A Tale of Two Bettas

[juliethegr8t]

Well there is lots to tell, but I'll shorten it up (sorta!). I had conditioned my fanciest crowntail male, and my prettiest female for two weeks and they were fat and sassy. Had the special breeding tank all ready to go and everything. Put them in... hours and hours, day goes by....... no bubble nest, no nothin, male isn't very interested.

Switch males... big hugeomungo bubble nest (I got a pic I'll have to share when it's developed, that thing stretched the entire width of the tank!!). He was very excited, and did a lot of work trying to get her to breed. Many mishaps, no luck. Tried other females, other males... nothing.

Finally put in my wonderful steel blue veiltail, Laddie. He was an absolute doll to her. He built her the prettiest nest, courted her with barely any nips.. and what did he get?! A completely 100% shredded to bits anal fin. If any of you remember, he is the male who's tail completely went away, for some reason or another (biting himself or catchin it on who knows what..). So now I'm sure his anal fin will fall off, and he'll be my barely finless betta. It basically looks like a cheese grater was taken to it - little holes and rips all through it (not just ends), and not really tears... yet. He used to be my prettiest veiltail too... *sigh*

If anyone has tips for what I can do for him, they are welcome. Otherwise he'll just be back in his tank with salt and melafix. The gal is currently in a jar with the same fix, as she is in a shared tank and I'd like her to be back up to par before I add her again. She's a bit ripped up too.

Oh well! I will try again in a few weeks.... All that research and preparation and what did I get?! BAH!

Also - wanna add a special thanks to wuv for all her support and help during my first try. Thank you, you're wonderful. (And btw - even if the microworms don't end up being for betta fry, I have two brand new platy babies who are absolutely loving them!!)

 

[shrks1fan]

Sorry to hear of your spawning woes. I've had 2 attempts at spawning now, the first went similar to yours, the female shredded his tail and they never spawned. But I think they may have been due to me being to intrusive on the whole matter (being my first time I was very excited and wouldn't leave them alone). They stayed together for several days and never spawned. My second try was with a different pair and after 2 days of being together they spawned! Tons of eggs, unfortunately he wouldn't collect the eggs, the female collected some, but it appears they were never fertilized as all the eggs went bad then he ate them. But they are only 4 months old, so they should do better next time. Today I am putting the original pair back in the spawn tank to give them another go at it without my incessant intrusions, Lol.

It's not completely unusual for the female to damage the male a bit, and in most spawns one if not both fish are going to come out with fin damage. So don't give up, you'll get a successful spawn yet, just be patient (which is what I'm trying to do, so I know it's hard, Lol).

Linda