[Goldmoon]

Finally an update why are ducky's eyes so inisent and with a slight glimmer

Ducky is just a very cute betta 🥰

 

[betta4ever!]

Hello Ducky!

Heyyy goldmoon, what's your address? I'm DEFFINITELY not asking to come steal Ducky. I'm just curious that's all... I'd NEVER steal Ducky from you (jk)

 

[Goldmoon]

Guys! I’m panicking a little. After a huge storm all of last night and into this morning, our power is out. There is no estimated time of when it will be back on. We have a generator, but nobody is going to be home (because of school and work) so we aren’t going to have it running. We just got a notification that there is a team working on restoring power, so hopefully they’re able to get it back on sooner than later. My fingers will be crossed that nothing happens, but I’m really worried for these babies 😢

 

[sparkyjoe]

Oh, no! Please keep us updated!

 

[Goldmoon]

Luckily, everything ended up being okay and there were no casualties. The power was out for about 4 hours, but once I got back home everything was on and heating back up. The temperatures definitely dropped, but the water didn't get below 74F. I feel very fortunate, as a lot could have potentially gone wrong...

 

[sparkyjoe]

Great news!

 

[Goldmoon]

Here’s a short video of the growout tank! I finally scrubbed off some of the algae during their water change today… I’d been putting that off for a while, lol. If you keep an eye out, you’ll see that there’s some “Ducky Juniors” in there. The diversity of these guys is insane, I’m always super excited to watch this tank because a new color/pattern seems to show up every time!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Goldmoon]

While cleaning the babies’ jars today, I made some observations that I wanted to share:

1) Their colors are AMAZING. Out of the ~60 bettas I have currently jarred, I’d say 70% are marble or koi patterned — that to me is exciting because I absolutely love koi/marble color patterns. In addition to the jarred babies, I’d say 60-70% of the fry in the growout are showing marbling/koi patterns. The ones that aren’t kois have really vibrant blue colors which is just as beautiful to me.

2) Their dorsal fins are huge. Think doubletail betta dorsals. This was something I mentioned earlier in this spawn log, but I wanted to mention it again because of how distinct it’s become. Neither of the parents are DT geno (at least to my knowledge), so this is really interesting to see. There are no scrawny/ underdeveloped dorsals that I’ve come across in this whole spawn. Since getting a well-formed dorsal was one of my goals for this spawn, this is awesome to see.

3) They all have perfect betta temperaments. They’re all so active and outgoing; there’s not a single fish that is sluggish/lazy. They all flare at each other and the mirror, including some of the females!

4) They’re growing into their anal fins. While the anal fins are still pretty big on some of the males, it’s not nearly as pronounced as before. I’m not sure where the “long anal fin gene” came from, because neither parent has abnormally large anals. This is also something I mentioned earlier, but wanted to give an update on. The exciting thing is, even though the anal fins are long, they all have really nice slopes and trapezoid shapes to them.

My goal was ultimately to “build the house before I paint it” (breed for form before color), but it appears I’ve managed to achieve good form AND color in this first generation — you have no idea how excited this makes me!

Thanks for reading! 😊

 

[Goldmoon]

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve posted pictures, hopefully this will make up for it!

There are two that appear to have a tancho pattern, but I’m not too familiar with what actually defines a tancho so I could be wrong about that.
#1:

#2:

Here’s some pictures of Ducky! He’s the most docile one in this whole spawn, even more so than some of the females! Also, he un-marbled, lol.

Here’s some other females:

(Post 1/2)

 

[Goldmoon]

(Post 2/2)

Some Marble/Koi males:

Some irids:

Thanks for reading!

 

[betta4ever!]

So beautiful!

 

[Goldmoon]

So beautiful!

Thank you so much! Their colors are starting to become more beautiful every day. I appreciate the reply!

 

[Goldmoon]

I was thinking about this as I was cleaning jars today, and I wanted to put it on here in case anyone might find it helpful.

Eros and Aphrodite were first-time parents for this spawn. After some researching and decision-making on my part, I decided to use a father-in method for this spawn. After the fry became free swimming (~3 days old), I left Eros in the tank instead of removing him. He stayed with the babies until day 10, 1 week after the fry were free swimming. I probably could have left him in for longer, but I decided not to take my chances. I fed him during this time in hopes he didn’t gobble down all the fry, but even if he ate some, he hardly made a dent in the population.

I used this method in hopes of him “weeding out” the fry he suspected had deformities or other issues. It was my first time trying something like this, and while I can say it’s definitely risky if you don’t know your male (I didn’t, but wanted to try anyways), I have not had to cull a single fry. On top of that, I’ve only lost a handful of babies, and a couple of those were due to my own negligence during a water change one day (which I still feel terrible about 😢).

I don’t know if Eros ate any of the weaker fry while he was in the tank with them. All I know is that these babies are strong and healthy. They’ve tolerated temperature swings during power outages, daily 80% water changes, and more. Honestly, I think it would be naive to say none of this had to do with the fact that Eros was left with them for a while.

In spawns I’ve had in the past (where I removed the father after the fry were free swimming), the male became noticeably depressed, lethargic, and in some cases even died. I always condition my breeder fish for at least 2 weeks and make sure they’re able to physically handle breeding, but it didn’t seem to make a difference with those fathers. This was not nearly the case with Eros. After I removed him, his behavior didn’t change at all. He’s been his happy, normal self since spawning. Whether or not this was because he got to stay with his fry longer, I can’t say for sure. Maybe his personality was just better equipped for breeding than males I’ve had in the past, who knows? But I think it’s at least worth mentioning.

Now, I can’t say any of this is for sure because I simply don’t know (and frankly, I’m not sure there even is a way of knowing). I do know, however, that I have ~450 babies that are all healthy and beautiful. On top of all of this, both were first time parents; I didn’t expect to get nearly this many fry (though I knew it was possible), and they made perfect babies.

So anyways, I’m like, SUPER in love with these guys if you couldn’t tell, lol. I just wanted to share this in case anyone was thinking of breeding and using the father-in method.

If anyone has had experiences or read things about this and would like to add to or comment on what I’ve said, please feel free! I’d love to hear some different perspectives and/or opinions!

Thanks for reading 😁

 

[Betta Nerd]

Eros sounds like a good Father hope he didn't eat to many babies if he did but 10 days I've heard of bettas not being able to take 2 parenting

 

[Rose of sharon]

This entire log has been so educational, @Goldmoon! And the spawn are just gorgeous!!!

 

[Goldmoon]

Eros sounds like a good Father hope he didn't eat to many babies if he did but 10 days I've heard of bettas not being able to take 2 parenting

He was definitely a good father!

This entire log has been so educational, @Goldmoon! And the spawn are just gorgeous!!!

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it 😊

 

[Goldmoon]

We are expecting a huge storm this weekend, and over the last hour we have already started to get lots of wind and snow. They’re predicting 5-6 feet of snow in our area, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we lost power during this time. I’m going to try my best to prepare for this, because the fish will likely lose their heater at some point over the course of this storm. We do have a generator, but won’t be able to keep it on all day if the power goes out. The weather has not been great for fish-keeping hobbyists in my area this year with all of the snow and storms we’ve been getting haha.

I hope everyone stays safe in this weather, and I hope you have a great holiday season with the people you love! I may try to upload some pictures of babies over the course of this weekend/week, but we’ll have to see how everything goes with the storm and if we lose power. Happy holidays! ❄🎄

 

[Goldmoon]

Luckily we never lost power today, but the storm has gotten really bad. It is white-out blizzard conditions, and there are travel bans all over. Most stores and schools are closed in my area, so I spent today cleaning fry jars and fish tanks. I currently have 75 jarred fry after jarring about 15 today, and the rest are still getting along well in the growout tank. I’m thinking I’ll be ready to sell some of the bigger ones after the new yearthere’s quite a few reaching adult size.

My fingers will be crossed for the rest of this weekend and the upcoming week, hopefully we don’t lose power.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Goldmoon]

Alrighty, sorry for all of the posts recently. I’ve been stuck inside because of the blizzard so I’ve been able to get a lot done with my fish haha. I set up a new photo tank and played with the lighting a bit, and I think this looks way better than before. These babies are just so gorgeous…

(Post #1)

 

[Goldmoon]

(Post #2)

Ducky!!

And after the photo shoot, my sister and I worked on photoshopping some holiday themed stickers onto the photos…these are the cutest things I think I’ve ever seen! ❤

I hope everyone has a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season! Thanks for reading!