GuppyDude
Stephen
Ok, this is going to get long, iv been trying to spawn my bettas for a couple weeks now without success. Iv made 3 attempts at it and the pair just didn't work out well. Im going to descride in as much detail as possible, exactly how all 3 went and i need some pros to tell me what im doing wrong. Here it goes.
Spawn Attempt 1:
Prepareing:
Both fish were kept in their bowls with clean water and fed until they could eat no more. Their diet consisted of betta bites and frozen blood worms, the only chems used were conditioner and salt.
The Spawn:
I filled up the 20g tank all the way to the top with water, i added blue meth, and water conditioner, at the time my indian almond leaves had not arrived. The following day i added the male to tank. He went crazy, swimming all over the place, he couldn't beleive all the new space. After and hour he chilled out and i throgh him a couple betta bites and added the styrofoam cup, he was emmediately attracted to it and he sat there floating and breathing in the cup. I then added the floating coke bottle with teh femal betta inside. Both fish went balistic and they did that for a few hours before setteling down. The male began patrolleing the whole tank and occasionally stopped to try and make a bubble nest. The next day the male was exhausted, i didn't even release the female, he was in bad shape. I pulled both fish and there the sat in their bowls for 3 days recovering. I boght stress meds and the male was good as new. Is what im thinking is that he got exhuasted from all that patrolleing in that huge tank, so under the advise of forum members i lowered teh water lvl to 6 inches, added a divider, did a few water changes and i gave it another try.
Spawn Attempt 2:
Prepareing:
After the failure of attempt 1 both fish were put back into their bowls, the female was fine but she was treated with salt and conditioner anyway, the male was crippled, wouldn't eat, didn't move much. I bought stress meds and added them, he was good as new the next day, eats like a pig now. He also had salt and condiioner in his water.
Spawning:
3 days following the failure of attempt 1 i gave it another try useing the set up i described above at the end of spawn 1. I added the male and female both at pretty much the same time. They went nuts again and the male darted between the female in her vase aand his strofoam cup. Still didn't build a bubble nest. I released the female for 30 minuts hopeing that woul stimulate him into building a nest but nope, he just chased her around until she setteled at the bottom of the tank and stopped moveing, at which time he returned to his cup. After the time was up i put the female back in the vase and threw both fish a couple pellets. The following morning there was still no nest and the male was still up in his cup with a dumb look on his face like, " i know im supposed to do something here but i cant remember what". Both fish seemed to have lost interest in each other so i once again released the female for about and hour. The male chased her around and around until again she stopped moveing and he went back to ponder the cup. Fed up with the situation i put both fish back in their bowls. A couple days later when i went to clean the tank i noticed 2 eye balls and a tail makeing their way across the bottom of the tank, i sucked him up and put him in his own bowl full of the tank water. unfortuneately he was the only one i found and he died in the night. after teh spawn i stopped trying to keep the tank warm becasue i didn't think anything had happend, if i had known i would have kept it up.
Spawn Attempt 3:
Prepareing:
My indian almond leaves finally arrived and both fish were conditioned with it in their useral water ( condioner and salt ). They were stuffed full of betta bites for a week and yesterday at 7pm i gave spawning another try.
Spawning:
This spawning was differant from the others in that i did not use teh 20g, i used a 1g icecream bucket that held 6 inches of water, ( it was blue bunny brand icecream if i recall correctly ). The water in the bucket was heavily treated with indian almond leaves and also contained conditioner. I added the cup and the male, he was in there no more than 15 minuts before i plopped in the female. The fish circled each other fins flared before finally the male zoomed in for the kill and the female jumped right out of the bucket, i caught her in mid air and tossed her back in, she immediately went to the bottom of the bucket and thats where she sat for the next hour, the male sat in his cup trying to figure out what hes suppose to be doing and occasionally glanceing down to c if the female was still there. He just wouldn't take a hint so i scooped out some bubbles from the female betta community and placed them under the cup. At that moment something clicked inside his littel head and he immediately went to work building a nest. Success i thoght to myself, the female noticed what he was doing and came to the surface to check it out, she seemed very interested and spent the end of the spawn at the top of the water watching the male hard at work. I left them for an hour or so and when i came back the males nest had trippeled in size but the female was at the bottom calm as could be but showing no more interest in the males work. so i removed her and placed in my blue copper girl who was more active. They didn't work out to well, she was to aggressive for her own good and the male couldn't even finish his nest without her takeing chase, it was hilarious. Then she jumped clean out of the bucket and into a box of supplies, i put her back in but soon she no longer looked like she was interested in the male. I scooped her out and put her in her bowl and then i put the male in his bowl and now all 3 sit.
All fish involved are doing well in their bowls right now and teh spawn bucket is siiting on a heater, im trying to make sure there aren't any eggs in there first before i clean the thing out or stop kepping it heated. Any input will be appritiated, and now i just wait for some movement in the bucket.
Spawn Attempt 1:
Prepareing:
Both fish were kept in their bowls with clean water and fed until they could eat no more. Their diet consisted of betta bites and frozen blood worms, the only chems used were conditioner and salt.
The Spawn:
I filled up the 20g tank all the way to the top with water, i added blue meth, and water conditioner, at the time my indian almond leaves had not arrived. The following day i added the male to tank. He went crazy, swimming all over the place, he couldn't beleive all the new space. After and hour he chilled out and i throgh him a couple betta bites and added the styrofoam cup, he was emmediately attracted to it and he sat there floating and breathing in the cup. I then added the floating coke bottle with teh femal betta inside. Both fish went balistic and they did that for a few hours before setteling down. The male began patrolleing the whole tank and occasionally stopped to try and make a bubble nest. The next day the male was exhausted, i didn't even release the female, he was in bad shape. I pulled both fish and there the sat in their bowls for 3 days recovering. I boght stress meds and the male was good as new. Is what im thinking is that he got exhuasted from all that patrolleing in that huge tank, so under the advise of forum members i lowered teh water lvl to 6 inches, added a divider, did a few water changes and i gave it another try.
Spawn Attempt 2:
Prepareing:
After the failure of attempt 1 both fish were put back into their bowls, the female was fine but she was treated with salt and conditioner anyway, the male was crippled, wouldn't eat, didn't move much. I bought stress meds and added them, he was good as new the next day, eats like a pig now. He also had salt and condiioner in his water.
Spawning:
3 days following the failure of attempt 1 i gave it another try useing the set up i described above at the end of spawn 1. I added the male and female both at pretty much the same time. They went nuts again and the male darted between the female in her vase aand his strofoam cup. Still didn't build a bubble nest. I released the female for 30 minuts hopeing that woul stimulate him into building a nest but nope, he just chased her around until she setteled at the bottom of the tank and stopped moveing, at which time he returned to his cup. After the time was up i put the female back in the vase and threw both fish a couple pellets. The following morning there was still no nest and the male was still up in his cup with a dumb look on his face like, " i know im supposed to do something here but i cant remember what". Both fish seemed to have lost interest in each other so i once again released the female for about and hour. The male chased her around and around until again she stopped moveing and he went back to ponder the cup. Fed up with the situation i put both fish back in their bowls. A couple days later when i went to clean the tank i noticed 2 eye balls and a tail makeing their way across the bottom of the tank, i sucked him up and put him in his own bowl full of the tank water. unfortuneately he was the only one i found and he died in the night. after teh spawn i stopped trying to keep the tank warm becasue i didn't think anything had happend, if i had known i would have kept it up.
Spawn Attempt 3:
Prepareing:
My indian almond leaves finally arrived and both fish were conditioned with it in their useral water ( condioner and salt ). They were stuffed full of betta bites for a week and yesterday at 7pm i gave spawning another try.
Spawning:
This spawning was differant from the others in that i did not use teh 20g, i used a 1g icecream bucket that held 6 inches of water, ( it was blue bunny brand icecream if i recall correctly ). The water in the bucket was heavily treated with indian almond leaves and also contained conditioner. I added the cup and the male, he was in there no more than 15 minuts before i plopped in the female. The fish circled each other fins flared before finally the male zoomed in for the kill and the female jumped right out of the bucket, i caught her in mid air and tossed her back in, she immediately went to the bottom of the bucket and thats where she sat for the next hour, the male sat in his cup trying to figure out what hes suppose to be doing and occasionally glanceing down to c if the female was still there. He just wouldn't take a hint so i scooped out some bubbles from the female betta community and placed them under the cup. At that moment something clicked inside his littel head and he immediately went to work building a nest. Success i thoght to myself, the female noticed what he was doing and came to the surface to check it out, she seemed very interested and spent the end of the spawn at the top of the water watching the male hard at work. I left them for an hour or so and when i came back the males nest had trippeled in size but the female was at the bottom calm as could be but showing no more interest in the males work. so i removed her and placed in my blue copper girl who was more active. They didn't work out to well, she was to aggressive for her own good and the male couldn't even finish his nest without her takeing chase, it was hilarious. Then she jumped clean out of the bucket and into a box of supplies, i put her back in but soon she no longer looked like she was interested in the male. I scooped her out and put her in her bowl and then i put the male in his bowl and now all 3 sit.
All fish involved are doing well in their bowls right now and teh spawn bucket is siiting on a heater, im trying to make sure there aren't any eggs in there first before i clean the thing out or stop kepping it heated. Any input will be appritiated, and now i just wait for some movement in the bucket.
