Betta Spawned In Community Tank

[valleyboy007]

I have a 96L community tank which contain 2 x Rainbow Gourami, 1 x Honey Gourami, 4 x clown loach, 2 x Angels and a male Vt betta.... Yesterday i introduced a female vtbetta into the tank on advice from my local fish shop who suggested i could keep up to 3 females to 1 male in a community tank.

They spawned within hours!! I have spent the most part of today researching the breeding of bettas and i NOW understand that bettas should be introduced in a tank of their own and the female should be removed after the spawn!!
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So the situation now: I have a very protective dad-to-be frantically looking after his bubblenest in a busy community tank!! Not quite ideal breeding conditions I know. The gouramis in particular are showing interest in the bubblenest and dad is having a hard time keeping his bubblenest intact and warding off potential attackers at the same time!

I have a 15L tank available. I've thought about removing the male and the eggs with bubblenest intact but i am concerned that this may stress him and cause him to harm the eggs?? I've considered removing the gouramis who are causing most problems at the moment and then removing the fry when they hatch but what chance does the male have of protecting them in this busy community???

Please help! As I understand it the fry will begin to fall from the nest within about 36 hrs which will be lunchtime tomorrow (Sunday)!! I'd really appreciate any advice you could give me ..... I just don't know how to best help them!!

 

[ScoutCarcer]

Other people might have something different to say but I think you should move the everyone out of that tank except for the male betta and the eggs. You'll probably have too deal with all the baby bettas too. But you might be able to just get rid of the bubble nest and the eggs if you really cant deal with all the baby bettas.

 

[starrynightxxi]

i think those fry run a high risk of being eaten no matter what you do. When dad is stressed he'll often eat the eggs and/or fry. so if you move him and the nest he'll probably destroy it himself. if you move the other fish, then all of your fish will be stressed, and the nest could easily be destroyed just in the process of catching reluctant fish (and who ever met a fish that liked to be netted?). If you don't move any of the fish the gouramis will definately get some of them, and you run the risk of dad eating them as well, or even losing him or another fish in fights over territory.

You don't really sound ready to deal with a spawn of bettas, so if it were me I would remove the nest and eggs. Probably also give at least the male betta his own tank, if not the females as well. Gouramis and bettas are fairly notorious for not getting along in this forum, but there are people who have made it work. In any case, if you aren't prepared to deal with baby bettas, you should probably at least keep the boys and girls seperated

 

[valleyboy007]

Thanks for the post ScoutCarcer. I dont have a tank big enough to house all the other fish .... but .... the male and eggs are in corner of a 3ft tank, so do y0ou think i could section them off from the rest of the tank then remove the fry in a few days time??

Im not sure what I could use to do this that wouldnt effect water quality?? Bearing in mind that the male and the rest of the community are under a lot of stress right now I need to do something as quickly as possible!!

Please tell me if this is a mad/stupid/crazy idea but .... I have to hand plastic laminated sheets and plastic coated paperclips .... could i use these to divide the tank without harming the water?

i think those fry run a high risk of being eaten no matter what you do. When dad is stressed he'll often eat the eggs and/or fry. so if you move him and the nest he'll probably destroy it himself. if you move the other fish, then all of your fish will be stressed, and the nest could easily be destroyed just in the process of catching reluctant fish (and who ever met a fish that liked to be netted?). If you don't move any of the fish the gouramis will definately get some of them, and you run the risk of dad eating them as well, or even losing him or another fish in fights over territory.

You don't really sound ready to deal with a spawn of bettas, so if it were me I would remove the nest and eggs. Probably also give at least the male betta his own tank, if not the females as well. Gouramis and bettas are fairly notorious for not getting along in this forum, but there are people who have made it work. In any case, if you aren't prepared to deal with baby bettas, you should probably at least keep the boys and girls seperated

Thanks starrynight. Id be really sad to have to remove the eggs .. but i accept that i may need to in order to protect the others. I will be rehousing the male in the smaller tank as soon as this is all over!!!! Ah the joy of hindsight!!!

 

[valleyboy007]

Have since split my tank to isolate the male & the eggs. Male seems lot more settled and is concentratin on the eggs like a good dad.

Its going to b a steep learning curve for me but im keeping fingers crossed.

 

[ScoutCarcer]

do y0ou think i could section them off from the rest of the tank then remove the fry in a few days time??

What would you do with all of the fry if you kept them?

 

[valleyboy007]

Good Question!! This has been such a surprise i hadnt really thought beyond geting the male and the eggs through the night!!

I'm now madly researching how to raise betta fry, have ordered Liquifry, the lettuce is on the boil for insuforia and im planning out my brine hatchery! I plan to visit my local pet shop (who advised me to add a female to my tank without really warning me of the work involved!!) and a local breeder for advice and support.

I have a tank available which i hope to move the fry to and will start collecting jam jars for any young males!!

I'd appreciate any support or advice that you can offer.

 

[valleyboy007]

to give an idea of how he looks in his enviroment

http/s52.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3RTGTTX...PY3BXSVKYDFJWV2

 

[Rynoah]

Well, I can't really offer much in the way of advice, but if you plan to sell any of the spawn and are willing to ship to the US, I might take one off your hands when they're old enough. I'd wanna see what the parents look like first, though.

Edit: Oh, just watched the video. Is the female the same coloring?

 

[lljdma06]

Sorry to be the party pooper, but that LFS gave some lousy advice. You really shouldn't mix male and female bettas in a community tank. I have seen one person here who did it successfully, but that tank was densly planted with natural plants and had many hiding places. I think the bettas were also the only fish in the tank. Bettas and other gouramis species are usually not mixed as they can become agressive towards eachother. They compete for the same territory, the surface of the tank. Angelfish and bettas are not the best idea, either. People have done it, but it's not the best idea since Angels are pretty slow-moving and the bettas will be attracted to the nice fins. Finally, and then I'll stop, clown loaches will get WAY too big for a 25g tank. I'm not blaming you or anything, you were probably just following the recommendations of your LFS, I just thought you'd like to know that your community situation is not ideal. You'll have to think about upgrading your tank in the near future, or rehoming some of your fish.

That being said, congrats on the spawn. Now that you've divided the tank, the problematic situation in your community is going to get worse, since your surface-dwelling fish have even less room to establish territory. More than likely, the male will eventually eat the fry, since it's not ideal spawning conditions.

Good luck

llj

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

why dont you make a Divider for your tank with some plastiglass

 

[splashluff]

=) I'm glad you are realizing the mistake, and trying to be responsible about breeding. You have lots of work ahead if you!

The divider is great for now, but you really need to watch them like a hawk, for when the fry start swimming. Fry are unbelievably small! I've known people who divided large tanks for 2 Betta spawns, using aquarium sealant, and some fry were still able to slip through! It will also be a huge pain to syphon out all of the tiny fry once they're free-swimming, and you can hardly feed them with the tank gravel (at first, they mostly feed from the tank bottom). Pesonally, I would scoop out the nest with the fry once they've hatched and put them in a seperate tank with shallow water.