Part - 5 Nursing the Fry to Adulthood

 


1
Wean the fry off live food. When the fry are about a month old you can gradually start switching the fry to frozen and then freeze-dried and flake or pellet food. Make sure the food is crushed small enough for their tiny mouths. Offer small amounts, and wean them off the live food slowly. Always remove uneaten food.[16]
  • Putting guppy fry in the tank may help as they will eat the pellets. Then the betta fry will start to eat them too.






2
Separate males. When the male fry begin fighting (anywhere from 5-8 weeks of age), it is time to remove them from the tank. Place them in individual tanks close to one another, as they can become depressed if suddenly isolated.
  • Males that are not fighting can be left with the females until they become aggressive.
  • Some males will refuse to eat the first day or two; try feeding them live food to stimulate their appetite.
  • Continue to separate out all male and aggressive fish as they become apparent. In the following days and weeks you will want to begin isolating the males with opaque dividers, as they will stress each other out, flaring and trying to attack the males in adjacent tanks.







3
Decide the future of your spawn. If you are selling your fry, you will want to start contacting potential buyers. Most fry will begin to display their adult traits by 10-11 weeks, and you can begin to select the best fish for future breeding or take pictures to send to buyers. If you are trying to create a genetic line, you will only want to select the best few fish from each spawn to continue breeding, and sell or give away the others, or you will quickly find yourself with more bettas than you can possibly take care of.







4
Sexing Young Bettas. This takes time and experience to see; sometimes experienced breeders find themselves accidentally putting two males together.
  • Males have longer fins, however young males have short fins.
  • Males flare at each other. Females usually won't, but females can be just as aggressive as males.
  • Females have an egg spot, which is located on her belly; this is where eggs are released during spawning.
  • Males blow bubble nests; if you jar a Betta and it blows a nest, it's a male. However, some females also blow bubble nests, so be sure to double-check.