[spawn log] Red/blue CT x Turquoise CT - need advice :)

[dramaqueen]

They've got their color! They're so cute!

[checkerzelda]

Thank you for the love, Tpocicat, Gloria and Dramaqueen. ^_^

The fry are still very tiny compared to what they should be at 11 weeks +. At 2 months, most betta fry should be reaching adult size already but mine are only like, 1/3 of their parents' size. ^^; Oh, my mini, ventral-less bettas. Still love them though.

Colour-wise, I've got 3 of them with the striking blue/red fins from dad, many more with mum's turquoise sheen. Interestingly, there are also 3 pinkish white ones with purple-red tails. xD They are still growing, so I suppose the colours will continue to change. At the moment, I'm loving the variety of colours swimming around in my sorority. xD

So far I can only confirm that 6 of them are boys (out of 35) from the length of their anal fins and feable bubble-nesting attempts, haha..the rest either looks female or are still too small to tell. ^^; From the 6, I've only jarred 1 for flaring. He's not the biggest of the lot, but he's definitely a mini version of dad. He's got the longest fins and CT spikes compared to his siblings. ^^

---

I recorded a video of them yesterday when I fed them after their water change:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHsrJWWkO_A

Lighting is not great, but you can more or less make out the variety. The 15 fry in the main tank are the biggest and the gluttons. The rest are separated into smaller 1/2g containers according to their feeding habits and appetites. The container with the red lid are saddest bunch...they're the skinniest, and refuse to eat anything else except BBS. Some also have dislocated jaws- even so, and since they're still make an effort to eat and survive, I'm not culling them any time soon.

Hope you enjoyed the very few updates so far. Feel free to ask if you're curious about anything. :)

Wishing you all a Happy New Year 2012! :)))

[checkerzelda]

Some pictures..

[BeautifulBetta]

awwww theyre all so beautiful!! what causes them to have no ventrals? Makes them suuuuper streamline-looking :D

[purplemuffin]

I love that really pink one! They are all lovely though!

[checkerzelda]

Originally Posted by BeautifulBetta

awwww theyre all so beautiful!! what causes them to have no ventrals? Makes them suuuuper streamline-looking :D

Thanks! xD

I don't think anyone knows the exact reason too. I've poured all over the internet, and from what I gather, no scientific research has been done on this yet, but everyone suspects it has something to do with feeding the fry microworms for too long. Could be some missing nutrition in microworms required for the fry to kickstart their ventral growth, or it could be some kind of bacteria from microworms preventing the growth. It was a risk I took when I started them off with MW and continued until they were about 3 weeks..sure enough..this happened. ^^; Apparently, if we still don't see any ventral fins when the fry reach 4 weeks, it's 100% they'll never grow them for the rest of their lives. Bettas are special like that, haha..


Purplemuffin: Thanks! My sis is eyeing the pink ones too..ah..it's going to be hard to separate them later. They look great swimming around in the same aquarium.

[dramaqueen]

I have heard something about what causes missing ventrals but I can't really remember exactly what. Too much microworms maybe?

[BeautifulBetta]

Hmm..thats very interesting :S I'm gunna stop MW's now...lmao! Too bad though, they're so easy to culture! BBS are such a pain in the butt..

[kmcclasky]

Very pretty fry

[checkerzelda]

Hi everyone. Here's another long overdue update on the big babies. They hatched mid-Oct, so they should be around 3 1/2 months old now. I've lost count how many weeks that is, lol. I still have 24 of them with me now. 5 of them, 2 boys and 3 girls have been given away to my friend.

Most, if not all of them have got colours now. They're confirmed mostly blue with red fins like dad, and the rest, about 4-5 of them are Cambodian reds. Even the sickly SBD ones have graduated BBS and now live on micropellets. :) 4 of the females turn out to be the giants of the group and they're almost the same size as mum now. Their gluttony is just hilarious to watch. They've actually got quite nice caudal spreads, better than mum, which is a pleasant surprise. Too bad no ventral fins. xD;

I've taken a whole lot of pics over time since my last update, so if you observe carefully, you can actually see them grow. xD