Spawn Log

[15761718]

day 3

k its day 3 now and the good news is that theres nearly next to nothing to do at this point in time

the breeding tank looks like this now, as you can see he has decided to build another bubblenest up the top (dont ask me why i have no idea) and it appears he has eggs in the nest up the top and in the nest under the styrofoam cup

pretty much all he will do now is patrol under both nests and pick up any fallen eggs and spit them back up, he will work on his bubblenest, rearrange eggs and things like that.

i still havent fed him yet and i have made a mental note to myself that one of the plants is dying off slowly but surely. i will not take it out now as it will be a major disturbance but once the fry have hatched and are free swimming i will remove the dying plant(s) and replace with fresh ones of the same type.

well that just about sums up day 3 dont forget to give the male as much privacy as possible with minimal disturbance, we do not want him to feel in danger and possibly gobble up all the eggs (i have heard of this happen before altho its not common)

p.s dont forget to feed the female a bit more than usual for today only as i have noticed they are very hungry the day after you take them out! if you want you can treat her tank with melafix or primafix (half dosage only!) to help heal wounds and fins (but its not overly essential)

- chris

 

[MaddieJ]

Nice one chris, I've been reading this all the way through and can't wait to see how the next week goes. Although I've kept Bettas for a long time I've never spawned but have been thinking about it. 'Specialy as I have a male and female PK now
So this has really helped.

Good luck and keep up the thread!

 

[_cRaCkEr_]

Congratulations Chris .... very nice info

 

[MaddieJ]

How are they doing today chris? Im dying to find out how many babies you got!

 

[15761718]

day 4

just like yesterday theres nothing really to do except let nature take its course.

this is the time where i try and estimate how many eggs i might of gotten and start preparing containers, small tanks and cartons and putting them in a big box or container, so when the male fry need to be separated i am prepared.

i have easily 2 - 3 months before i even need to worry about separating the males so its not panic stations yet, but its better to be well prepared than not.

day 5

by having a peek or two through the corner of the lid i can see that there that some fry have hatched already, you'll notice the difference in the male betta's behavior as he doesnt go under the nest looking across the floor (for eggs) much, rather he he swims around the nest and still lunging for things (it may look like hes eating them but hes not) and then going to the bubblenest, this means hes catching the newborn fry and spitting them back at the bubblenest.

i know in this stage, things are really exciting and you want to have a really good look at your new baby fry, but it really is best to leave it be, with the lid on as much as possible, like i said in a earlier post, the father may feel in danger and we dont want that to happen.

to help calm down that excitement, i can tell you that in a couple days when the fry become free swimmers (that is they can swim on their own without falling to the bottom, or a more simpler explaination is when they can swim like -- instead of |) you take the father out and put him back in his normal tank. THEN you can take the lid right off, and have a look at your new prizes for as long as you want, as well as take photos and whatever else you want to do.

but for now during this delicate stage, i strongly urge you to try and control yourself and leave them be. (i know it can be hard)

 

[K.J.]

How cool! Did you cycle the tank and everything? (this part I wonder about, how is it possible to cycle a tank that big to cope with two bettas? but when the fry come, it won't be able to cope with all the bacteria because it only has enough to support two bettas? Hmm, these are the questions that keep me up at night...) how's the female doing?

 

[15761718]

Nice one chris, I've been reading this all the way through and can't wait to see how the next week goes. Although I've kept Bettas for a long time I've never spawned but have been thinking about it. 'Specialy as I have a male and female PK now
So this has really helped.

Good luck and keep up the thread!

thanks and no problem, i hope many people considering breeding reads this thread and asks questions

Congratulations Chris .... very nice info

thanks cracker, how are your 158 spawns going?

How are they doing today chris? Im dying to find out how many babies you got!

they are doing great, iv seen some fry swimming around but its far too early to tell how many i have, if i had to guess i would say between 80 and 120

How cool! Did you cycle the tank and everything? (this part I wonder about, how is it possible to cycle a tank that big to cope with two bettas? but when the fry come, it won't be able to cope with all the bacteria because it only has enough to support two bettas? Hmm, these are the questions that keep me up at night...) how's the female doing?

nah dont need to cycle tank, i just fill container with fresh water and leave it for a week before i put any fish in there, iv never had a problem with bacteria or the fry not coping, its all good!

 

[15761718]

day 6

ok now we are at the stage where we need to make a decision, when do we take the male out? i personally take him out either day 6 or day 7, depending on how things go, most people take him out when the fry become free swimming (-- instead of |)

to explain better when the fry become free swimming, they will start to venture away from the bubblenest, but the male will still try and go around collecting them in his mouth and spitting them back at the bubblenest, in which they will just swim away again, this is a never ending circle and just tires and frustrates the male greatly, hence he doesnt really need to be here and his work is done!

thats the easy part to understand, the hard part is getting him out, you must try your best not to disturb the bubblenest as the majority of the fry are still under or in it (some even may not be free swimmers yet), so you have to wait patiently until the male is away from the bubblenest and in my case away from all the plants (which are supporting the bubblenest), took me about 5 mins to get mine out today

once you take the male out, you can finally look properly and examine your new babies without fear of frightening the male (make sure when you are looking your not breathing too hard and disturbing the water), take some pictures and finally take the breeding cage out now, the main things to remember is not too much light directly on the fry (they are babies after all) and not to disturb the water, also keep in mind that the longer you have the lid off the more chance of hairs, dusts and even small insects falling into the water.

i feed my male right after i take him out, as they are always super hungry (havent eaten in 6 - 7 days), also during that 6 or 7 days he was in the breeding tank, i make sure i do a water change in his normal tank and add a bit of salt and melafix (half dosage) with an indian almond leaf, just in case, because he is very tired he can be prone to a disease, so its better to be safe than sorry (also its not unusual if you notice he isnt as black as usual, it will come back dont worry)

this is what the tank looks like on day 6, a bit more dirt on the bottom, the bubblenest in the middle is gone and the one under the styrofoam cup is pretty much gone too, the only explaination i can give for this is that he migrated all the eggs / fry to the nest up the top (which is also smaller than it was before, probably coz of all the fry movement) and destroyed the other nests as there was no purpose for them anymore.

here is a close up on the bubblenest, i assume all the milky white part of the nest is where the eggs are / were located but i never really bothered looking into it. i was always in awe of how bettas can make such well supported bubbles with only their mouth and air! a true work of nature and art if you ask me.

and finally, a picture of some fry roaming near the bubblenest, i can count about 8 or 9 in this picture and they are the small tadpole looking things to the right of the bubblenest

do not even bother thinking about feeding them as for the next 2 - 3 days they will live off small egg-sacks attached to their stomach, if you feed them it will go uneaten and you will just pollute the water, over-feeding, as most of us well know is something that can be disastrous at any stage of a bettas life, especially young fry.

personally, i do not feed them until about the 4th day after iv taken the male out, even after they have finished their egg-sacks, they will start feeding on small dirt particles and bacteria and also infusoria created from the plants (this is why live plants are especially important!)

but while we are on the topic of feeding, it is very important that you have already started the culture, and if you did it on day 1 or 2 like i did then your culture should look something like this:

the worms are too small and you cant see any of the webbing or worms on the sides of the container, but see the shiny corners of the bread, especially the bottom left corner, that verifies that the culture was a success and if you look closely at your own culture you will see movement (if you cant try a magnifying glass!)

also about this time i will use the other half of my starting culture that i purchased and make a 2nd culture in a different ice cream container, you never know when these cultures will die on you and you dont want to be in the situation of not having food for 4 days, so plan ahead and have 2 cultures going.

ok that just about sums up day 6, key things to remember is no feeding, no disturbance of water and dont make any rash decisions, be patient.

all questions are more than

- chris

 

[MaddieJ]

Wheee! Gratz on your babies Hows mummy and daddy doing?

 

[Biulu]

Great thread! I already have some of my questions answered!

Have one left though: do you know how long you can keep vinegar eels alive? I am about to order some, and wondered whether I could buy a large quantity at once, or have to order several times to make sure they do not go 'bad'.

 

[15761718]

Wheee! Gratz on your babies Hows mummy and daddy doing?

both recovering really well, im reconditioning the male as we speak, who knows when he will be called upon?

Great thread! I already have some of my questions answered!

Have one left though: do you know how long you can keep vinegar eels alive? I am about to order some, and wondered whether I could buy a large quantity at once, or have to order several times to make sure they do not go 'bad'.

my understanding is that the culture will survive on average for about 6 - 8 weeks and also it is recommended to subculture every 6 weeks to a fresh medium to prevent the culture from dying out

 

[Biulu]

Great thread! I already have some of my questions answered!

Have one left though: do you know how long you can keep vinegar eels alive? I am about to order some, and wondered whether I could buy a large quantity at once, or have to order several times to make sure they do not go 'bad'.

my understanding is that the culture will survive on average for about 6 - 8 weeks and also it is recommended to subculture every 6 weeks to a fresh medium to prevent the culture from dying out


Thanks, that should be long enough. I am not sure though whether they come with their medium. How would I be able to subculture?

 

[15761718]

Great thread! I already have some of my questions answered!

Thanks, that should be long enough. I am not sure though whether they come with their medium. How would I be able to subculture?

no worries, im pretty sure you just take a chunk out of the culture in the middle and repeat the process in a new container until they multiply again.

 

[MaddieJ]

Hi Chris, how is everything going today? We want picciiieesss! Or at least, I do anyways! I expect mum is well on her way to recovery by now?

Lotsaa picciieess please!

 

[JamesCarden]

thanks so much for this! i realize what i did wrong in the past!

James