Accidental spawning!

[Joby]

ok bit of a long story but I put one of my females in a breeding trap in with my crowntail Ozzy to try and get him to make a bubblenest. I'd heard of other people putting the female near or putting her in a jar in the tank like when you spawn them. Anyways, he got really excited and she did too but no signs he wanted to make a bubblenest. I left them to it while I did water changes on my tanks and then I got called away by a friend and then the school run etc etc

So it was like 5pm when I remembered about her and thought I'd better get her out. Well I was so shocked. She had jumped out of the trap and I found the pair embracing under the cup I put in there to help him make the nest. There were only 2 lines of bubbles either side of the cup so he obviously hadn't really got the idea but heck she was dropping eggs and they were both collecting them. I thought at first they were eating them as no bubblenest I thought nothing to put the eggs in.

I didn't want to disturb them while they were embracing so I left them and it was about an hour later when he flared at her and she came over the other side of the tank so I could get her out. I've put her in the divided 10g with my VT Alphie and gave her a good meal. She only has a little nip in her caudial fine. Well he spent most of the evening under the cup messing around at the surface and blowing bubbles etc but I still couldn't see much of a nest or eggs.

This morning he's still guarding the nest and oh my goodness I see lots of eggs!! So reading up yesterday evening and from seeing other spawn diaries I've come to the conclusion that everything isn't as it should be. The tank is cycled, filtered and has gravel in the bottom.

My concerns now are that if they eggs hatch will any fry survive because of the filter etc and how on earth am I going to heat jars etc for juvies (if they get that far) in an English winter!

Help please

 

[SRC]

Lot's of heating pads? Good luck

 

[Joby]

Thanks SRC

I hope my poor male is up to this as it wasn't planned he hasn't been conditioned although he is fed twice a day and has blood worms twice a week. I'm worried that he will be hungry. I know it says not to feed while they have a spawn, but do you think he might need something?

No sign of any dangling tails yet 24 hours on but he's getting more agitated around the nest and has barely left it. Occasionally an egg drops and he picks it back up.

Really cross with myself that this happened. I've used the breeding trap to acclimatise and add my females to the community tank and never had anyone jump out of it yet.

Don't suppose there is anyone in the UK with an mw culture that they could send me should I need one? I only have frozen bbs and can get liquifry no. 1 for egg layers should I need it also

Poor little fry aren't going to have an easy time of it

Here is a picture of the nest that I managed to sneak earlier

 

[cation]

So reading up yesterday evening and from seeing other spawn diaries I've come to the conclusion that everything isn't as it should be. The tank is cycled, filtered and has gravel in the bottom.

My concerns now are that if they eggs hatch will any fry survive because of the filter etc and how on earth am I going to heat jars etc for juvies (if they get that far) in an English winter!

Help please 

Take a deep breath...It'll all be okay..


Don't count those babies out yet! First, Turn off the filter.

Second, my first spawn, I had sand and rocks on the bottom of the tanks. I've got 4 sweet juvies that lived through the sandy bottom and told me stuff on the bottom won't kill everyone. When bettas spawn in the wild they don't do it on clear glass/plastic bottoms I bet. Having said that, I'd never do another spawn on anything but a bare bottom tank, but if it happened, they may be fine.

Heating - I've been having the same problem. So what I did was use a small tank (6g) to put the jars in. Then I put water in, up to just below the tops of the containers. Heater in the tank, and those juvies are happy guys and gals. However, this seems feasable with a small spawn only! If you get lots of beebees, I'd put them in a room you can heat (with a space heater or something, the whole house doesn't have to run that hot!).

The food's an issue. I'd send you a MW culture in a heartbeat, but you're on the wrong side of the pond. You might want to see if you can find a betta breeder in the UK, explain the situation, and have them sell you a starter.

 

[Joby]

Thanks Cation

Well I'll pull the filter out then and pop it into one of my other tanks for now as I'm not sure if I'll lose the bacteria if I just switch it off. Any thoughts on that?

I saw someone on Ebay had an mw culture kit but he only ships mondays and says it would take 5/6 days to give me any worms which I guess is after I would need them

I am counting my eggs before they hatch LOL as I don't know if he actually managed to fertilize any. Good idea on the tank and putting the jars in there

Going to take some deep breaths and let nature get on with it

 

[SRC]

http/www.livefoodcultures.com/

Try going to Aquabid and looking on there...there are several there as well.

Or go to Google and type in Live food cultures,UK and see what that brings up.

 

[cation]

SRC has a good plan. It's crucial that you have some food for the little ones. You might as well go ahead and order a culture of grindals at the same time - if the fry live, you'll be wanting them in no time. Also, in the meantime, see if your LFS sells BBS eggs. You can start a hatchery and they'll have food by the time they're ready for it.

 

[SRC]

http/www.petdiscounters.com/customer/pro...&cat=808&page=1

http/www.petdiscounters.com/customer/pro...&cat=808&page=1

Might cost you a little bit to ship..but they do ship to different countries.

 

[Sorrell]

Do you have any live plants? See if you can get some infusoria going for the little guys, but you have 2 days of yolk sack after they hatch. What's your heat at now? The eggs will hatch slower in a lower temp. Do you have a heater? Try to get it up around 80, 82 ideally

 

[shrks1fan]

Congratulations on the unexpected event, hehe. It's so funny how those of us try to spawn our Bettas, can have so much trouble getting it to happen and then we read stories like this who didn't even want it to happen, LOL. My guess is the eggs are ferilized and you're about to have some hanging fry soon, they did everything else right, so why not that. All the suggestions given above are great, especially for heating the jars, but you have plenty of time before you need to deal with that as jarring doesn't usually start until they are at least 2 months old. If you do get fry and they survive, you may want to do some serious culling as they grow up, only keep your favorites (I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes it's necessary as it may be in your situation since you're not prepared for a large spawn of juvis). It could be an awesome experience for you to raise a few Bettas of your own. If you have other fish, such as a community tank, possibly you could feed your culls to them, that's what I do.

Good luck

Linda

 

[Bettaman]

Joby send me a self addressed bag in an envelope and ill send you som m/worm by return of post......... cost you the price of a stamp....

 

[GuppyDude]

gee i wish that would happen to me, even when i try to spwn i dont c any real action good luck

 

[Joby]

Thank you so much for your replies everyone. And especially Bettaman for the offer of the cultre which I have PM'd you about

Update this morning we have babies!

Poor Ozzy is working very hard keeping them from raining down to the floor which they are doing constantly. some are whizzing around under the nest and managing to get back in on their own.

I hope he isn't getting too hungry as his last meal was Monday morning and as it wasn't planned he wasn't conditioned

Sorrell there are a couple of live plants in the tank and the temp is at 79, can't raise it anymore as his nest is over the end of the heater where you turn the dial

Off to read up on what to do next and get the kids to school. Smallest son is entranced by tiny wiggly things

 

[Bettaman]

Ok sent address get that envelope in the post to day i will send a working mini culture so you can use it but star another straight away..meanwhile use some boiled egg yolk but use it sparingley as it will foul the tank quickley

 

[Joby]

Thanks ever so much Bettaman

Envelope is now in the post. Lets hope the xmas rush doesn't delay it

Lots of babies I can see, and some are just hanging on the side of the glass and some to the cup

I went out and got Liquifry no. 1 which is basically egg yolk in liquid. Also got a valve to restrict the flow of bubbles so they aren't blown into the middle of next week now

Feed them when 2 days old and daddy is out?