Spawning

[monica]

Well I am trying out a spawn, as my latest one did not work out. I did re-introduce her as blue_betta said, but she just got stress stripes, so I decided against it.
Anyways.
I put the female in first, let her get accostomed to the tank, then introduced the male. By the next morning he had a nice nest going, and by that night he had it considerably large. She was showing breeding bars, dark and clear (even though she is light in coulouring) and her ovi spot was clear aswell. All signs are good, she even flared at him a couple times when she was feeling brave, but other than that she pretended to be shy and did the 'look but don't touch'.

So I freed he into the tank. There is one big bushy chunk of Elodea, and a heater, keeping the tank around 78-82. Since last night she has been constantly fleeing, without flaring back or checking out the nest...
She still has the bars though. He has enlargened his nest. And she is still finding some nifty spots to hide. Every time he finds her, he will just nip her out of her hiding spot and send her racing around the tank until she finds a better spot (she even went vertically behind my thermomiter).

Any ideas how long this will last? Should I just wait, or should I maybe re-condition? And should I be feeding them? I wory I will pop his nest with the change in air temp. when I remove the cover....

 

[nakomis90]

with spawning waiting is the key i wait a week unless the female is getting really beat up!
i was going to give up on the spawn i have now but today there in love

 

[Jaded12]

Patience is a virtue! lol, It can take awhile I usually wait 5 days to a week unless the female is getting super beaten up, and if nothing happens by then I'll pull the pair and recondition them, as long as she has breeding bars and not stress stripes and neither of them are getting badly beaten up then just leave them a lone and keep an eye on them.

 

[monica]

Just a question... Would it damage any of them to add bettafix? I am afraid her might have finrot, because he got a few tears, and now they are falling off... Nothing seems too bad though.

 

[nakomis90]

i have a little aqaurium salt and Indian almond leaf in my tank to prevent any finrot happening try adding a small amount of aqauirum slt....

 

[monica]

I am afraid I don't have any aquarium salt at the moment.
Should I use bettafix? Or should I just stick to nothing.... I also have a little med. That heals torn fins, but is a little less known, and I don't know if I should use that...

 

[StarChildren]

aquarium salt, i've heard, is just the same as sea salt. I use sea salt, a little bit, with mine and it seems to help with the torn fins they get.

 

[nakomis90]

lol i did lol but there was a sale on ASalt so i bought lots lol

 

[monica]

So if I find some sea salt I should use that instead of bettafix? Maybe just 1 kernel or something? How many kernels to the gallon?

 

[StarChildren]

in my 2 gallon - 2.5g i usually put like 2 or 3 grains in there (kernels). in my ten gallon i put two (small ones) in for each fish i have in there, so i have 4 i put about 6-8 and its filtered in the 10g.

 

[monica]

I can't seem to find any salt... Can I just use bettafix?

 

[StarChildren]

i've never used it, i don't even know what it's for really. if it says it's for fin damage, i'd take them out of the spawning tank and medicate them in a separate tanks/jars away from each other, the breeding tank, and other fish.

 

[monica]

UPDATE
They have gotten used to each other, and my male will continue chasing her, except she does not hide anymore, but she will come out and flare at times. He will usually just nip her and chase her away. He keeps updating his bubble nest, but doesn't stay there for long. He will usually show off, run and blow a couple bubbles, swim around side to side, find her; chse her, add bubbles, rest etc...


I have heard many people use bettafix regularly on their bettas. It is like bettamax, except weaker, it contains maleuleuca (or something)

 

[StarChildren]

that's good to hear. sounds like the courting process has started for ya

 

[monica]

UPDATE
The temp dropped from 80 to about 75 today, so I turned up the heater, my female's bars faded a bit, but whenever the male flared, they would get a bit darker. He is not flaring as much anymore, and hardly ever chases, they are very used to each other. His nest is still thick, and she is still barred. No wrapping or eggs. I fed them once. Some frozen Brine Shrimp.