Spawning (i Hope)

Sorry my pics are not so great of Mooney. The closeup is from 3 months, and the second is from today - he really became vibrant recently!

He is one of my fave males. He has one of those really sweet, curious interactive personalities and is not aggressive, actually a little spooked at times. He's about 5 months old now, and has not yet spawned. He is called a 'Koi' because of his interesting marbled patterns on his head. He is my most brightly colored metallic turq/blue, I wish I had a clearer pic for you. He has fully marbled fins, with irridecense, opaque, cellophane, the blues and a little black, also with a tri band caudal.

I have paired him with his spawn sister, and it is really the only time he will flare He's normally a timid fellow. He makes such a cute little 'dragon face' while showing off for her, and interestingly he has fully cellophane gills, which I have never seen before.

In any case, I have released her after a day of in-tank courtship and about a week of side/side courtship. I really hope to get some truly gorgeous marbles as I love Daddy's face and personality so much, along with his color of course



Oooh btw, you can complete see his redness of his labrynth as that portion of his head lacks pigment entirely, its rather cute!

LOL Mooney... that's what they call me at work. My last name is Moon. LOL

wow! the last pic is awesome... , I wish I had him. Moon, I know a korean guy whos last name is Mun but pronounced Moon...

Thanks guys, I have left them privacy for the night and wrapped the tank, but I will try to take some pics of the spawn, crossing fingers!

His sibling to whom I am breeding, had an episode a few weeks back in the sorority tank and lost quite a bit of fin. She had to be given a private tank. It is grown back but still clear right now so it made me delay awhile as I wanted to mate them when she was healed up.

What a face

Well she definitely loves her brother and he is such a big flirt. But, she ruined his first peeny bubblenest and continued teasing him

So, I penned her back up this morning as he is overly interested in chasing instead of rebuilding....I am going to add a transplant nest while she is penned and hope it starts him building again lol

Well, he may need a little more practice, it seems he may be a little too passive for the female's taste. She is responsive, and will wait under the nest, head down and he does nothing but his little spawn hustle dance.

This morning I swapped her out for another matching female from a different line, more agressive female who is a really successful breeder, so hope that it works out but I was saving her for an F4 outcross. Also added 1/2 cup tea to the tank. Femal is very responsive but at this time he is simply courting again. He has added to the donated bubbles, though, so I am hoping that its a good sign. Funny thing is he seems to think there are babies in the nest, he spent all evening dilligently guarding the nest ,and did not take his eyes off them (bubbles). Definintely are no eggs tho.

gahh Mooney's so cute! He reminds me so much of one of my babies, #4.

I can't wait to see the results and I hope you get success this time!!

Sigh, well...he is still a little confused )

Nice bubblenest, female very interested, him courting - but he never follows through! She approaches the nest about every five mins or so, eager. He shows off, then ignores her. She destriys his nest. He goes back to guarding and fixing...

If its still going on like this tomorrow I may swap him for his sister with a different male, since she will carry the Marble geno/recessive trait. I just wish I could have had his babies for more chance at some great marbles

have you used regular tea successfully in the past instead of indian almond leaf extract or black water extract? I was looking for either of those today and couldn't find any at the petsmart...may try big als soon. But, if it's worth trying regular tea, then I have no probs trying that if it will help induce spawning.

-Ian

ezrock said:

have you used regular tea successfully in the past instead of indian almond leaf extract or black water extract? I was looking for either of those today and couldn't find any at the petsmart...may try big als soon. But, if it's worth trying regular tea, then I have no probs trying that if it will help induce spawning.

-Ian

Click to expand...

Yes you can use regular black (ie: orange pekoe) tea as well. Just make sure it is pure tea with no additives. I boil 1 bag for 2 mins in the microwave in dechlorinated water. I add that to about 2 litres dechlorinated water. For a spawn tank, I add one Cup of this 'tea' to the approx 3 gal they spawn in. I don't use it unless I have a hesitant spawner I prefer to add as few things as possible so that cleaning and replacing water is easiest.

I'll see if I can find you some more info on the use of black tea. Of course, everyone has their own best methods, and some are pure witchcraft, lol


**edit, I am on my way out, but here is a method from bettatails.com**
Q: Help! My bettas won't spawn! What can I do?
A: It's so frustrating when we have stubborn bettas isn't it!? Well try this (if you haven't already) it helps to add tannins to the bettas water. They would have it in the wild. Tannins occur from tree leaves in the water. Many breeders use Indian Almond leaves.
If you don't happen to have any of those around - you can use tea!! Yes, tea contains tannins. Just put a teabag in a cup of hot water. After the tea cools add 3 or 4 large dropperfuls to a 10 gal tank. If that doesn't help, you can add tea until the water turns brownish. So far, it's never hurt any of my bettas or fry and it seems to help reluctant spawners spawn. Good luck.

Maybe you aren't leaving them together long enough? It seems like you may be trying to rush them. Maybe give him a little more time to figure out what to do...pulling 1 female out and plopping another in doesn't seem like it would help him figure out what to do...just confuse him.

This isn't speed dating .

Actually, I did not 'plop' in another female after removing the first. I removed the first damaged and stressed female then cleaned out the bottom, added new water, waited until evening before adding another identical cousin female.


Of course I did not 'plop another female in - but placed her in a chimney for a full day without releasing. The previous remale had half her anal fin missing and her entire tail shredded, and had stopped coming from the plants at all due to being abused. She stopped barring altogether and only stress striped.

Sorry if I did not make myself clear. I did think I was being thorough in my explanations, my mistake. If after days of courship there is only aggression and shredding of the female, I would never leave her in as I value my fish too much to risk it.

The male, again this morning, is convinced the nest is full of babies when there is nothing there and almost no nest left. He's pretty confused. And beating the hell out of the female too. Too bad, because even so the female is still fully barred up.

I don't consider days of careful watching and care 'speed dating', and would prefer not to have my male sitting in the spawn tank for a month for his own health of course. Switching females carefully and thoughtfully is a very common practice among breeders.

Well, anyhow. If anyone is interested I'll let you know how it went when n I get back to a computer this month.

He's beautiful.