If you have a Betta Fry and looking for the best ways to keep them healthy, growing, and thriving, this article is full of interesting tips and recipes to help you out.
In short..
For a healthy diet, betta fry require live foods, such as bloodworms, tubifex worms, daphnia, and infusoria 3-5 times a day. You should provide enough food each session for your Betta to eat for a five-minute period.
What Can I Feed a Betta Fry?
Because Beta Fry fish are carnivores and will only eat moving living foods, they can aggressively hunt down. Because of this, you are wasting your time if you try to feed them any type of fish food or flakes.
Although it may feel like food options are limited when looking for living foods smaller than a beta mouth, there are actually a wide variety of options you can choose from.
- Infusoria
- Free-living nematodes such as Vinegar Eels
- Microworms
- Banana Worms
- Walter Worms
- Baby Brine Shrimp
- Daphnia
- Fairy Shrimp,
- Grindal Worms
Young Betta Fry will prefer food that is moving. However, as they get older, you may be able to introduce certain pellets into their diet and frozen food options as well.
Preparing the right meals for your betta fry is essential even before they are even born. Why? Because these little fish will begin to feed as soon as they break free of their egg sacs in the tank. This requires fresh, quality food to be readily available at all times.
How Do You Feed A Baby Betta Fry?
There is no need to do anything special when feeding a baby Betta Fry fish. You simply add the food to the tank, and they will go for it once they catch the scent. It is a good idea to keep a bettas food variety mixed up, so they are given plenty of nutrients throughout the week.
The best food options for baby Betta fry fish include nematodes, baby worms, and mosquito larva.
Your baby Betta fries should be fed at least five small meals a day. This pattern will start to change and become less as they grow into adults. A good rule of thumb is to provide enough food that your Betta can eat within a 5-min period at each feeding.
How Often And How Much Should You Feed Betta Fry?
If you’ve recently bred Betta fish, congratulations! Now that your Betta fry have hatched, feeding them the right foods in the right amounts is essential to ensure they grow and develop properly. So let’s discuss some tips for feeding Betta fry:
Feed Small Amounts Frequently
Betta fry have tiny stomachs, and they can only eat a small amount of food at once. To make sure they’re getting the nutrients they need, you should feed them small amounts of food frequently throughout the day.
Start With Infusoria
Infusoria is an excellent first food for Betta fry, as it is easy to digest and packed with nutrients. As your Betta fry grow, you can gradually introduce other foods, such as baby brine shrimp or powdered fry food.
Monitor Their Behavior
Pay attention to how your Betta fry behave during and after feeding. If they’re eager to eat and swim actively after eating, you’re likely feeding them the right amount. If they seem lethargic or bloated, you may be overfeeding them.
Adjust Feeding Amounts As They Grow
As your Betta fry grow, their feeding needs will change. Be sure to adjust the amount and frequency of their feedings accordingly.
How To Make Betta Fry Food At Home?
Betta fish are carnivores, and it is essential to provide them with a well-balanced diet, especially when they are still in their fry stage. Betta fry are tiny and delicate; feeding them with the right food is crucial for their survival and growth.
Betta fry requires a protein-rich diet to support their rapid growth and development. They also need essential vitamins and minerals for their overall health. Feeding them with live or frozen food such as baby brine shrimp or micro worms is an excellent way to provide them with the nutrition they need. Here is one recipe you can try for your Betta Fry:
Ingredients for Betta Fry Food
- 1/4 cup of high-quality fish food flakes
- 1/4 cup of freeze-dried or frozen brine shrimp
- 1/4 cup of freeze-dried or frozen daphnia
- 1/4 cup of freeze-dried or frozen bloodworms
- 1/4 cup of spirulina powder
- 1 tablespoon of brewer’s yeast
- 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic
- 1 tablespoon of gelatin powder
- 1/2 cup of water
Steps for Making Betta Fry Food
- Add the fish food flakes, freeze-dried or frozen brine shrimp, freeze-dried or frozen daphnia, freeze-dried or frozen bloodworms, and spirulina powder into a blender.
- Blend the mixture until it turns into a fine powder.
- In a separate bowl, mix the brewer’s yeast, crushed garlic, and gelatin powder.
- Add the powder mixture from the blender to the bowl and mix well.
- Slowly add water to the mixture while stirring continuously until it forms a paste.
- Transfer the paste to an ice cube tray and freeze overnight.
- Once frozen, remove the cubes and store them in a plastic container in the freezer until ready to use.
Feeding Betta Fry with Homemade Food
Thaw one cube of homemade betta fry food and mix it with water until it becomes a slurry. Use a syringe to feed the betta fry the slurry four to six times a day in small quantities. Make sure to remove any uneaten food to avoid contaminating the water.
When To Feed Betta Fry After Hatching?
After hatching, Betta fry typically have a yolk sac attached to their bodies that they can live off for the first few days.
Once the yolk sac has been absorbed, it’s important to begin feeding the Betta fry small, frequent meals to ensure they receive the nutrients they need to grow and develop properly. Generally, Betta fry should be fed every 2-3 hours, with the amount of food adjusted according to their size and age. It’s important to avoid overfeeding, as uneaten food can quickly foul the water and harm the fry.
Step-By-Step Feeding Guide For Your Baby Betta Fry
Here is a step-by-step guide to help you get through feeding time with your baby betta, helping them grow to their fullest potential.
1. Straight from the Egg Sac (Hours Old)
Baby Bettas are laid under bubble nests in their egg-sacs. Two to three days after they wiggle their way out of the eggs sac, they are free-swimming and will require tons of protein and fat to survive. You can consider starting with vinegar eels and nematodes; you can also purchase Betta Fry starter food mixes online or at a pet store.
2. Infusoria
Betta Fry will also start eating infusoria, which are single-celled organisms they will find on the leaves and stems of living plants in the tank. The fish will continue to eat off of this their entire lives.
3. Baby Brine Shrimp (3-4 Days Old)
Once your baby Betta hits a few days old, they can upgrade to baby Brine Shrimp. These shrimp are less than 1mm long and full of protein, making them a great meal option for your new Betta Fish babies.
4. Introduce Worms (1 to 1 ½ Months)
You can begin introducing worms into your betta diet around 5-6 weeks after hatching. Live Grindel and blackworms are two perfect choices full of the nutrients your Betta still needs. You can now discontinue nematodes, but baby Brine Shrimp should still be provided.
5. Okay for All Food Types (2 Months Old)
Betta fish are matured at around 8-9 weeks and can now digest just about any Betta food you provide. This can include things like blood worms, frozen food items, and even pellets.
How to Make Betta Fry Food at Home
If you don’t want to purchase your Betta Fry food from the store or you are afraid of the life (or once alive) food not making it long enough before going bad, you can always make your Betta Fry fish food yourself.
Here are a few simple steps to making healthy, hearty betta fish food. (Remember, Betta Fish aren’t big eaters, so making smaller portions is a good idea.)
- Gather your materials: You will need one raw shrimp, fish fillet, or redworm, four fresh garlic cloves, and four spinach leaves.
- Prepare the shrimp: With a shrimp or pairing knife, cut the shrimp into tiny pieces, then use the side of the knife to squish the shrimp into mush but still leave some bigger chunks.
- Prepare the garlic and spinach: Cut up the garlic cloves into tiny little pieces and grind them together with the spinach leaves.
- Combine ingredients: Mix all three ingredients until you have a thick green Betta Fry food paste.
- Feed You Betta: Put the paste on the top of a spoon and swirl it into the tank until the spoon is clean and the fish paste is floating in the tank for the betta to eat.
This is a great recipe and can be swapped out for many different combinations keeping your Betta healthy while still providing them with a variety of food options.
Remember, you can cut the pieces up to the size of your Bettas mouth. You can also prepare larger batches and store them in flattened freezer bags for long-term use)
(Find out how you can make your Betta fry grow faster here.)
Betta Fish Fry Feeding FAQ
Do you have more questions regarding the Betta Fish Fry feeding topic? Here are a few commonly asked questions with some of the best informative answers we could find.
Will Betta Fish Eat Its Fry?
Instinctually Betta fish are great parents and can be extremely protective of their babies, most of the time not interested in eating them. However, there are times that Bettas have been known to eat their own fry, especially the males in domesticated situations.
While most males are amazing parents taking care of their babies 24/7, there are some bad dads out there who tend to eat them or not care for them at all.
What Foods Shouldn’t You Feed Your Betta Fish?
There are a lot of people who believe healthy human foods are also healthy fish foods, and this simply isn’t true. You should never feed your Betta fish bread, farm-grown meats such as cows and pigs, citrus fruits, and stringy fruits and veggies like bananas and beats.
What Human Foods Can Betta Fish Eat?
There is plenty of human food you can offer your Betta Fish without having to worry about making them sick or keeping them from the nutrients they need. Human foods that are safe for Betta fish include peas, shrimp, mango, tuna, leafy greens, and corn.
When Should Betta Fry Be Fed?
Betta fry should be fed as soon as they become free-swimming, typically 2 to 3 days after hatching. They should be fed small amounts several times a day, as they have small stomachs and can only eat small amounts at a time.
Can Betta Fry Eat Bloodworms?
Betta fry can eat bloodworms, but it’s not recommended as a primary food source for them. Bloodworms are larger and harder for Betta fry to digest, which can cause digestive problems and potentially harm the fry.
Can I Feed Flakes To Betta Fry?
Flake food is not recommended as a primary food for Betta fry. It’s too large and difficult for the small mouths of Betta fry to eat. However, if you run out of live or frozen food, you can crush the flakes into small pieces and offer them to the fry.
Recap
Betta fish are beautiful creatures and very easy to care for, which is why they are such a popular pet for many homes. They thrive the best off of small worms, shrimp, and organisms that are the same size as their mouth or smaller and require plenty of protein to survive.
