First Fry...

[cutecotton]

ohhhhh excuse my stupidity i haven't been able to read properly lately (school just started today )

your using the leave-dad-in method that takes a lto of guys i admire you, i wanted to try taht fro my 2nd spawn but just kept visuzligin the male eating every last one

 

[cation]

Yup, I'll try it up to 2 more times with this guy - I think he has the potential to do it, and I hope a few fry make it. I just fed him some bloodworms and the babies some microworms, and I can still see fry munching away! I figure every day they get a bit bigger, and as they do, I might add a few more plants to give them additional hidey spots until they're bigger than bite sized.

 

[cation]

Aww, guess what I saw today? One of the babies pooping! I know they've grown, cause I don't think I could have seen it when they were first hatched.

 

[wuvmybetta]

Gross, but I know the excitement you feel totally Major congrats! That means they're eating,digesting and growing

 

[cutecotton]

i agree, two of the best things i like to see in my fish is eating and pooping even in the adults i get happy when i see the tank littered with fish poo and with the fry, i'm overjoyed to see tons of litlte black poop laying on teh bottom of teh tank

 

[shrks1fan]

That's so funny about the pooping. I remember the first time I noticed the bottom of the tank littered with teeny tiny little poops, I was so excited, LOL.

As for the adults...whenever I noticed there is no poop in the barrack and it's been 2 days since I cleaned it, I know it's time to feed him a pea, haha. That always works. The other option is a brine shrimp meal, both seem to get the system flowing again. Of course I much rather see the bottom littered with poop, then I know everything is normal

Linda

 

[cation]

Yep, who knew poop could be so thrilling?


Well, dad's been in for over a week now, and except the occasional minor spazz out (this particular betta sometimes gets a hair up his butt...kinda like my cats when they have what I refer to as "monkey hour", the betta starts flipping the top of the water, and darting around - usually once a day for about 5 minutes He has affectionately been dubbed "Spazz" ) seems to be fine with the babies. He even blew his first bubblenest since he was done tending the fry. I see them swim right up to them, and I think, "Don't eat 'em, Spazz...", but he just ignores them after giving them a once over.

 

[wuvmybetta]

awesome

 

[f250fisherman]

I just wanted to throw my opinion in here. Take it for what it's worth. I've read about leaving the dad in also. I've also read that dad has eaten or killed the fry after a week or 2. My only thoughts on this is the risk versus the advantages. If the fry have enough room to grow out, there is no problem between the young males. Most males don't start a dominance thing until 2 months of age. If you leave the dad in, he may eat or even damage your best HM male from the spawn. Your alpha male from the spawn will be the one that the dad goes after. This is just my opinion, but I don't think losing the best males from the spawn is worth not having them to establish their own order. I watch my growout, and if a larger male starts to pick on anything, I just jar that one male. Like I said , they usually don't start this for 6-8 wks. Good luck on this. I hope it works for you. Even if it does, I'll never attempt it myself. I just don't think it's worth it. Not to mention all the work on water changes, and bbs hatcheries down the tube. Or should I say down the poop chute.

 

[cation]

I think a lot of people don't think it's worth the risk. I appreciate the input, and I'm certainly not suggesting that others follow in my footsteps. Personally, I don't know if it'll work, but I will just see what happens. I've been too fascinated by this technique not to try it, and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. It seems to me that if the dad always ate the fry, wild bettas would have gone extinct by now, although I know captivity does change things. It's not like there's someone standing next to them in the rice paddies waiting to scoop out the dad as soon as the fry are free swimming.

From what I've seen on the singapore betta board I'm on, the father IS the alpha, so until the babies are about 2 months, it's not an issue. Theoretically, with him being bigger and stronger, the young males already have an alpha male, and it keeps down the infighting. We'll see.

 

[cation]

Well, it's been almost 3 weeks, and the fry are doing well. Most of them are a bit over 0.25 inches, the largest is about 0.35 inches, so according to the growth chart, some are good, a few a bit runty. I counted 9 tonight - the most I've counted in the last couple of weeks was 5, so I was pleased to find out there are more. Dad's fat and happy, and the little ones have started to look like fish , not just like big eyes and tiny lines. Just thought I'd give you all an update!

 

[Synirr]

Glad to know the little guys are doing well
When I had my first and only spawn, I decided to do a little experiment... I removed the male after the fry were free swimming, but I put two of the fry in the tank with the male just to see what would happen. As it turns out, those two grew to be some of the healthier ones

 

[Sorrell]

This is so exciting! When do we get to see some pictures?

 

[cation]

This weekend I'll try to get the bf to bring home the digicam from work. I'll try to have some pics in the next week or two.

 

[cutechic]

Congrats Cation! I hope all continues to go well.