Any handy tips on speeding up fry growth rate?

[katrina.hughes]

hi all, my fry seem to be taking forever to grow.... any handy tips for making them grow faster? I do regular water changes and feed them well but they are taking heaps of time to get bigger! Cheers

[phoenix44]

water changes everyday, sometimes twice a day.

feed very small meals, maybe 6 times a day. Keep them slightly hungry at all times - not asking for much with bettas :lol:

[Adrienne]

the more fry you have the slower they will grow and will also grow at vastly different rates

[Discusguru]

Big tank (10 ltrs per fry), daily waterchange (or wc 1 hr after feeding and feed again) feed with live food.

[alanmin4304]

Feed them every time you walk past the tank and do a water change on the way back. You need to keep seperating them by size as they grow at different rates and the ones that grow the fastest are often not the best fish but will get most of the food (including the smaller fish when the size difference becomes enough).

[katrina.hughes]

Thanks guys! Will keep that all in mind for my next batch :-) Its amazing the size difference between individuals within the same batch

[Stephanie]

Its amazing the size difference between individuals within the same batch

Breeding them is evil. Mine are 4 weeks on Friday and if you look at: http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/bettagrowth.html, which I keep doing, some of mine look like the 4 week picture and some are still at the 3 week size. Which is annoying because it's such a tiny spawn.

[katrina.hughes]

Its frustrating aye! Thats a lovely delta you've got as your profile pic - are you breeding from him?

[Stephanie]

Thanks! He doesn't look quite as impressive as your avatar. Jealous! But i'm going to try breed him and my other boys in the new year. We've got heaps of little breeding tanks setup but boyfriend and I are off to Gisborne for a week of work which is already driving me mental because we can't put any pairs together until about the 3rd which is so far away!! The next 11 days better go fast. I need to fuel my fighter problem with new spawns NOW! :lol:

[acara]

As has been already said,excellent water quality is the best.

Fast growth is not always best,or good for fish.We feed our fish on foods which are considerably more nutritious than what they would be getting in their natural habitats.As a result they can suffer from health problems and often don't last as long.I had a great chat last year with Dr Anton Lamboj about this,and he only feeds(adults) about 3 times a week,with great results.

Betta,in particular,are very prone to obesity.

[SamH]

Make sure you keep the bottom squeaky clean too, it's been said that the bacteria down there can stop pelvic fins from forming. Regular siphoning with an airline tubing combats this.