MY FRY TASTE-TEST THREE DIFFERENT LIVE FOODS
I gave my betta fry microworms, vinegar eels, and baby brine shrimp to see which they prefer.
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Ninety percent of the fry selected the vinegar eels or microworms over baby brine shrimp because only ten percent were large enough to eat brine shrimp. At six days old, almost all of the fry were able to eat baby brine shrimp and did so with uncontrolled gluttony, much preferring them over vinegar eels and microworms.
The microworms seemed to be consumed faster than the vinegar eels. But, this may have been because both microworms and fry tend to lay on the bottom of the tank. By close association, the microworms were available and therefore eaten faster. When only microworms or vinegar eels are in the tank, the eels disappear faster than the microworms, which might indicate the eels taste better. The problem with this is that it's difficult to compare numbers of eels to microworms.
Observing the fry eat, I noticed that unless hungry they would barely move to pursue and eat microworms or vinegar eels. On the other hand, even when stuffed, fry would swim inches to gobble up a baby brine shrimp.
This test indicates that fry prefer baby brine shrimp over vinegar eels and microworms. But, I prefer vinegar eels because unlike brine shrimp they don't cause bladder problems, are easier to raise, swim throughout the water volume encouraging the fry to swim (instead of wallowing on the bottom for microworms) and the fry don't seem as inclined to over eat. My current feeding routine is one light feeding of baby brine shrimp for every four heavier feedings of vinegar eels. Once in a while I'll give them some microworms for a little variety.
