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Small Spawn Multi XMarble HM Log

11K views 151 replies 24 participants last post by  Creat 
#1 ·
So after much trying yesterday my male and my female figured it out and there are about 30 eggs in a very haphazard nest. Sadly the male had little or no part in retreiving the eggs and I thought much was lost. He is caring for them kinda... he is very flighty and runs away at the slightest vibration leaving the nest but hey at least he is kinda trying. We will see what these two produces.
Fish Fish Tail Organism Aquarium


Fish Fish Tail Aquarium Organism

If you follow me a little you will notice that I have only had my marble male under a week, normally I wouldn't try and spawn him but my original male and my backup male both got sick and I was like hey this may or may not work apparently it worked... I do hope these babies survive.
 
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#2 ·
Oh and the spawn bucket stats about 15 gal densely planted with.... everything lol. I honestly went out to a pond took a huge scoop of duckweed and floating plants and drained it of water and dumped it in the tank. It help all sorts of yummy things mostly mosquito larva though and they spawned in the next 6 hrs.
Green Plant Grass Leaf Moss
 
#3 ·
He is still taking good care of his nest so far and he likes moving his eggs back and forth to one side and the other im happy he is starting to care for them
 
#4 ·
Congrats.......and good luck.......you will be amazed at how many eggs/fry you actually have......I would try not to disturb him very much...sometimes when a male feels threatened he will eat his eggs/fry.........this is a natural survival instinct......the male will use the protein for himself so he can reproduce again later when its safe......keep us posted.....
 
#5 ·
Thanks OFL I have the tank blocked off so he cant see out of the container and I try not to disturb him. That one photo of the tank I had to get on a larger zoom camera you can even see him peaking out from under the nest cause he felt the vibrations lol... Ive never had a male be so sensitive...
 
#6 · (Edited)
This morning we have wrigglers! I have yet to see any fall to the ground usually they zoom right back up before daddy has a chance to help them.
Here are some photos I snagged:
Sky Light Atmospheric phenomenon Water Morning


Water Sky Yellow Sunlight Morning


Yellow Green Water Glass Plant
 
#8 ·
So daddy condensed his nest a little and move all the kids into one space he also calmed down now ( i think chasing the babies made him tired lol) so I got some photos as he went about his business collecting the children, I think there may be about 50- 100 fry still
Yellow


Sky Atmospheric phenomenon Mist Morning Fog


Water Light Moisture Yellow Morning


Yellow Light Wall Sunlight Room


Organism Fish Sunlight Fish
 
#9 ·
Awesome, the only thing that scared me was how you got the duckweed from the pond. I did this, rinsed it really well and QT'd it outside for a week, rinsed again then put it in my fry tank and a stupid dragonfly nymph STILL got in, well 5 did >.< Took out a majority of my fry. If you plan to keep the male in long term then he should eat any that may have rode in but i removed my male when the fry were freeswimming and the nymph took over. Keep a close eye out :p
Your male is AMAZING though, i cant wait to watch these little ones grow!
 
#10 ·
The duckweed got a eye check by me plus was in there for days before they spawned plenty of time to pick off anything creepy but I am still keepin a eye out I actually spotted 4 when it was first added... the female spotted them too they were gone fast lol I am going out to collect more soon to make sure the fry have enough food and the male does too... Im kinda tryin to do an outdoor spawn indoors lol
And I am excited to see them to lol he is by far one of the best first time dads ever and I really want to spawn him again maybe this time to a red hm female
 
#11 ·
Can anyone advise me on how to feed egg yolk as a first food? I have always been curious to try it...
 
#13 ·
Personally I boiled an egg and then kept the round yolk. When I need some I rub my finger lightly against the outside until it has a light coating. The I take a spoon and drop a couple drops of water onto it and rub the egg yolk into the water. I then just dip the spoon into the tank and let it run off. I have seen the fry eating it so I know it's bite size. It's super easy and to be honest I won't ever do anything else. With the combination of infoasia they have been growing very well and its not as dirty as a lot of people will make you think, especially if you don't use a bunch and just siphone the rest at night. I actually got that method from Betty spelendens :-D
 
#12 ·
How are the fry today.....

I don't feed egg yolk...but what I have read-you want to squeeze the egg yolk in cloth to kinda strain it or put it in a spray bottle and lightly spray it on the surface...Indjo would know more...PM him and ask or he might see this and chime in....careful not too much...it can really pollute the tank fast...I wouldn't start adding any food until they have been free swimming for several days since you have a lot of organic material, plants and snails.....you should have lots of microorganisms for the fry for the first 3-7 days at least after they start free swimming...
I would get a brine shrimp hatchery going today or tomorrow and they should be ready to feed by the time the fry are ready for bigger food...get two going 24h apart and only feed newly hatched BBS with the yolk sac intact for the most nutrition especially for the first 2 weeks of growth and development.......poor nutrition is a big killer and reason for spawn failures...sudden death, twirling, poor immune response....etc.....

Also, if you haven't already and the location of the spawn tank is in a low humidity area-cover the top with plastic veggie wrap or something to retain the heat and humidity by 2 weeks for labyrinth development....that first breath of air can make a big difference in the fry...if the air above the water is too cool and dry...you can have sudden death, labyrinth problems, swimbladder problems, floaters, skimmers, deformities...etc......but if you have high humidity and warm/hot air temps...they should be fine...AC can really do a number on them.....
 
#14 ·
The nest has seemed to dissipate a little as the fry become more upright in their swimming and daddy is ignoring them more although he still goes and picks up the ones on the bottom blowing bubbles for them but he couldnt care less about the ones venturing away....
also I have a lid for the container I am going to use to help with labyrinth development
 
#15 ·
So day four for the fry, daddy is still in the tank I have left him in in hopes he will pick off anything bad in there (like dragonfly nymphs ) and hopefully he can stay in longer. He isnt keeping up a bubble nest anymore but he isnt disturbing the fry at all and if he does the tank is so densely planted I am not worried. Soon I will start supplementing the fries diet with micro worms.. And some photos!
Green Nature Water Yellow Light


Plant Organism Macro photography Aquatic plant Photography


Green Yellow Leaf Organism Plant


Nature Green Leaf Yellow Water
 
#16 ·
Great pictures!
 
#17 ·
Ha ha thank you, and thanks you guys for info on egg yolk 4/5 micro worm cultures died from a fungus so I might need a back up :)
 
#18 · (Edited)
First off I feel like I lied when I said small spawn lol I assumed it was going to be tiny but then daddy had a stroke of genius and now I have more then I can count which leads to my first question....
When do I take daddy out? I have been leaving him in to make sure no dragon fly nymphs are in existence but is their a good time to remove him, he has yet to start eating all the fry and has started another bubble nest... when is the best time to remove him and second question...
sense I have more then I planned and now they are in such a dense tank how do I start feeding all of them I have some microworms and might use egg yolk but I heard of people herding their fry by tapping on the tank... how well does this work and is their a good way to do it? leading to the third question...
when is the best time to start feeding? they are about 5 days old now and they have been eating live organisms in the tank, they are big enough to start feeding off them but whens the best time to start, I dont want to over do it and kill them by overfeeding. Which leads to my last question...
Whens the best time to give them their first water change? Meaning when do I add more water and how much do I add, its a 53L container and its about 5 inches full and should I let the water age in anyway before adding it?
Sorry for all the questions I just want to make sure I can keep as many of these guys alive as I can :)
 
#20 ·
Well I removed my male from the tank after thinking about it for a long long time... his bioload is something I dont want to have to deal with....
 
#21 ·
Creat,

When I feed my fish, I very gently tap on the tank frame with my fingernail.

If you do this every time you put food in the tank, then the fry will eventually make the connection tap=food.

I have noticed that even without tapping, once a piece of food hits the water, the bettas smell it within seconds... so tapping might be a moot point... ;)
 
#22 ·
I did water changes the first day that I fed them. I just suck up all the nasty stuff at the bottom and then refill with water that is aged and already next to the tank. I use a very tiny rubber tube and I siphon it into a clear wine glass so that I can see any fry that I sucked up and put them back. I only had like 30 fry so I would notice if it had an impact. So far I have not lost any fry to water changes. Personally I wouldn't do the egg yolk now, its really only for newborn fry under a week old, and it's hard to keep the tank clean unless you do daily water changes. I have now moved onto BBS as a main food source combined with infusoria. :-D

Your fry look great! Any chance you can upload some video?


 
#23 ·
I have tried taking video but their still so small and my tank is beyond densely planted lol I will try again later maybe I can get the camera to focus right :p
And yeah water changes are going to be difficult cause I cant see the floor of the tank looking in.. I will start aging water tomorrow so I can be ready !
 
#24 ·
Been trying to get good video it hasnt been working so far but I have started feeding micro worms and will do a water change tomorrow ;) we will see how that goes.
 
#27 ·
I am still so worried about doin a water change I managed to kill a spawn once and with all my males sick I dont want to loose any more fish.
 
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