I Have Eggs

[juliehainsworth]

Ok I posted this morning about whether or not it would be a problem to leave my un conditioned female betta in with the male until I had conditioned her! I had decided that when I got home I would remove her and begin to condition! I've come home to find what I think are eggs floating in his bubble nest! They are about the size of a pin head and an off white/cream colour! Both male and female look fine even though male looks to have a slightly wounded lip!

I have now removed the female back to the tank with the other females!

What I need to know is

1)should I leave the light on in the tank and cover the tank
2) When should I feed the male next was going to feed daphnia when I got home but have decided against it!


I didnt actually expect them to spawn this quickly! THe only reason why she was in the tank was because she kept jumping from the breeding trap! I have counted at least 20 of these egg things! I would be very grateful for any advice given as this is my first ever attempt at breeding and I know I have gone about conditioning completely wrong! I suppose it was beginners luck!

 

[BWBettas]

O.k first things first, Don't Panic everything will be ok in the end. Ok so you've got what it looks to be eggs in the bubbles, correct? if they are you should see some really (i mean really) small dots in the eggs (i'm pretty sureof that, correct me if im wrong) these should be the fry. Keeping the light on will be good because if any eggs fall out of the nest (which is very unlikely, but still better to safe than sorry) he can pick them up. But after 48 hours the eggs will start to hatch and you will see very tiny fry hanging from the nest. This is when you need to keep the light on, this is the most important time for the male as he has to catch every single fry that drops frm the nest and spit them back up. It's a very worrying time as an owner because you may think that he is swallowing them, but if you look closely you can tell. If he is eating them you will see the motion of the neck going down and the gills opening as he is swallowing, but if you cannot see this happening he is just picking the up like a good father should After you take him out feed him a nice big treat of bloodworms and daphnia and to be on the safe side put is some of that blue stuff (can't remember the darn name ). Put the blue medication in both male and females tanks just to make sure they are fit and healthy

Hope This Helped As This Is The First Time I've Given As Much Advice On This So PLease Correct Me If I'm Wrong

Bret AKA Goldfish Bowl

 

[liz2]

OMG I dont want to breed bettas too much responsibility!

 

[juliehainsworth]

Thanks for the advice! Cant see any dots in the eggs as can only just see the eggs and don't have very good eyesight might see if I can get a magnifying glass to have a look!

I'll keep you posted on how I get on with them! Hopefully I'll manage to raise them but as its my first ever attempt I'm not too hopeful! But only time will tell!

 

[Joby]

Hopefully this topic will prove helpful to you FAQ Breeding Bettas

Good luck

 

[BWBettas]

was my advice good?? just wondered if i gave good advice? lol

 

[Joby]

sorry GB didn't see your post when I posted, but advice seems good to me

Just wanted to point out the FAQ section as some good info in there for all aspects of bettas and some people maybe don't notice that its there

 

[juliehainsworth]

Advice sounded good! Thanks! Argh I forgot to sort out a space for my male now need to think about what I'm going to do! Might divide his current tank so he has some space and then sort out a place for the fry later as planning to raise them in a seperate tank! Will ask bf if he'll do me a divider lol!

Thanks for the link to the FAQ I didnt realise it was going to be quite so complicated oh well too late to turn the clock back now! I hadnt even conditioned the fish properly either! Hope he makes a good dad!

Thank you so much for the help! Still havent recovered from the shock of finding eggs so soon!

 

[juliehainsworth]

Another quick question! Sorry! Is it normal for the females colouring to change afterwards! She has now gone back to exhibiting a black stripe along her body and her colour has changed from being a turquise blue all over to having a darker head and a different shade of blue on her body! Just wondered if it was normal thats all!

 

[MishyTheFishBreeder]

It doesnt seem natural for a female to change colour after breeding because usually when there stressed they go dull in colour. Just keep a eye on her she should be fine.

 

[juliehainsworth]

She just seems to have reverted back to the colour she was when I bought her on Saturday! She seemed fine this morning! I suppose some of the difference in colour could be that the lighting is different! She certainly fed well last night and this morning!

I checked on my male this morning and he is already looking tired but was still tending to the nest this morning which is a good sign although there arent as many bubbles in the cup now! When he saw me he came and flared at me so I left him to it! Will check on him again this evening! I have left his light on with a towel covering all but one side where nobody goes past! I'm finding it hard concentrating on my work now but I know he is best left to his own devices! I'm just trying to work out what to treat him with when his duties are over! Even if he doesnt manage to get the eggs to fry he will still be getting a treat just for his effort as didnt expect him to keep nest over night!

Will hopefully post better pics of dad in a few days if I can get hold of a decent camera and maybe a pic of the female I used!

 

[MishyTheFishBreeder]

Give him some live bloodworms he will love it

 

[juliehainsworth]

Yeah I think I will! Thanks!

I'm getting too excited at the thought of having betta fry! I've never raised egg layers before only ever raised platies and guppies!

 

[MishyTheFishBreeder]

Yes dont get to excited yet after the father is gone you have to pickup. Think ahead and you should be ok also get everything ready for them so once the father is gone you have what you need. ( Getting a few meds will also work wonders if you have a sick fish ) Dont worry about culling the fish I know quite a few people who havent culled and still got a buetiful batch.

 

[juliehainsworth]

Yeah I have some jars about at home and my bf's family go through plenty of jars etc! Yeah I've started to come up with some random ideas as to what I am going to do etc! I'm thinking of creating dividers or something to seperate them instead of jars but it's just random ideas at the moment!

Will be able to temporarily house one male in what had aquababies in (It was a bday pressie years ago the fish were rehommed in my aquarium not long after arriving but for some random reason kept the container! Not a def home and would be very temporary until a proper home is sorted!