Quick answer: The best food for betta fry is tiny live food, and it changes as the fry grow. Start with infusoria or vinegar eels once the fry are swimming freely. Move on to newly hatched baby brine shrimp and microworms within the first week or so, then slowly wean the young fish onto crushed pellets from about one month old.
When to Start Feeding
Don’t feed newly hatched fry right away. For the first few days they hang from the bubble nest and live off their yolk sacs.
Start feeding when the fry swim horizontally on their own and begin to look for food. That is usually around day four or five after spawning. Most breeders remove the male at this point.
Timing matters. Betta fry are tiny, and their mouths are too small for crushed flakes or ordinary fry powder at first. They also respond to movement, which is why live food works so much better than dry food in the early weeks.
Feeding Schedule at a Glance
| Age | Best foods |
|---|---|
| Hatching to free-swimming | Nothing. The fry are still using their yolk sacs. |
| First days of free swimming | Infusoria, vinegar eels |
| About week 1 to week 4 | Baby brine shrimp, microworms, vinegar eels |
| About week 4 to week 8 | Baby brine shrimp, grindal worms, daphnia, plus powdered fry food or finely crushed pellets |
| About week 9 onward | Small betta pellets (about 1 mm), with live or frozen treats |
Treat these ages as a guide. Fry in the same spawn grow at different rates, so watch the fish, not the calendar. For a more detailed timeline, see our betta fry feeding chart.
The Best First Foods
Infusoria
Infusoria is a catch-all name for the microscopic organisms that grow in aged water. They are small enough for the tiniest fry.
To culture your own, fill a clean jar with water from an established tank, add a piece of blanched lettuce, and leave it in indirect light for four to six days. Use a pipette or turkey baster to add small amounts to the fry tank a couple of times a day. Start the jar before the eggs hatch so it is ready on time.
Vinegar eels
Vinegar eels are tiny, harmless nematodes about 1 to 2 mm long. They stay alive in the tank and swim throughout the water, including near the surface where betta fry feed. Their constant wriggling triggers the fry to eat.
A culture is simple to keep in a bottle of apple cider vinegar and water with a few slices of apple, and it lasts for months. Start it about three weeks before you need it.
Microworms
Microworms, along with the similar banana worms and Walter worms, are easy to culture on a starchy paste with a pinch of yeast. They sink to the bottom, so feed small amounts and clean up what isn’t eaten.
Baby brine shrimp
Newly hatched brine shrimp are the main food most breeders rely on. They are rich in protein and fat, and the fry grow quickly on them. You can tell the fry are eating because their bellies turn orange.
Hatch brine shrimp eggs in aerated salt water at about 79 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. They take roughly 24 hours. Rinse the shrimp in fresh water before feeding, and try to keep the empty eggshells out of the fry tank. Most fry can take baby brine shrimp within a few days of free swimming.
Foods for Older Fry
From about four weeks, the fry can handle larger foods:
- Grindal worms: a high-protein live food for growing juveniles
- Daphnia or moina: small crustaceans that stay alive in the tank until eaten
- Finely chopped frozen bloodworms or brine shrimp
- Powdered fry food or finely crushed betta pellets: offer these alongside live food so the fish learn to accept dry food
By around nine weeks, most young bettas can eat a small pellet as their staple, with live or frozen food as a treat. When they reach that stage, our guide to the best betta fish food pellets can help you choose one.
How Often to Feed
- Feed small amounts several times a day. Three to five feedings is typical in the first few weeks.
- Offer only what the fry clear within a few minutes.
- Cut back to two or three meals a day as the fish grow.
Fry have tiny stomachs and grow fast, so frequent small meals work better than one large one.
Foods to Avoid or Use With Care
- Plant matter. Bettas are carnivores. Lettuce and other vegetables are for growing infusoria, not for feeding the fry directly.
- Egg yolk. A tiny amount of hard-boiled yolk can work in an emergency, but it clouds and fouls the water very quickly. Don’t rely on it.
- Dry flakes and adult pellets. These are too large for young fry and mostly end up rotting on the bottom.
- Live tubifex and wild-caught foods. These can carry parasites and bacteria. Home cultures and trusted suppliers are safer.
Keep the Water Clean
More fry are lost to dirty water than to hunger. Heavy feeding in a small tank pushes ammonia up fast.
- Change 10% to 20% of the water every day with dechlorinated water at the same temperature.
- Siphon uneaten food from the bottom with airline tubing so you don’t suck up fry.
- Use a gentle sponge filter once the fry are strong enough.
- Test the water often and keep ammonia as close to zero as you can.
Young males start to fight as they mature, usually at around two months, so be ready to move them into separate containers.
Bottom Line
Feed betta fry live food that fits their mouths: infusoria and vinegar eels first, then baby brine shrimp and microworms, then larger worms and crushed pellets as they grow. Feed little and often, change some water every day, and have your cultures running before the eggs hatch. Once the fish are on pellets, our guide to the best betta food for color will help you bring out their adult colors.
This article is general information, not veterinary advice. If your fish seem unwell, contact an aquatic veterinarian.
