[bettafulaquatics]

I'm very excited to start my first breeding project this weekend. I have been conditioning my pair Vaudoux (M) and Pumpkin (F) for the last two weeks with frozen food twice a day. Both have a vibrant orange base color (or a pale yellow/red base I suppose). Vaudoux is orange, red, black and white with some iridescent scales, and Pumpkin is orange, black, white, and turquoise. I'll add pictures later!

They've also seen each other for a few minutes every day with some promising behavior, Vaudoux tries to lead Pumpkin to his nest, and Pumpkin tries to follow through the glass. They're currently in 5 gallon tanks next to each other which makes it pretty easy to card and uncard them for the sake of observing their behavior.

I have their breeding tank ready and heated, and I'm going to change the water tonight so that it will be aged 3 days before I release them into the tank. It makes me so nervous, but I've been studying and preparing for this for a while now and I know I'm ready. I can't wait to see what colors their babies grow into

 

[bettafulaquatics]

This is Vaudoux (M)

And Pumpkin (f)

They're both on the large side. When I received Pumpkin I thought she was male just because of her sheer size and the length of her ventral fins, but she definitely has ovaries.

Vaudoux is going in the breeding tank this morning and Pumpkin will be put in the breeder box tonight!

 

[bettafulaquatics]

I put Vaudoux into the breeding tank this morning. He wasn't very happy with me, but he was starting to explore when I left for work! I'm going to put Pumpkin in a floating breeder box tonight and then release her after I get off work tomorrow.

 

[bettafulaquatics]

Well i initially thought they were the same size but it looks like Pumkpin is just a bit larger. Not alarmingly so, though, and she’s definitely interested in Vaudoux.

 

[bettafulaquatics]

Yesterday was a fail. Pumpkin dropped her eggs early and I think Vaudoux injured her eye and she has a bit of pop eye. Im going to recondition and try again!

 

[X skully X]

I used two Indian almond leaves with a rock pinning them to the bottom of my breeding tank (They hadn’t sank yet lol) so my female could hide under them if she needed to get away from the male. My plakat koi is always very aggressive and over excited. When my female would hide under the leaves he kept an eye on her but wouldn’t chase her under there. Just an idea! Hope pumpkin recovers quickly 💜 they are a beautiful pair.

 

[ralphybetta]

Aww, so sad that happened Hope it goes well the next time

 

[bettafulaquatics]

I used two Indian almond leaves with a rock pinning them to the bottom of my breeding tank (They hadn’t sank yet lol) so my female could hide under them if she needed to get away from the male. My plakat koi is always very aggressive and over excited. When my female would hide under the leaves he kept an eye on her but wouldn’t chase her under there. Just an idea! Hope pumpkin recovers quickly 💜 they are a beautiful pair.

I had a corner of anubias and some java moss for her to hide in but ill have to try that with the IAL. Thank you!

 

[bettafulaquatics]

I gave Pumpkin an epsom salt bath today. Her eye is already looking better and she's still eating like normal! Depending on when she gets eggy again, I'll recondition for 1-2 weeks.

Vaudoux was definitely over excited the first time. But here's hoping next time will be a success. I'm going to add more hiding places than I had the first time, and release her earlier than I did since I think she was in there for too long. I've been told to not give up with this pair, and I don't plan to just yet. I do have a second pair coming via mail this week though that I will attempt breeding if things ending up falling through with Pumpkin and Vaudoux.

 

[bettafulaquatics]

Put Vaudoux in the breeding tank again today. I wanted to see if things would go better if he has a couple days to build his bubble nest and he can get used to the changes I made. He's already started a bubble nest!

I'll put Pumpkin in on Friday again. This time I'm only leaving her in the breeder box for a little bit. She has more hiding places now so hopefully she'll feel more secure.

 

[bettafulaquatics]

I released Pumpkin yesterday almost immediately into the tank because she dropped eggs as soon as I put her into the breeder box she dropped some eggs. It went really well! They were wrapping in less than an hour and i was able to take Pumpkin out after 6hours.
Even though they werent sure what to do at first now the nest is full of eggs!!
I cant wait to see all the babies 😊

 

[X skully X]

Congrats!

 

[AndreaPond]

I can't wait to see what the fry look like, along with the number you end up with.

 

[fishowner550]

Ive been following the whole process im excited for fry!

 

[bettafulaquatics]

So this morning I saw at least ten little tails and it seemed like everything was going great!

But this evening I couldnt find any! I searched twice. I ended up finding ONE. So ive removed Vaudoux and lowered the water level. Maybe there’s more I can’t find but we’re just gonna have to wait and see

 

[ralphybetta]

Did you try using a flashlight? They are so tiny and maybe that's why you couldn't find any? Let's hope they are still there

 

[bettafulaquatics]

I did. Could only find the one and now i cant find that one either... im gonna give it a few days

 

[X skully X]

When my first spawn hatched I only saw three tails. Then two. For two weeks I thought I only had three babies in there cuz I could only see three at a time. When I lowered the water to a few inches to catch the babies and move them to a new tank I found 8 babies! I was like holy cow! They were completely see through and tiny even after weeks. The ones I could see were bigger and dark bodied.
So the moral of my long story is dont give up hope. They could seriously be In there.