You all are not gonna believe this one!

[1fish2fish]

So most of you know I made the decision to cull my more recent spawn because I was unable to care properly for them and make daily water changes and multiple feedings etc.

Well I didn't really cull them... I dumped the 5-7 surviving fry into my grow out tank with the other fry thinking if they made it great, if not at least they were eaten instead of starving to death.

Fast forward to today... I completely empty my grow out (well mostly empty), pulling out all the wood and java moss and throwing it into a plastic bin full of water, so I could get a bunch of baby snails out to kill. As I am pulling apart the java moss and removing it a tiny fry pops out of a really thick clump

I don't know how he survived or what he survived on since the big fry are being fed almost solely NLS grow (with the occasional block of frozen daphnia added) but here he is. Tiny tiny but with all fins intact and a streak of red in his anal.

I don't know what I want to do with it. I can't put him back in the grow out if I want him to survive because some of the fry are definitely big enough to eat him if they are lucky enough to catch him but I'm not sure if I want to try to raise him up either.

My gut is telling me... he survived this long. He survived through being left and thought dead in an unheated spawning tank for weeks until I found those 15 survivors, he survived through weeks of no food except some first bites and few water changes, he survived being put in with fish that could eat him quite easily. Who am I to kill him now? He's obviously got what it takes.. what makes a betta an almost indestructable fish... he deserves to try to make it all the way.

So... I guess tomorrow I'm going to have to figure out a way to get either a net breeder or some sort of thing to put in my other 10 gallon so he can be warm and have clean water without dealing with stunting hormones from my bigger fry. Then once he's big enough he can find another home like the other fry.

He's from the spawn from the male in my avatar and his sibling sister BTW.

[monroe0704]

I love giving those unexpected fry the chance they fought for :) I had some platys that were like that haha

[dramaqueen]

Aww, he sounds like a special little fish!

[Sweeda88]

You should name him Warrior for surviving so long. Or if it ends up being a girl (I know you said he, but it can be hard to sex them at that age), name it Xena.

[1fish2fish]

If it's a female her name will be Beatrice (meaning blessed) if it's a male he'll be called Asher (who was blessed with.. stuff. LOL).

That is.. if I decide to keep him/her. If I decide that once he is grown he will go to a new home I won't name him and let the new owner name him.

[Luimeril]

aawww! special little fella! :3 can't wait to see what he/she grows into. bet it'll be one stunning little betta! <3

[BettaHeart]

wow now thats a story he/she has something special to be alive through all of that. so cute little baby

[vaygirl]

That's an awesome story! I love him or her already.

[bettalover2033]

Wow thats really cool! Sounds like he/she is a real trooper!

[1fish2fish]

Today I went and bought one of these...


Now the baby can still live in the grow out tank and have heated/clean water but I won't have to worry about him getting eaten. I'm gonna stuff some java moss in there and add a snail to eat the leftover food at the bottom of the net. Hopefully he'll start to grow better :)

To make 100% sure that this was fail proof and the big fry couldn't get into the box if it was to slip/etc. I tied a piece of thread to the top of it and added a counter weight which is hanging from the outside of the tank. (The counterweight being a thing of nail polish LOL). Now there's no chance of the box sinking for any reason.