i did it!!

[endparenthesis]

When I bred the first concern was that the male was always terrorizing the female and never built a nest bigger than 20 bubbles or so. She got nipped pretty good and spent most of her time buried in some java moss. Four or five days later they were spawning perfectly and making the nest just right.

The second concern was that the fry were either being left on the floor or that some of them had worked their way up on top of the bubblenest so they weren't even in the water anymore. The male ended up making an entirely new bubblenest somewhere else in the tank (not under anything) and moving every single one of them over. I don't know why he did it but it worked beautifully.

The third concern was that I started with a big grow-out tank 1/3rd full, and once they scattered I had no idea if they were finding food or not. I could only hope they would find the worms wriggling on the bottom somewhere. As I said, I've had even fewer casualties than average so far.

You don't have to worry... nature knows what it's doing.

And if these things had turned out to be actual problems, worrying wouldn't have affected them one way or another anyway. If anything it could have caused me to mess with things and screw it all up.

 

[cutecotton]

yeah i'm not gonan do anything but stare...it's only been 30 hours, i guess i still have a bit of them, though i do have a very bad feeling that nothing will be there

as well, my tempreture as dropped to 79F, though i set the heater to 81F, i think it could be my therometer, i'm not sure though...

 

[Inchworm]

Hi cutecotton

Congratulations in getting your bettas to spawn. Whatever happens just know that you did well.

I'll be thinking about you and hoping for the best.

 

[cutecotton]

well, that is the end of my spawning story...it's been 44 hours and still no fry, nothing, just a bunch of empty bubbles that the male is "guarding"

me is disappointed

 

[Inchworm]

Hi cutecotton

I'm so sorry to hear this sad news. But please do not give up. These are not easy fish to breed under any circumstances.

You have gained much good experience and will surely have better luck next time.

 

[jacblades]

sometimes they hatch and i dont even notice. are you sure there are eggs in the nest? shine a light up into the nest and you should be able to see.

 

[cutecotton]

i have tried shining a light up..but i don't notice anything, or at least, i don't kno what to look for it all just looks the same for me, god knows if there are eggs or babies in there....but if there's naything it would have hatched by now..

i think the male has ate all the eggs nad is guarding an empty nest

this is really sad guys

 

[jacblades]

they are opaque white.
no big deal if he ate them-perhaps they got some sort of fungus. (the male eats them when they have fungus on them). i add maroxy to deter fungus. its egg-safe. (i think i got that tip from bettatalk)
you can just take them out and let them rest and put them in some bettaMAX and recondition them and perhaps attempt again in a month.

 

[cutecotton]

no wait! as i was going in getting ready to remove the amle and wash the tank, I SAW A LITLTE SQUIRMY SQIGGLY THING!!! it was a betta fry!!! ONE fry mind you, and it was tryign to swim back up to the nest..then the male came and CHOMP, i don't know if he ate it or moved it back to the nest...

nor do i know if that was the ONLY fry in the nest...should i wait?

 

[jacblades]

yes!

 

[cutecotton]

but...what on earth is going on with them!!! the male is still staring at the nest (i think he always will be even if there is nothing in there), i don' tkno wif there are any more fry/egg in the nest, and it's weird that they are free swimming already! only been 44 hours since they hatched, shouldn't they still be "hatching" at this moment? they shoul dhave at least 3 days before they become free swimming...

oh this is makin gmy head hurt, the male better not have eaten that ONE fry!!!

 

[shrks1fan]

LOL, be patient and wait a bit longer to be sure. My fry usually become free swimming after 1.5 days. Are you sure it was free swimming? If it was just going up/down then it's not free swimming yet, free swimming is when it can easily swim horizontally across the tank.

It's not unusual at all for people to think they have no fry, only to find out days or even a couple of weeks later that they do indead have fry, and many of them. So give it a couple of days and see what you see, they are teeny tiny so you may want to get a magnifying glass to search around the nest area or where you may have some live plants (don't know if you have live plants, but if you do they will tend to congregate there for the infusoria).

Good luck, and if you end up with no fry then don't worry, you can try again. It took me 3 tries of actual spawning before I had fry (the first 2 times the eggs weren't fertilized and the male ate them) and each time I learned more about breeding.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com/files
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com/files

 

[cutecotton]

I HAVE FRY!!! it's official after being disappointed, i can see very very small things falling down from the nest nad dad picking them backup!! not like a rain of fry like some ppl describe, just a few from time to time. Enough to keep dad very busy

after i look closely, i realize they're not really free swimming...theyr'e more like..tumbling through the water lol and then sinking. so i saw the first fry at around 11am today, which means by tomrorow around this time i should be ready to remove the dad right? i'm terrified of him munching on the babies!!!!!!

shrks: i do have live plants in the tank i hope they will provide some kind of food for the fry. Is it whne they become free siwmming that i lower the water level? Since i have no mw cluture i plan to try and give them some BBs at raound 3 - 4 days after they become freee swimming, so should i start hatching some now?

ohhhh this is so exciting! the moment i think all is lost i see that litlte thing wiggle out of hte nest and i have never been happier i am sillly

 

[jacblades]

you should probably be adding liquifry to feed the infusoria.
yes you should start hatching! keep the hatchery very warm and they should hatch with a day or two. if you dont have a heater, it might take up to a week (as i sadly found out on my first spawn...)

 

[endparenthesis]

See how productive worrying is.

You should remove the dad when they start getting horizontal. That will probably take more than a day.

I think you're going to wish you had microworms. I would have tried to send you some but you said you weren't breeding for a while. It's a bit too late now.

http/www.bettatalk.com/microworms.htm