Dragon and Tiny Spawn Log *Pic. Heavy*

[Gloria]

Ok, So after a good 17days of conditiong all of my Bettas, I decided that I would pair up Tiny and Dragon.. Well Tiny decided, I put her beside each other the other boys tank one at and time and watched for the reaction of the two of them.. In the end it was Dragon she seemed to like more..
I gave the pair an extra feed and then put Dragon into the breeding tank. A few hours later I put Tiny in, in a breeders net and watched. Dragon was doing the whole wiggly dance and swimming in a snake pattern.. Tiny was doing the same and trying to follow him EVERYWHERE.. Eventually I let her out.. It was 5:30pm last night when I released her in with him, set of the lights and shut the door (for extra privacy).. I woke up at 8:30am this morning to fnd Dragon dancing under the nest lurin Tiny and LOTS of eggs on the bottom of the tank..
I didn't see them embrace for a little bit, then they did, 3 more times, each time a few eggs dropping.. Dragon made NO attempt to pick them up.. Tiny would swim away, expecting things were over and he would wiggle towards her then back to the nest. Eventually he noticed the eggs on the tank floor...
I saw him pick EVERY one of them up and then go to the surface of the water and breathe.. And went no where near the nest.. And evey now and then he will try and lure Tiny back to the nest (for another embrace?!)
So.. What now? What do I do? Am I not getting any babies? :$

[Gloria]

It is now 11:30... 3 hours after I woke up and saw the eggs on the ground.. I have been sitting watching Tiny and Dragon this WHOLE time.. They eventually got the hang of it.. They started to get a good pattern going too.. They would embrace, catch eggs, place them in the nest and repeat.. Each embrace would result in 10-20 eggs and they embraced well over 20 times.. I very interested to find out how many there actually are :$
Tiny is now in a QT tank with some epson salt and Dragon is being a good First Time Daddy and watching the nest like a HAWKE!! :)

[BlakbirdxGyarados]

Awesome! I think I recall another thread you had with breeding a pair... You had some trouble with it at first. But that's great that things worked out so well!

[Gloria]

haha.. Yeah my other pair just didn't know what to do.. I don't think I conditioned them well enough.. This pair got fed every 2-3 hours on the dot and was fed FBW, pellets and BS...

Pics coming in 5...

[BlakbirdxGyarados]

Cool... can't wait to see. c:
And yeah, I went a bit crazy with the conditioning. I went out and bought frozen Mysis and Brine Shrimp, as well as occassional pellets... but I pretty much restricted them to the frozen stuff.

[Gloria]

So, as I said I would, here are some photos...

The eggs I woke up to find this morning...


Dragon flaring at me, just before he went into the breeding tank..


Tiny, taking a rest just before I took her out of the breeding tank...


Dragon, being a proud dad, with his nest and eggs..

[BlakbirdxGyarados]

Beautiful parents! And a nice-looking nest of eggs, too~

[Gloria]

I have a quick question.. I know alot of people on here say it is a good idea to put some plastic wrap over the top of the tank.. If I do this how do I feed the fry??? Also do I need to poke holes in it?

[Gloria]

aww thanks blakbirdxgyarados I am very interested in how the babies will turn out.. I am sad at how small the nest is, he used to make MASSIVE ones, but he decided on a little on and in the opposite corner to where the IAL was, right infront of the thermometre amongst the plants :$

[BlakbirdxGyarados]

I imagine it'd be easier for him to maintain the nest according to how many eggs he knows are good. ;) No need for extra bubbles, I suppose.... The eggs are hard enough work for him on their own. xD

And putting plastic wrap is preferred because it keeps humidity in the tank... When the fry take their first breaths, the air above the water surface shouldn't be too dry, otherwise they'll have problems with their labyrinth organ.

What I'm doing about feeding the fry is just taking half the plastic wrap off (or at least enough for me to put my hand in there) and dip in their eats, then re-cover it. You shouldn't have to poke too many holes in it, too... even if you only poke about 5 needle-sized holes, the humidity will still stay in the tank.