# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  Is it okay to feed only baby brine shrimps for Betta splendens fry?

## AYWL

I've heard that feeding too much BBS to betta fry is harmfull to thier health as they cause swim bladder disease :Knockout: , but i've been feeding my fry BBS since they hatched (2 weeks) and I don't seem to have any sick fry...and could you please tell me the symptoms of swim bladder disease so I can just look out for any problems with my fry from feeding BBS...thanks :Grin:

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## iwishweallcouldwin

when a fish has swim bladder disease, it usually just floats at the surface or stays at the bottom of the tank, and can't move up or down the tank with ease like normal fishes do.

think water quality is the key to preventing swim bladder disease. in order to ensure that, do regular WC, and try not to feed excess food. too much bbs is not good as uneaten ones will die and contaminate the water. also, i heard indigestion is normally caused when fries swallow bbs egg shell, and not bbs itself? so do be careful when you hatch bbs too.

normally after two weeks you can try feeding your betta fries tubiflex worms already... its quite a sight watching the cute fries trying to swallow their new food and getting flung away by the resilient tubifex worm, but the determination of the fry always prevails and their growth will increase exponentially.

anyway, have fun raising up your betta fries! inital stage they never seem to grow, but after a while, they would have turned into juveniles before you even know it!

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## AYWL

Hey, thanks for the very useful information! Maybe i should get some in a few days because when I typed 2 weeks... i was meant to type 1
week... :Razz:

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## Quixotic

Your sighting request for tubifex worms have been split here, http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=43738

You sound like someone who has never used tubifex before, so I would caution you on their usage. Tubifex worms carry with them bacteria and parasites that can easily cause illness in your fish. There is always such a risk even after thorough cleaning, no matter how well. So be aware of that.

That said, they are great for growth of fries and conditioning of fishes. I swear by them, although I have lost some fishes and cleaning the tubifex is rather troublesome.

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## AYWL

Yup...this is the first time that I have almost 200 fry doing well, my previous spawn never lived for more than 3 weeks so I have never been needing to use tubifex worms :Grin: ...partly because I had no right food for them...but now I do of course...

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## AYWL

> think water quality is the key to preventing swim bladder disease. in order to ensure that, do regular WC, and try not to feed excess food. too much bbs is not good as uneaten ones will die and contaminate the water.


So are you saying that the eating of BBS does not cause swim bladder disease but it is actually more dependant on the water quality?

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## iwishweallcouldwin

yup, there are lots of heavy users of bbs (including myself) in this forum, and i believe that so far no one has reported cases of feeding bbs to their fries linking to swim bladder disease. also, it is fair to say that ensuring tip top water quality is the golden rule in avoiding many many types of aquatic related diseases.

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## AYWL

Ok...but this morning I found over 60% of my fry dead :Sad:  and I do 25% water change every 2 days...am I cleaning often enough? Or is it something else?

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## Quixotic

BBS as the food itself is not an issue, but cysts or unhatched eggs can cause indigestion problems with fries.

Siphon uneaten food after every meal, otherwise mass death of BBS will cause water quality issues, which in turn will cause health problems (and/or eventual death) of the fries.

I am not too sure about water change but I think it can be performed every alternate days. The water change also needs to be done properly, with de-chlorinated, aged water without drastic changes from the current water parameters.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

think you can consult bro sen_jie, a fellow AQ forumer, with this matter... he's an old bird in this area...

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## AYWL

How big are tubifex worms? and also can 0.6cm fry eat bloodworms?

Thanks!

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## nicefish

> Ok...but this morning I found over 60% of my fry dead and I do 25% water change every 2 days...am I cleaning often enough? Or is it something else?


What's the survival rate of your fries after a month?

Normally, it is highly recommended not to do any water change for a month because the fries have yet to develop the immunity to tolerate a new environment. This is made worse if the water is not properly treated. To keep the water 'clean', you should siphon out the waste and all uneaten or dead BBS. One of the best secret I've learnt in growing betta fries is to use tubifex worms to 'clean' the base of the tank! They do an awesome job in gathering all the scattered debris which makes it easier for you to siphon.

After the first month, you can do water changes and this is important because all your surviving fries will grow at a more even rate due to the removal of the growth retardation hormones secreted by the fries to prevent their siblings from growing up. The theory behind the water change here is the same as that of discus fries.

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## 900801

Hey,why not use daphnia to feed your fries.For 0.6cm you might be able to but then you would have to cut the tubiflex worm.

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## nicefish

Yeah! Daphnias is actually the best for free-swimming fries and they last much longer than BBS. Just flood the tanks with them and watch your fries go crazy. But it's not easy to get them and they carry a high risk of diseases as well and could easily wipe out your entire batch of fries at one go.....

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## 900801

> Yeah! Daphnias is actually the best for free-swimming fries and they last much longer than BBS. Just flood the tanks with them and watch your fries go crazy. But it's not easy to get them and they carry a high risk of diseases as well and could easily wipe out your entire batch of fries at one go.....


yea bro,agreed but its better to wash the daphnia in a fine net.Oh you can find them in many places most of the time its call "boon"

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## rav

> I've heard that feeding too much BBS to betta fry is harmfull to thier health as they cause swim bladder disease, but i've been feeding my fry BBS since they hatched (2 weeks) and I don't seem to have any sick fry...and could you please tell me the symptoms of swim bladder disease so I can just look out for any problems with my fry from feeding BBS...thanks


As with any fry rearing, its best to feed a wide range of food to the growing fry. I fed MW for the first two weeks before alternating between BBS in the morning and MW at night 2-4 and feed MW+BBS+Tubifex till the 8 week before introducing process flakes and pellets.

BBS are good fry food, so take readings on the internet with a pinch of salt.

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## proace92

try to vary their diet
symptoms would be cant move up and down

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