It is very important to have your food for the fry ready before you spawn your bettas!
Live foods such as microworms, vinegar worms, baby brine shrimp, and grindal worms are a must have. You do not need to have all these foods, but the more variety, the better. I use microworms, BBS (baby brine shrimp)and grindal worms for my fry.
Week 1
The first 24 hours after hatching the fry will live off of their yolk sack. After you remove the male, it is time to feed your fry and turn on the filter. One bubble per second is best. Make sure that the filter is small enough that the fry can't get sucked into it. Microworms and BBS are the best choices for first feeding. They must be fed 2x a day but be very careful not to overfeed. To feed microworms, I use a q-tip and scrape some worms off the side of the culture and swirl it in the tank for the fry. With BBS, I siphon out some shrimp from the hatchery into an old dishcloth. Then I pour some freshwater on the shrimp and dip the cloth into the tank. You will see the worms and the shrimp in the tank and your fry will go after them. I always feed a little at a time and then, if all the food is gone and the fry's tummys don't look full, I will add a little more food.
Week 2
The second week of feeding, I will continue to feed microworms and will add some smaller grindal worms. I will also start cleaning the tank at this time. To clean the tank, I use a siphon made out of a piece of rigid airline tubing and regular airline tubing. Alway siphon into a clear or white bowl or bucket in case you get some fry, and you probably will. Run the siphon over the bottom of the tank until you have gotten all the waste off of it. Then, add new water that is the same temp as the water in the tank with the same additives in it. DO NOT pour the water in, start the siphon in the new water and let it slowly drain into the tank. Add about 1 inch of water plus the water you removed each week until the tank is full.
Week 3
During the 3rd week, I will continue with the same foods and add freeze dried bloodworms. Continue feeding and cleaning the tank as above.
Week 4
Start adding frozen meats to your fry's diet. Frozen bloodworms that are chopped up, and frozen brine shrimp are good choices. Continue with the freeze dried foods and wean off of live foods.
Week 5 - Jarring
Continue with frozen and freeze dried foods but add some Hikari Betta Bio Gold pellets also.
Jarring your fry
Your fry will begin to develope color around 6 weeks. The coloring will change quite a bit so this is not necessarily the color that they are going to be. Around 10-12 weeks you will want to start jarring the males. You can tell if them apart because generally the males will have longer fins and the females will have shorter bodies and a white spot on there stomach which is the ovipositor, or egg spot. If you can not tell, it is best to just jar the most agressive fish. Use jars that are no less than a 1/2 gallon. Clean the jars 1-2 times a week and keep them heated if possible.
Once your fry are jarred, they will be ready to go to their new homes in about 2 weeks. The fish that you see in the pet stores are about 6-7+ months so don't panic if your fish don't look like them. It is every breeders decision whether or not to cull. I don't believe in culling fry unless they are sick or injured in some way that they can't live a comfortable life. I will be giving my culls away in the future so check in the stock shop or email me for more details.
*Keep in mind that they warmer the water and the longer live foods are fed, the faster your fish will grow. There are some pros and cons to this method. The pros are that you will be able to breed the next generation sooner, if you wish but the cons are that they may not live as long and that younger males may not be the best daddies.
