Unofficially dubbed the "whoops" spawn...
Hello y'all! How's this for a first post? Just to calm people down before I get jumped on - I bred bettas in highschool, quit during college and was intending to start back up with a few new pairs. So I know what I'm doing, despite what the title implies.
In all honesty this spawn was unintentional, but I'm forging ahead anyways. Figured a 'practice' spawn wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, considering it's been a few years.
Starting Oct. 14 -
Setup: 20 gallon long - 4 inches full. Contained duckweed, three sickly anubias, a tiny sprig of hornwort and an almond leaf. Lots of plant detritus on the bottom. Female was loose in the tank, male was cupped- literally straight out of the shipping box. (Long story? I was in the middle of unpacking him when a neighbor called to help get her sheep off the highway. Stuck him in a cup and floated it in the 'plant hospital' for warmth. Forgot the female was in there after getting beat up by community-tank danios. Male was out and spawning when I got back. Cup still upright, I'm assuming he jumped out. Guess I'm too used to lazy HMs)
Male was not conditioned. (Or acclimated, even. which is impressive, considering he came from the opposite coast) Female had been on a live daphnia/NLS pellet diet for 5 days prior to spawn. Introduction, nest building and spawning happened in less then 2 hours. I was impressed they figured things out so fast. The male is 3 months, the female is from about the same age, perhaps a little older.
Small nest, tiny batch of eggs, not more then a few dozen. Female removed, male was fed NLS pellets while dealing with the eggs. Eggs started hatching at 42 hours, fry were free swimming as of yesterday. Keeping the male in, he doesn't seem inclined to eat the fry and I've never tried keeping the male with the fry before. Curious to see how this goes.
Fry are currently eating Vinegar Eels.
Male (Image from seller)
Female (Post spawn - terrible phone quality)
Nest
Fry! (almost one week - sorry - more terrible phone quality)
Hello y'all! How's this for a first post? Just to calm people down before I get jumped on - I bred bettas in highschool, quit during college and was intending to start back up with a few new pairs. So I know what I'm doing, despite what the title implies.
In all honesty this spawn was unintentional, but I'm forging ahead anyways. Figured a 'practice' spawn wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, considering it's been a few years.
Starting Oct. 14 -
Setup: 20 gallon long - 4 inches full. Contained duckweed, three sickly anubias, a tiny sprig of hornwort and an almond leaf. Lots of plant detritus on the bottom. Female was loose in the tank, male was cupped- literally straight out of the shipping box. (Long story? I was in the middle of unpacking him when a neighbor called to help get her sheep off the highway. Stuck him in a cup and floated it in the 'plant hospital' for warmth. Forgot the female was in there after getting beat up by community-tank danios. Male was out and spawning when I got back. Cup still upright, I'm assuming he jumped out. Guess I'm too used to lazy HMs)
Male was not conditioned. (Or acclimated, even. which is impressive, considering he came from the opposite coast) Female had been on a live daphnia/NLS pellet diet for 5 days prior to spawn. Introduction, nest building and spawning happened in less then 2 hours. I was impressed they figured things out so fast. The male is 3 months, the female is from about the same age, perhaps a little older.
Small nest, tiny batch of eggs, not more then a few dozen. Female removed, male was fed NLS pellets while dealing with the eggs. Eggs started hatching at 42 hours, fry were free swimming as of yesterday. Keeping the male in, he doesn't seem inclined to eat the fry and I've never tried keeping the male with the fry before. Curious to see how this goes.
Fry are currently eating Vinegar Eels.
Male (Image from seller)
Female (Post spawn - terrible phone quality)
Nest
Fry! (almost one week - sorry - more terrible phone quality)