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Feeding father betta with fry over w/e while away


gulp

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Hey folks,

I know this is a commonly asked question, I cant remember what the answers were and couldnt find anything on a search... so...

I am going away this weekend, and most likely every weekend for the next month or so (selling business and training new owner, wish me luck), from Friday afternoon til Monday morning. I have about 50-100 fry thay will be about a week old, the father is still in with the fry. My question is - should I leave the father in the spawn tank with the fry and risk he eats the fry if he should get peckish? could I put in a betta holiday block to keep him fed while in with his fry? should I take him out so there is no risk of him eating fry, but doing that I guess I wont be able to return him to the tank?

Then there is the issue of the fry not being fed. They are actually eating fry powder and VE and possibly BBS at the moment, and there is alot of stuff in the plants I am sure they could live off while I am away.

Opinions would be much appreciated, thanks, Jane :)

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A feeding block can foul the water, if it was me id take the male out for good he can survive the weekend unfed. As for the fry i have heard of bbs hatchers u set up in the tank and the bbs hatch and swim out that could be a sustained source of food for the fry if u put some eggs in the day before and then as u leave put some more eggs in so there is diff hatch times.

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I agree. Take him out for good, you really don't want him to see the fry as food with tails. I remember someone mentioned that once a fry/egg eater he'll always be a fry/egg eater, so you don't want to risk it and lose a perfectly good dad.

If I have a leave for a few days I usually do a large water change before leaving and chuck in a lot of microworms. Since they survive for more than 3 days in water, the fry just pick at them when they're hungry and I feed the adults a really good meal with high protein foods such as frozen bloodworms, live blackworms or whiteworms. Then they're all set.

That's just my routine

Good luck with your sale

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Thanks guys,

The BBS hatching idea is out of the question for the moment, dont know where I can get one and cant really spend the money, nor do I have time to set one up/make one, if I was to find the tools/equipment. But a good idea though, thanks.

I dont have Microworms, but I have noticed the VE still alive in the tub from yesterday morning so I might just put some of the VE in before I go.

I guess I can take the dad out, he isnt really needed in there now, the fry are doing great and he isnt helping so no point keeping him there for nothing. The reason why I was gunna leave him in was out of curiousity, just wondered what would result in leaving him in for a few weeks. I still dont think he has eaten any, he is leaving them right alone, and just eating what I feed him - FD blackworms, Betta pallets and he eats the BBS that is intended for the babies, he loves them!

So I will take him out tomorrow I guess, after a water change I will feed the fry with their normal meals on Friday arvo, with a little extra VE, and hope for the best. I think they should be ok.

Any other ideas are welcome :)

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