Fry feeding guide

Best live food for tetra fry

Tetra fry are where breeders learn humility: eggs hatch in a day or two into fry so small they are mostly eye, and most losses happen before the fry are big enough for anything you can buy in a tub labelled “fry food”. The ladder below — smallest swimming food first, up a rung every week or so — is how tetra spawns become tetra schools.

Cardinal tetras schooling in a planted aquarium

Photo: Artūrs Grebstelis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

The feeding plan

Stage	Feed this	Why it works
Days 1–5 (free-swimming)	Vinegar eels	One of the few cultured foods small enough for neon and cardinal fry, swimming in the light where fry hunt
Days 5–14	Banana worms, then microworms	Banana worms bridge the gap for the smallest fry; microworms become the productive staple
Weeks 3–5	Newborn daphnia / moina	The growth rung — fry that reach baby moina start looking like fish instead of commas
Week 6+	Adult moina + crushed staple	Juveniles join the adult feeding plan; keep live feeds coming for even growth

Practical tips

Start the eel tub the day you set the spawning tank — tetra eggs hatch fast and fry are hunting within the week.
Feed at the surface under light, little and often (3–4× daily); tetra fry hunt visually and tire quickly.
Raise the first weeks in a small volume so food density stays high; a big tank starves fry in apparent plenty.

Watch out: Tetra parents eat eggs and fry with no hesitation. Spawn over marbles, mesh or moss, and remove adults the moment spawning ends.

Common questions

What do neon tetra fry eat first?

Vinegar eels — small enough for day-one fry and swimming where they hunt. Banana worms follow within the week, microworms next, and newborn daphnia (moina) from about week 3.

Why do my tetra fry keep disappearing?

Usually starvation at size, not disease: the food offered was bigger than the fry. If fry are vanishing in week one despite “fry food”, step down to vinegar eels and feed more often in a smaller volume.