M1 + BFF Spawn Log

[CalvinWill]

Here is my long-awaited first spawn.




Male: M1, my Petco variegated multi Halfmoon.




Female: BFF, my Black Fire Female from NIB’s spawn.

[CalvinWill]

Set up:


The tank is a 20g long. It is set up on a custom stand I made from a re-purposed entertainment stand. I added a shelf to hold a florescent light and the containers for the refill drip. The tank has 2 sponge filters powered by a split Tetra Whisper 20. The heater is an Aqueon Pro 100. The temperature is set to 82-84 degrees. Water conditioners are Seachem Prime and a homemade IAL extract. 3 Mystery Snails started out in the tank, but only 1 remains in there. The other 2 have been sent to other tanks in need of algae cleaning.

[CalvinWill]

Spawning:


The first attempt at spawning was several weeks ago. At the start, the pair looked receptive to each other, but M1 never built a nest. Eventually he started chasing BFF too much and the spawn was cancelled.



After 2 more weeks of conditioning, they were put back in the tank in the traditional hobbyist method. M1 immediately went to work on a huge nest. BFF was in the chimney glass for 2 days and finally released on Friday 1/27/2012. The spawn itself happened on Saturday, 1/28/2012, though I did not know it at the time.


I made a rookie mistake by not checking the nest for eggs. I assumed the spawn had failed again. I introduced another female, who was promptly chased from the nest relieved of her fins. I gave up and started a water change. It was after removing half of the water from the tank that I noticed a nest full of eggs. I slowly dripped the water back and cursed my incompetence.
The next couple of days M1 was hard at work tending the nest and the eggs. On Monday, 1/30/2012, I saw my first dangling tail.


More pictures will come in the next few days with more updates. I wanted to get this log started for you all.

[LittleBettas]

Aw!!! congrats!!! my spawn *should* hatch on the 9th is all goes well Im excited!

[LilyK]

Keep us updated!

[tpocicat]

I'm so glad you saw the eggs before it was too late. Congratulations!

[CalvinWill]

17 Days old.

They are 2 weeks and 3 days old. Everything is going well. I have moved over to feeding exclusively BBS, and after a few batches I have perfected my hatching and harvesting method. It is so much fun watching the fry chase after the brine shrimp.

I have been doing water changes every day since there were free swimming. The first few times I vacumed the bottom of the tank I sucked up a minimum of 10 fry each time. They were all placed back in the tank and seemed no worse for the wear. Recently I have started using a small airline and an air stone to slowly siphon the water out. Daily I pull out 2.5 gallons of water and drip 3 gallons back in. I am no longer adding the IAL tea to the water and the tank is looking beautifully clear.

The fry are growing at an almost alarming pace. I have a hard time beleiving that just 2 weeks ago they were specs with tails that bounced around on the bottom of the tank. There are a few runts as you would expect, but the "small" fry are disapearing. They are either dying, being eaten, or growing fast over night. The larger fry are showing dorsal fins and becoming less and less transparent. The largest of the spawn is noticeably darker then the rest of the spawn. I imagine the others will take this coloring on soon.

Currently, the count is anywhere between 40-70.

[bettalover2033]

This is really good. I like how you keep the tank nice and clean. Do you keep the water level at the current level?

You said: "Recently I have started using a small airline and an air stone to slowly siphon the water out."

How exactly did you do this using an air stone? What does the air stone do or is used for?

[OMB]

Now i have another thread of yours to follow. Makes me want to start breeding bettas too! Can't wait to see when theyve grown enough for fins and colors to show. You have us on the edge of our seats!

[newarkhiphop]

nice nice keeps us updated