the story so far..
one month ago we attempted to breed our young super delta "tom dang"
to "lipstick 1" an "orange blob" double tail female.
"tom dang" had never been bred before and the breeding event turned to tragedy when he ate 98% of the newborns the day after they were born.
a number of factors played into that fateful event, 1) he had never been bred before, 2) we made him paranoid by not covering up the tank and 3) feeding him while in the breeding tank. the third factor is something we had done before with another plakat with no ill effect but, every betta is different. after all was said and done maybe 10 fry survived his mouth but they all perished within days, except for one fry we later called "miracle"
we were determined that he should not suffer the same fate as his siblings and took him out of the breeding tank and put him (or her) into a betta bowl. it would be easier to keep track of the fish and feed it that way too. surprisingly, "miracle" has prospered we really wanted to mate "tom dang" as he is a phenominal fish with the prettiest blue eyes. another reason was the slim chance that by mating him with a double tail female we could perhaps acheive the desired "half moon". even if one or two developed into half moon it would be worth it. also, a double tail "tom dang" jr. would be quite splendid as well. we were lucky to have a spawn sister to "lipstick 1" called surprisingly enough "lipstick 2".
3 weeks after the first attempt we prepared the breeding tank again (java moss and floating plants, a few pieces of indian almond leaf and half a floating styrofoam coffee cup for his nest shelter.). the water was let sit for three days before and sea salt was added to the mix as well. we left it without filter and heater but used a desktop lamp (square ikea frosted glass) butted up next to the 5 gallon tank to add some warmth. our place is pretty warm and we don't experience too many cold drafts. the male was introduced to the tank first with the female placed into a glass "sobe" bottle and then into the tank so "tom dang" could swim around her but not nip at her. the male proceeded to build up his nest but it was nothing too spectacular at first. after 3 days we let them loose together and covered up the walls with paper for privacy. unfortunately, almost at once "tom dang" attacted her, viciously biting a large piece of her tail fin off (think shark attack). he is a vicious fish, much more so than the last plakat we bred and "lipstick 2" was small for a female but every bit a woman. it's always nerve wracking watching them at first, doubts enter your mind like "oh, he's going to kill her" etc. but having the java moss tangle in the tank served as her sanctuary, he found it difficult to get at her with his long fins and she was able to hide. believe it or not they were in the tank together for at least 6 days before things happened. at first she didn't want to have anything to do with him which would just enrage him, you could sense his frustration as he would be under his nest and look out at her and swim over to her, undulating his body sideways, telling her "come check out my nest". she would just hide even deeper. we did notice that her belly was starting to swell though, she was producing eggs and her body got darker although with her colour makeup, vertical bands were non existant. after 5 days we noticed that she was coming out more and venturing closer to him, he had pretty much given up on her by that point though and seemed to have lost interest in his nest building as well. still, something about her new openness towards him brought him out of his depression and we noticed he wouldn't try to bite her anymore, he was trying to be more of a gentleman . on the 6th day while we were totally unaware, they mated. it is funny because i sat myself down on the couch and peaked at them like i do quite often and said to my wife "it's hopeless, these fish are useless and it's never going to happen" just as i said that i noticed a few eggs drop from the nest and watched "tom dang" gently pick them up in his mouth and place them back in the nest. he looked at me and kind of said "you talking to me?" 
what a relief, we took "lipstick 2" out of the tank and placed her in a betta bow front acrylic tank with some indian almond leaf to relax and heal her wounds. it's been little over a week now and the huge bite out of her tail is growing back nicely and we expect a full recovery. bettas are tuff fish i tell you, especially the females, lots of respect for them we left "tom dang" in the tank to care for the newborns but took him out as soon as they started swimming and darting to the surface on their own (no more than 2 days later). the water level was lowered to maybe 3 to 4 inches and cling wrap was placed over the tank to keep things above water level humid and wet. the java moss we like to take out soon after too as it just gets messy. we took "miracle" (about 3 weeks ahead of them) and put him back in the tank with the newborns. as soon as they were free swimming we started them on the live vinegar eels and they took to it right away (which is always encouraging). we were never able to count the eggs when they fell but were able to guess afterwards that maybe 50 to 60 fry were indeed alive. ok, jump to the present. the fry have been alive a week but the water is grungy and the bare bottom is a field of algae, keeping things humid doesn't make the water any cleaner. the next thing we did is just us being crazy , i don't recommend it unless you are crazy like us but i will say we have done this before with great sucess. we decided to make a wholesale water change to give the fry a good fresh start to life. what we did was get a 1 tablespoon plastic measuring spoon with a deep dish and a clear plastic shallow pail filled with fresh water. we shined a light into the tank (after removing the floating plants) and i proceeded to carefully scoop each and every fry 1 at a time with the spoon into the pail. it's easier than you think as the suction of the spoon in the water pretty much puts the fry right into it. this is also a good time to take a count of what you have left after a week of life (not every newborn will survive no matter how good you are). near the end (and over an hour later) my wife helped out as well with a turkey baster (which works wonderfully for sucking up the fry that hang out in the corners of the tank). well, we did a count and it came to over 70 still alive. better than we had imagined. the tank was washed out with water and we filled it up to about 7 inches deep. we threw the floating plants back in and dropped a round sponge filter into the mix too as they are safe for small fry. our tank was rocking again. the pail was floated in the new water to acclimatize the fry as sudden temperature changes can be devestating. after an hour the pail was emptied into the tank and the fry proceeded to swim around and do what little fry do. vinegar eels were fed and everyone was happy. that was last night. i came home from work today and checked out the tank, everything looks good, nothing weird going on and everyone seems happy. tonite we will begin the baby brine shrimp farms again (2 liter plastic coke bottle with the bottom cut off, water heavily salted with sea salt of course (must be non iodized) a macdonalds straw with an air hose attached for airation and some brine shrimp eggs (sea monkeys, remember them? ). in a day or two we will have live baby brine shrimp and stop feeding the vinegar eels as they are excellent for newborns but soo small. this time we will begin shrimp earlier than last time. i hope to keep everyone posted on any new developments as they happen and include pics as the fry develop. and if you took the time to read this much of this post i hope you found it somewhat interesting.
one month ago we attempted to breed our young super delta "tom dang"
to "lipstick 1" an "orange blob" double tail female.
"tom dang" had never been bred before and the breeding event turned to tragedy when he ate 98% of the newborns the day after they were born.
a number of factors played into that fateful event, 1) he had never been bred before, 2) we made him paranoid by not covering up the tank and 3) feeding him while in the breeding tank. the third factor is something we had done before with another plakat with no ill effect but, every betta is different. after all was said and done maybe 10 fry survived his mouth but they all perished within days, except for one fry we later called "miracle"
we were determined that he should not suffer the same fate as his siblings and took him out of the breeding tank and put him (or her) into a betta bowl. it would be easier to keep track of the fish and feed it that way too. surprisingly, "miracle" has prospered we really wanted to mate "tom dang" as he is a phenominal fish with the prettiest blue eyes. another reason was the slim chance that by mating him with a double tail female we could perhaps acheive the desired "half moon". even if one or two developed into half moon it would be worth it. also, a double tail "tom dang" jr. would be quite splendid as well. we were lucky to have a spawn sister to "lipstick 1" called surprisingly enough "lipstick 2".
3 weeks after the first attempt we prepared the breeding tank again (java moss and floating plants, a few pieces of indian almond leaf and half a floating styrofoam coffee cup for his nest shelter.). the water was let sit for three days before and sea salt was added to the mix as well. we left it without filter and heater but used a desktop lamp (square ikea frosted glass) butted up next to the 5 gallon tank to add some warmth. our place is pretty warm and we don't experience too many cold drafts. the male was introduced to the tank first with the female placed into a glass "sobe" bottle and then into the tank so "tom dang" could swim around her but not nip at her. the male proceeded to build up his nest but it was nothing too spectacular at first. after 3 days we let them loose together and covered up the walls with paper for privacy. unfortunately, almost at once "tom dang" attacted her, viciously biting a large piece of her tail fin off (think shark attack). he is a vicious fish, much more so than the last plakat we bred and "lipstick 2" was small for a female but every bit a woman. it's always nerve wracking watching them at first, doubts enter your mind like "oh, he's going to kill her" etc. but having the java moss tangle in the tank served as her sanctuary, he found it difficult to get at her with his long fins and she was able to hide. believe it or not they were in the tank together for at least 6 days before things happened. at first she didn't want to have anything to do with him which would just enrage him, you could sense his frustration as he would be under his nest and look out at her and swim over to her, undulating his body sideways, telling her "come check out my nest"
. she would just hide even deeper. we did notice that her belly was starting to swell though, she was producing eggs and her body got darker although with her colour makeup, vertical bands were non existant. after 5 days we noticed that she was coming out more and venturing closer to him, he had pretty much given up on her by that point though and seemed to have lost interest in his nest building as well. still, something about her new openness towards him brought him out of his depression and we noticed he wouldn't try to bite her anymore, he was trying to be more of a gentleman . on the 6th day while we were totally unaware, they mated. it is funny because i sat myself down on the couch and peaked at them like i do quite often and said to my wife "it's hopeless, these fish are useless and it's never going to happen" just as i said that i noticed a few eggs drop from the nest and watched "tom dang" gently pick them up in his mouth and place them back in the nest. he looked at me and kind of said "you talking to me?" what a relief, we took "lipstick 2" out of the tank and placed her in a betta bow front acrylic tank with some indian almond leaf to relax and heal her wounds. it's been little over a week now and the huge bite out of her tail is growing back nicely and we expect a full recovery. bettas are tuff fish i tell you, especially the females, lots of respect for them we left "tom dang" in the tank to care for the newborns but took him out as soon as they started swimming and darting to the surface on their own (no more than 2 days later). the water level was lowered to maybe 3 to 4 inches and cling wrap was placed over the tank to keep things above water level humid and wet. the java moss we like to take out soon after too as it just gets messy. we took "miracle" (about 3 weeks ahead of them) and put him back in the tank with the newborns. as soon as they were free swimming we started them on the live vinegar eels and they took to it right away (which is always encouraging). we were never able to count the eggs when they fell but were able to guess afterwards that maybe 50 to 60 fry were indeed alive. ok, jump to the present. the fry have been alive a week but the water is grungy and the bare bottom is a field of algae, keeping things humid doesn't make the water any cleaner. the next thing we did is just us being crazy , i don't recommend it unless you are crazy like us but i will say we have done this before with great sucess. we decided to make a wholesale water change to give the fry a good fresh start to life. what we did was get a 1 tablespoon plastic measuring spoon with a deep dish and a clear plastic shallow pail filled with fresh water. we shined a light into the tank (after removing the floating plants) and i proceeded to carefully scoop each and every fry 1 at a time with the spoon into the pail. it's easier than you think as the suction of the spoon in the water pretty much puts the fry right into it. this is also a good time to take a count of what you have left after a week of life (not every newborn will survive no matter how good you are). near the end (and over an hour later) my wife helped out as well with a turkey baster (which works wonderfully for sucking up the fry that hang out in the corners of the tank). well, we did a count and it came to over 70 still alive. better than we had imagined. the tank was washed out with water and we filled it up to about 7 inches deep. we threw the floating plants back in and dropped a round sponge filter into the mix too as they are safe for small fry. our tank was rocking again. the pail was floated in the new water to acclimatize the fry as sudden temperature changes can be devestating. after an hour the pail was emptied into the tank and the fry proceeded to swim around and do what little fry do. vinegar eels were fed and everyone was happy. that was last night. i came home from work today and checked out the tank, everything looks good, nothing weird going on and everyone seems happy. tonite we will begin the baby brine shrimp farms again (2 liter plastic coke bottle with the bottom cut off, water heavily salted with sea salt of course (must be non iodized) a macdonalds straw with an air hose attached for airation and some brine shrimp eggs (sea monkeys, remember them? ). in a day or two we will have live baby brine shrimp and stop feeding the vinegar eels as they are excellent for newborns but soo small. this time we will begin shrimp earlier than last time. i hope to keep everyone posted on any new developments as they happen and include pics as the fry develop. and if you took the time to read this much of this post i hope you found it somewhat interesting. 
