[OregonDreamsBettas]

Hi all! I am so excited about my first spawn in progress and nobody else cares so I thought I would log on here where other Fishy People will be sure to understand. Lol

I decided to try my hand at betta breeding. I spent a week conditioning my pair... a steel blue HM male from my LFS and a metallic green female from BasementBettas. Then last night I put them in the breeding tank together. They were off to a rough start. The male chased the female and got a few good fin nips before she hid herself behind the sponge filter. I was worried but she had plenty of places to hide so I left them to it. A couple of hours went by and when I went to bed she was still hiding and he had also tucked himself under a plant. I thought I would let them be until morning.
This morning I had an early dentist appointment so I checked on them but let them alone again. They still seemed kind of lethargic. But when I came back several hours later they were both out and there was evidence of a bubble nest! Just now I stopped in again and the female has horizontal stripes and is definitely Flirty! She rubs up against him then runs off and he chases... then he runs off and she chases. Then even had a couple of interludes under the nest but no spawning yet. Still... I am feeling optimistic

Anyway... thanks for letting me vent my enthusiasm ... I can't understand why noone else is as excited as I am LOL

 

[betta lover1507]

i remember when the first time my fish spawned a joyful memory, believe you wouldn't want to miss it ;-) i actually have a fry from that pair, but not from that spawn
good luck though with the spawn and fry and all :-D

 

[Amphibianite]

Huzzah another Oregonian eh? Haha. Welcome to the forums.
I hope your spawn works wonderfully ^_^. I just my pair spawn the other weekend, sadly the male ate the eggs I think. So I am reconditioning my pair for a couple weeks.
I wish you all the luck and will be following your spawn.

Oh what part of Oregon are you from?

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Spawn update...

Well as of this morning my fish are definitely spawning! It was quite a violent start... they would meet under the nest and he would attempt to flip her over but if it didn't work he would get frustrated quickly and drive her away... and go back to tending his empty nest. After several tries though they seemed to get the hang of it and a few eggs started falling which the male completely ignored!
I left them alone for a while and went to get some breakfast. When I came back I saw that they were spawning much more peacefully and even more eggs were coming... but the male was still ignoring them. The female thankfully was picking them up and spitting them into the nest in little clumps.
Then I saw the male pick up some eggs as they were falling but though I watched him for 5 minutes or so I never saw him spit them into the nest! He must be eating them! BAD DADDY!
As I type this my daughter says he did spit some into the nest so maybe it will be OK. I think I will remove him as soon as they are finished spawning just in case though... any suggestions from breeders who have experienced this problem would be welcome!
Thank you!

 

[Oldfishlady]

Congrats......

If you haven't already, I would turn the sponge filter off for now or at least have it on really low...

I would leave the male anyway-but remove the female once they are done spawning....sometimes the male will have a good reason to eat the eggs-usually the eggs not fertilized, bad in general...etc.... and this will help the viable eggs-while eggs left unattended can still hatch-its better for the male to tend to them and even if he eats all of them-it may have been for the best and you can always try again. I always give mine 3 times before I artificial hatch the eggs for them.

What spawning method are you using, what live food cultures are you growing for the fry, what are your goals and plans for the fry....

It can be a lot of fun and rewarding rearing your own Bettas from eggs to adults......the spawning part is generally the easy part....rearing the fry can be tricky and when the real works starts.....lol.....but still lots of fun....at least IMO/E....laffs....

Look forward to following your spawn log and seeing pic.....you should post some pics of the breeding pair and spawning tank....

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Pics of my fish

Hi again!
Spawning is complete... the male chased the female off and so I removed her to a medicated bowl where she can have something to eat and recover before going back into her tank.
The male seems to be guarding the nest and not eating the eggs... I am watching him very closely and will pull him out at the first sign that he is eating them.
I am near Portland Oregon. We decided to try our hand at breeding for a couple of reasons... first we thought it would be fun to raise the babies... and my daughter is keeping track of the whole process to use for a science fair project. She is trying to guess the color outcome of the fry based on the known genetic combinations. We have a local pet store that will take some of the spawn and several friends lined up who will take others and if we have any really nice fry we will try our hand at showing through IBC.
The corner filter was bubbling very slightly but I went ahead and turned it off.
Here is a pic of the male. We call him Marco. I didn't get any pics of the female before I put her in the breeding tank and because I'm breeding them in a plastic tote it was hard to get pics of them through the side... very cloudy. I will take some of the breeding tank later in the day.
Thank you!
Having trouble with a picture so here is a link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6762251717/

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Reply to OldFishLady

Congrats......


What spawning method are you using, what live food cultures are you growing for the fry, what are your goals and plans for the fry....

We put some live plants in the breeding tank which I'm told will give the fry some infusoria to eat for the first few days. I have a 3pack micro worm culture ordered and it is supposed to be ready to feed 24 hours after receipt so should be in time for the fry. Then we'll start some baby brine shrimp for the fry when they are 2 weeks old or so. That's our plan anyway.

I don't know what you call the method we're using... we bought a plastic storage container to use as the breeding tank and added a heater and sponge filter and some plants and a little square of bubble wrap in the corner. When the fry get a few weeks old I will probably transfer them to another larger tote where I will add more water as they grow until it is full. Eventually I want to get a 30 gallon glass tank for grow out but for now we're on a budget.

 

[PhilipPhish]

Wow! Congratulations!
Post pictures of your new babies and the pair if you can! I'd like to see them!

Organ is the closes state to me I've found members from on this forum.
I'm from Idaho.

 

[betta lover1507]

congrats and good luck, it will take the fries to maturity by 3-4 months and hopefully we could see the mom soon ;-)

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Another update

Oh the waiting! After removing the female, the male rearranged the eggs into a big cluster. But this morning when I peaked in I can't really see any eggs! OH NO!!! He either rearranged them all over the nest again or I am looking at just bubbles and he has eaten all the eggs. :-( I am told it can take 36 - 72 hours for the eggs to hatch so I am just holding my breath... turning blue... OMG I can't stand it! LOL

 

[Pewmew]

Oh the waiting! After removing the female, the male rearranged the eggs into a big cluster. But this morning when I peaked in I can't really see any eggs! OH NO!!! He either rearranged them all over the nest again or I am looking at just bubbles and he has eaten all the eggs. :-( I am told it can take 36 - 72 hours for the eggs to hatch so I am just holding my breath... turning blue... OMG I can't stand it! LOL

Don't panic! same thing happened to me today, but then I found the eggs eventually at a completely different place! I hate the waiting too, i'm so nervous I keep checking the eggs 1000x a day @[email protected] crossing finger that the spawn went okay and the eggs are actually fertilized. lol I'm panicking with you now. few more days and result will come, lets hold on !!

 

[tpocicat]

You will know for sure if there are any eggs soon enough. I used to breed cats which took about 65 days before the babies were born, so to me, a few hours is nothing LOL.
Best of luck to you and your soon to be fry.

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

We have fry! They hatched this morning. YAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!

Now I'm panicking about what to do next! LOLOLOL! Fish-godparenthood is so difficult!

So I just had a brain wave... my daughter and I were wondering when we should put in the first batch of brine shrimp... and I thought... if only there were a way to be sure there was infusoria in the tank... and that's when it hit me! LOL My daughter got a microscope for her birthday. So we put a drop of tank water on a slide and VOILA! Confirmed infusoria! I feel much better. So I will plan to have the baby brine shrimp ready to go on Friday and my microworm cultures should be here by Wednesday and ready to go by Thursday or Friday also.
I counted about 20 fry but I noticed a bunch are scattered all over and stuck to the plants so there could easily be more... Daddy is still doing his duty and picking them up. He looks tired!

 

[tpocicat]

Believe me, when they are this small, there are always more than you can see. Congratulations now the fun part starts LOL.

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Another update... the fry are free swimming today! I have assumed there is infusoria in there but I went ahead and swirled some microworms in after I removed Dad. Mom is great... back in the divided betta tank but I didn't put her back in the sorority. Dad is in a QT glass floated inside his section of the same tank. I think he's fine... he has eaten a few pellets and he's trying to figure out why he can see the whole place but he can't get to it yet!
The hornwort I put in the breeder tank fell all the pieces and it's worrying me that the decaying material will hurt the fry so I tried to syphon a little bit of it out tonight. I got 3 fry with it though. Fortunately they seemed OK so I sucked them up in an eye dropper and put them back in the breeder tank. I'll take a little more out each day but I think after this I am going to go with water sprite or something a little less messy!
I would love to post pics but because I'm using a plastic tote it's hard to get a clear pic but here are a couple...

 

[djembekah]

awe sweet little babies!

 

[BeautifulBetta]

Heehee congrats! <3 I always love looking at the little fries too cute!

 

[OregonDreamsBettas]

Another update... I counted about 40 little guys today. I siphoned off some water and topped up the tank they are in so they have more fresh water. They are so cute!!! They have doubled in size already. Its so exciting!!! I can't wait to see them grow and start getting color. In the meantime I have started some brine shrimp but so far they must be doing okay on the infusoria and micro worms I have fed them.
Thanks to everyone for all the hello and encouragement! !!

 

[styggian]

I think your fry are two days older than mine Mine hatched Wednesday.

Good luck!