New kid's Spawn Log

[Totchi]

Hi there! This is my first post here; I'm not sure if there's any kind of protocol, but I thought I should give it a shot!
I've had bettas for years, and have researched breeding for several. This year was when I got into them more seriously and made my first attempt. This is my second spawn, and while the first did not make it past the third week mark, it was an important learning experience of trial and error, with many unexpected curveballs.

So let me introduce you to my pair!

This is the male, Karyu. He is a halfmoon, about 5 months old now, and absolutely refuses to fully flare and hold still enough for photos! Here he is being lazy.



And here is my female, Michi. She's a halfmoon DT, also about 5 months. She and Karyu are not siblings-the black and red male that she was paired with unfortunately died about a week after the first spawning attempt for unknown reasons, so unfortunately he could not be the daddy of this spawn.



Both fish were conditioned for approximately 3 weeks on pellets, frozen bloodworms and frozen brineshrimp and took well to it, remaining incredibly active and eating like fiends.

This Saturday I introduced Karyu to my spawning setup- A 50 gallon clear storage container. I set it up with aged, conditioned water about 5 inches deep and have a small spongefilter gently bubbling at the opposite end from the styrofoam cup half. It's evenly heated to 83 degrees, and the female is provided with driftwood and a large amount of floating plants to hide in. I darkened the water with oak leaves beforehand as well. This setup was left running for a full week before the fish were introduced.

On Sunday I introduced Michi in a seperate glass container and allowed the two to introduce themselves. The response was positive-he begins showing off and building his bubblenest, she assumes submissive position and bars up like crazy.

Monday I release Michi into the tank. Chasing begins. Karyu is far more...enthusiastic than Michi's last male companion was, and alternates all day between chasing his bride and frantically bulking up his bubblenest.

Tuesday around 2pm I come home from a halfday at work, and Michi is lounging by the hornwort,being the hipster she is. Karyu is proudly gaurding a nestful of eggs, ignoring his lady and focusing on the task of gargling and rearranging his unhatched kids. Pleased, I remove Michi and settle her in a 1 gallon recouperation tank and feed her.

Well let me tell you...all thursday, Karyu got himself into the horrible loop of picking up eggs, spitting them into the nest and causing twice as many to sprinkle down on him. Rinse and repeat. I feel so bad for him...because I woke up this morning, and now he's frantically chasing wriggling escape artist fry and trying to keep them in the kiddie playpen/bubblenest, hundreds of them!

So far, I'm very pleased with how he's doing. He's a much better daddy than the other male was (He didn't grasp the concept of NOT swallowing the eggs or fry that fell out of the nest when he went to put them back). Very attentive, hardworking and gentle with the babies. I couldn't be happier!


I do come wielding one question, however: when the pair was in the tank, they did poop quite a lot! I didn't take the opportunity to clean it up when I removed the female or while the male was guarding the nest due to the fact that he seems to be nervous- I didn't want to risk triggering egg eating in him by stressing him out with extra disturbance; plus, his nest is delicate and even LOOKING at it wrong caused bits to float away.

Is it alright to leave the poop in there for a few days after I remove the male until the fry are sturdier, or is it better to go ahead and gently siphon up what I can? Thanks in advance!

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the successful spawn....with lots of live plants in that volume of water...they may be fine, however, I would carefully siphon some of the waste out if you can and then keep up with some daily water changes of at least 50% to promote good growth and development in the fry once yu start adding food for them.......you can also use airline hose to add the fresh like temp dechlorinated water back to the tank by gravity flow

I made a homemade siphon with airline hose and attached two chop sticks to make it more ridged-my thumb is the control valve- for both cleaning and to add water back to the tank...I use a 1gal ice cream bucket to catch the dirty water and then place a flashlight under it to check for fry that may have been siphoned out by accident......I have a hook over my tank that I hang the bucket on so I can use gravity for the refill....

Look forward to pics and to hear more about your plans......it can be really rewarding rearing your own fry....good luck.....

[Totchi]

Thank you so much! Yes, I've figured out a good moderated drip system that sounds similar to what you're describing...I'll do my best to siphon out some of the waste, especially at the far end tonight without disrupting daddy's frantic efforts! Thank you for the advice! :)

[doggyhog]

Congrats on the spawn!! Sounds like you've got everything under control!

Those are going to be some darn gorgeous fish. ;)

[Totchi]

Originally Posted by doggyhog

Congrats on the spawn!! Sounds like you've got everything under control!

Those are going to be some darn gorgeous fish. ;)

Thank you! I sure hope so..I'm hoping to start a nice line and work out consistent finnage and even coloring eventually, but for now all I can do is sit back and applaud daddy-Karyu. The poor thing doesn't know where to turn or where to stick the little delinquents anymore, they keep escaping! XD

[1fish2fish]

Congrats on the spawn! I really don't have anything to add.. I pretty much use the same method of siphoning as OFL. I would advise that you wait until you remove the male to siphon. Some males can be overly stressed an eat fry if you mess with them too much.

[JKfish]

Wow, it sounds like everyting is going well, and your set up sounds amazing~ If your air isn't humid enough, the bubbles might not stick as well together, so you could probably put something like saran wrap over the top to keep in humidity. :)

[AkiGari]

Michi is one of the most beautiful & strong looking female betta I have seen since I got into this last week. Congrats on the spawn!

[Totchi]

Thank you so much for the support everyone!
JKfish, I have an acrylic sheet with a few airholes over the top, but I think the next time I'll go for saranwrap. It was harder to get into but it did much better with condensation!

AkiGari, thank you! Michi is a prize! I never even saw her picture; I just asked the breeder for a good quality female sibling with her former brother and that's who they sent. I'm so lucky to have such a robust, healthy girl.

Question for all the breeders!
Half of the fry are now free swimming (bless Karyu's heart, he can't keep track anymore), and while they can nibble on the infusoria, I was wondering about the microworms and how much to give once I start offering them.
Everyone says to not overfeed, but I never did find how much is too much and how much is not enough. How do you know, aside from trial and error?

[1fish2fish]

Wait until all the fry are completely free swimming before starting to feed. There's really no way to tell how much you should feed. It's mostly trial and error. If you can see the worms it helps because you can tell when they're laying on the bottom. If you can't see them you'll just have to guess.

Water changes are highly important. I've done both methods of just adding water and not siphoning and adding water and siphoning. IMO early siphoning is highly important even though you will suck up fry. Just go slowly and make sure you check for any sucked up fry and put them back in the tank when your done.