last, im here again. i missed this site and everybody here. my wife finally gave birth last july 20. been through a lot of problems but now we are home at last with our baby WARLUCKZ WRATHZINGER ESPINAR. but before going to the hospital on that day, i didnt forget to feed the fry and do little wc coz i didnt do it the past day. my wife turns mad a little because while shes preparing herself and feeling the pain in her tummy, im preparing the tube, syringe, jar and water for the wc and feeding lol. but now that everything is fine, we laugh everytime she is telling that to our friends and relative. but i fail to feed the fry lunch and i came home late and fed them dinner. yesterday, i found 2 dead fry again but its okay.

Congratulations on your new baby Warluckz! Its wonderful news that everyone is okay and safely home. You will have a great tale to tell Warluckz when he is old enough to hear.

Yes congratulations on your son and I am sorry that you lost the little fry but only 2 is not bad. You are doing well and you may tell your wife that she is to be congratulated too.

Of course we are happy with fish but people are important too. So we want to welcome your child and let you know that we are so happy for you and your wife. I do hope that you will be so happy with your child and that he will have a wonderful and happy life. It is very true that you will have a lot of stories to tell him when he gets old enough.

Rose

been busy the past days. now, the bettas are larger but a lot of them already died. from more than a hundred and now they are around 20.
but its okay. im just hoping to have some juvenile 2 months from now.
i just noticed that some of them are attacking others. i put some in their individual jars. i just promise the kids that we will breed the bettas again...
by the way, my baby warluckz is fine and consumes a lot of milk.

congratulations on the birth, I just read through this thread and felt like reporting on my first spawn. After the swimmers started on their own I had well over 100 fry, trying hard to follow what Ive read through-out this forum and others to raise the fry I was sure I was doing something wrong cause they kept dropping off. Finally decided it cant be just me and figured it was my first attempt and I'll go with the flow. Well just under 2 months later I've got 3 fry left. Ive tried not to be affected by this but it is hard especially when you feel you have done everything right. But like mentioned above, nature takes its coarse. Good luck with the rest of the fry and my best to your newest treasure.

__________________
55 Gallon Planted dirt bottom,Reproducing colony of Heterandria Formosa(Least Killifish), 2 Dwarf Puffers, 5 or so Gambusia, 2 Swamp darters???, Several Wild P. Latipinna(Sailfin Mollies), a handful of Jordanella Floridae(American Flagfish), 1 Lepomis Macrochirus(Bluegill fry)

Hopefully all of your fry are in separate jars now. I even jarred my girls separately. Each jar had a plant in it. I cleaned the bottom after each feeding with the little siphon I made, and covered the tops with a loose weave cloth so they wouldn't jump out.

I'm happy to hear that Warluckz is a very good eater, too!! If you can, post some pics of all your babies.

Good job! 20 is actually a very respectable number to end up with at this stage of the spawning. Remember that I have know of experts that have ended up with one adult out of 9 attempts so this is not at all unusual.

Congratulations on your human baby too. It is wonderful to have babies around they make life so interesting and worthwhile. I really do congratulate you on being able to handle an new human baby along with a spawning at the same time and manage the two simultaneously. Quite a lot of work at the same time.

Thank you for keeping us updated and I do wish you the best with all your offspring. Don't get discouraged with the bettas they and you have done well.

Rose

Dutch, there is a stickied post about the expert's experience with breeding at the beginning of the Betta Forum if you would care to read it. It has a lot about betta genetics and his own experience of breeding his bettas in it if you would like to see his experiences and browse through his journal.

Congratulations on your spawning also. I would encourage you to start your own post so you can journal your experience seperately from alexcb's though so we are not getting them intertwined. Thanks.

Rose