Betta Fish Fry Care – How to Care for Baby Betta?
If you love Bettas, then you are probably looking forward to take care of a baby Betta Fish.
Betta fry are cute and if you take proper care of them, then you are definitely going to see them thrive. It can be a wonderful experience to see your Betta grow little by little as it approaches adulthood.
And the good thing is that we are going to answer you the most important questions about raising a Betta fry right in this article. The first thing you need to know is that taking care of the fry only gets easier over time. The younger they are, the bigger the challenge.
This shouldn’t scare you though. All you need to do is to spend some time on research, be prepared in time and you’re good. But you can always make things easier by buying a fry in the fish store that is a few days or even a month old.
How Bettas are Born?
Betta fish are egg layers. When the time comes, the male and female betta will start spawning. Their spawning ritual is very interesting and fun to watch. Usually, they will lay about 30-50 really small eggs.
Not only that the eggs are small but the baby Bettas are also tiny and helpless. In fact, one of the reasons why there are so many eggs in the female is that many of them are not expected to live. In the wild, most of them get eaten by predators and only a few stay alive.
When the Betta female is at least half a year old, it is ready to produce eggs internally. This is, of course, given that your Betta Fish has no health issues. Meanwhile, the males start to build their bubble nest and release pheromones, informing the females, that they are ready to breed.
When the time comes, the female Betta approaches the male of her choice and then the spawning process begins. The eggs get fertilized and then the male will stay around to guard them.
The male will place all eggs into the bubble nest and will take care of them until they hatch. The male will also take care of the small fry until they become strong enough to swim around and feed on various food sources.
How to Save Betta Fish Fry?
Betta Fish fry are very tiny and it might seem unclear at first how to make sure these small and fragile things stay alive. Firstly, they are extremely sensitive to water pollution. Therefore, it has to be completely clean and the right water parameters set.
After spawning, it is the Betta father’s responsibility to take care of the fry. However, not all Betta males are responsible parents. If you are lucky enough to keep a caring father, then you better take good care of it. What signifies a caring Betta male is that it frequently makes bubbles for the fry.
This one factor will make sure that many of the fry will grow up healthily whenever the spawning season comes. If you are through the critical 10-day mark, then you should move the little Bettas together with the caring male to a different fish tank. The other aquarium should be bigger and wider.
It is also important to not let them be exposed to direct sunlight because if the water is too warm, it can kill the fry.
Betta Fish Fry Feeding
Betta Fish fry are actively looking for moving things that are smaller than them in the hope of food. Thus, they are really not interested in dry foods. Instead, make sure to prepare live foods that you can either buy in the fish store or order online.
These should be live food cultures that you can pour into the water. You need to give them to the fry right when they start free-swimming. They don’t need any additional food until they have finished feeding on egg sacks.
You should rather stretch it out throughout the day instead of feeding them big amounts only once or twice a day.
Betta Fish Fry Tank Maintenance
All you need to do is to make sure the water is as clean as possible and the tank is not directly hit by sunlight. They should be moved to another tank only after the first 10 days have passed. Once you have moved them, don’t do it anymore.
It will only cause them to be stressed, which will weaken their immune system and they might not survive that. What you need to do though is to change at least 20% of the water every couple of days. The water parameters should stay the same at all times.
Every time there is a change, they need to get accustomed to it which only causes stress. Avoid keeping them in cold water and in loud environments.
How to Grow Betta Fry Faster?
The main factor here is the type of food you give your Betta Fish fry. And, of course, the amount of food you give them. If you do it properly, then your Bettas are going to grow up quite fast. One thing that can definitely hamper the growth of your little Betta Fish is if the water temperature changes drastically.
As we already mentioned, it is best to feed the fry several times a day. We know that this is hard to achieve for those who have a busy schedule but if you want them to grow fast, you have to do this properly.
Conclusion
The Betta Fish is highly popular among fish enthusiasts and beginners. Many of them also like to breed them, raising hundreds and hundreds of these beautiful species. If you look forward to take care of many little Bettas, then we can only encourage you to do so.
It is not that difficult overall, you just need to ensure good water quality and proper nutrition for them. After 10 days, they should be placed in a new tank separated from the other fish and they should be okay. It will surely require you to check back on them many times during the day.
Fortunately, they grow rather quickly so you can start to take things easier after a short while. It is going to be a great experience especially for beginners who just started to learn the do’s and don’ts of fish keeping.
