Round Two!! Finchy + Ruby

[PreciousGems]

How cool! I just put my cello/marble male in the spawning tank with a few drops of liquifry. I taped some sill seal under the nest (looks EXACTLY like bubbles and always gets all my males to blow a nest) so I hope he will get blowing bubbles. Tiger Lilly is going in the lantern tomorrow, and they will hopefully spawn on Friday. Who knows with my history of breeding bettas.

Alexa

 

[theeyrietrainer]

good luck alexa!~

 

[PreciousGems]

Thanks theeyrietrainer. Iggy, see any fry yet?

Alexa

 

[Iggy]

I see little brownish dots in the nest Finchy is moving between checking the nest and investigating the bottom for drop-down fry/eggs.

I am no expert, but it seems Finchy is doing all his fatherly duties very well. He is still building bubbles around the nest for some reason.

Good luck Alexa... I did a long introduction of Ruby to Finchy and I think that might have helped speed up the process. I could not find a glass lantern so I just cut the top off a 2 liter plastic pop bottle, removed the label, filled it with her tank water and put the female inside the bottle and floated it into the tank. That way, she is getting used to the new tank heat and being introduced at the same time.

 

[Iggy]

I can see the little fry in the eggs! Cooooolll!!! Some eggs are dropping more often now, so daddys is getting more and more busy.

He is really dilligent, not missing a single one so far.

I picked up about 90 peices of glass from my parents window replacement. They rebuilt a cabin sun-porch and it had those old-fashioned wood divided glass windows that were rotting out. I took all the panels home and I will clean them up, cut the edges off and build some betta barracks out of them over the next few months.

I imagine it will take a couple more days before they are free swimming, but it is still really cool right now. I GOT FRY!

 

[Tynabop]

Thats really cool Iggy~! Congratz! Alexa, good luck, and keep us posted

 

[mcshell]

mine took 2 days to become free swimming after they hatched! so watch out finchy! don't let him eat his fry!

btw, Alexa, GOOD LUCK!!

 

[PreciousGems]

TY everyone. Iggy, good lucky with your fry. Sounds like the dad is doing a good job. Do you see a lot of fry? I can never count them, lol.

Alexa

 

[Iggy]

There are a lot of little white dots moving around... some are lying on the bottom, some are near the top, some are falling in between.

They are not free swimming (horizontally) yet, so I am leaving daddy to take care of the ones that keep falling for now.

I imagine some on the bottom are dead... I don't see a lot of movement. But every now and then, one of the bottom will wiggle and shoot back up to the top.. so it's hard to say which ones are dead and which ones are just laying around.

I will not bother trying to count them for at least a few more days, there are still some in-betweeners I am not sure about.

 

[Moasi]

WOW Iggy, who would have thought.. I knew you loved Betta's but not this much!!! I am very excited for you and read all the posts with a big smile.. I remember seeing pictures of your set up and loved it. I can't wait for you to post new pictures of your new additions!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Look forward to hearing more about this.. I wish I had the guts to breed, Lancelot!!

Take care,

Marie

 

[Iggy]

Thanks Marie, hey what happened to your old member name?

 

[Iggy]

3 day Update

Well, its been officially over 3 days since Ruby dropped her first batch of eggs.

Right now, Ruby is resting in her brand-new 1gal tank, and Finchy is working his ass (er.. tail) off picking up little betta fry that are dropping down from the nest (imagine them shouting WEEEEEEEEEEE) and bringing them back up to the top.

Finch has been great IMO, no eating of the fry, no stopping for breaks, just constant dilligence .... I really like Finchy.

It is kinda neat just sitting and watching the process. About 2/3 of the fry stay up top handing onto the nest or cup or edges of the tank, while about the other 1/3 of them keep resting on the bottom.

At first, I was wondering if the ones at the bottom were dead or dieing but every now and then when Daddy sweeps down, a whole bunch of the fry on the bottom come to life and swim back to the top. I guess this spawn like to mix it up a little, sometimes up sometimes down!

I get the impression the fry will be free-swimming soon, maybe even by morning.

So far so good, but not counting them up yet, could be 100, could be 400 or more, it is hard to say. Time will tell!

 

[Moasi]

Hi,

Got sick of it!! This means cat in the Navajo language, thought it was rather cool!

 

[Moasi]

So after they are all "mobile" where do you put them all???? I see 400 tanks now!!!!! Are you goint to sell them?? What happens now??

 

[Iggy]

Well, I will move them from my 10gal to a 17gal in a month and a half (my golds are getting a biiiggg tank)

They should be fine in that tank till month 3, then its time to seperate the aggressive ones. I am building a betta barraks system, basically a long, deep, short tank 'trays' that are divided up to hold 6 to 8 bettas per tray, with 1 to 3/4 gal of water each. I will make about 8 divided tanks - room enough for 64 fish.

The females will be split up betweem my 10gal and 17gal unless I can get my hands on a 33gal in between.

I am going to sell as many as I can directly. I already sold 1 of my adults today (Riker is going to a new home) because I need some more space for my adults. I will likely have give some to family & friends, and I know of a few good private LFS that will take some on credit (NO CHAINS thank you)

I removed Finchy this morning, some of the fry were free swimming. A also dropped some microworms in the tank for food. I think I put a little too much, because the fry are not making a dent yet (lots of wiggleling worms on the botttom of the tank)

Now that dad is gone and they are swimming, they have spread-out quite a bit. It is hard to say how many are alive vs dead. I counted at least 50 on the surface, and there are a lot on the edges of the bottom and in the plants, on the heater, etc...

I am in touch with a local betta breeder, asking her how much to feed, what kinds of food, etc. I just hope I don't mess up to badly and get a good batch to grow.

 

[Iggy]

OK, damit... I am having a rookie moment! I added some microworms this morning and I think I over did it. The fry were not eating them because most of the fry were at the top and the worms sink to the bottom.

So what does stupid do... he puts MORE food in the tank, this time Baby Brine Shrip (BBS)... well now there is DOUBLE the food in the tank, the fry are not eating it yet, and it will likely go bad and rot the tank out!!!

ARRARARTGAADGAGAG!@!AQRQWEREWF

I am worried about siphoning out the food at the bottom because water because it is already pretty low and I might suck-up a baby fry. I would have to add water first, and it I screw that up, I might kill the spawn.

Stupid me! Damit! Grr.....

I will give it overnight and try my best to remove the dead food tomorrow. I honestly did not know that even a small about of microworms and BBS in the net can spread-out so much.

No sites explain the feeding proportions so you have to learn by trial and error, and I hope I did not make a critical mistake!

Drat Darnit All!!!

 

[PreciousGems]

I know the feeling. There is no way to know how much to feed. I use a toothpick's tip worth of MWs or VEs. I wouldn't siphon, but see if you can suck it out with a turkey baster. Good Luck, it shouldn't be a critical situation if you get it out before it rots.

Alexa

 

[Iggy]

Things seem fine this morning. I used an airline and rigid tub to make a very small siphon where I removed a little of the food sitting on the bottom of the tank. The airline made a real small flow, and I got some food out and only picked-up one fry. I siphoned everything into a 1/2 cut 2litre pop bottle, so I could see if I got any fry. I did get one, and I siphoned him back into the tank.

Well, the good news is they fry's bellies are definately full of food. I still have a lot of food on the bottom, but my ammonia test shows 0pmm for now.

I tested for nitrite yesterday and there is none. I do have a small very slow flowing foam bubble filter in the corner, so that might be helping reduce the ammonia waste.

I will test again tonight, but hopefully everything will be fine.

 

[Lotus]

I know I am not really involved in this thread, but I have been reading it every day, like a serialized book or something It's very exciting to read what's going on with your bettas and fry.

Thanks so much for sharing with us, and I hope it all works out with the fry

 

[Iggy]

Fry are doing great. Full tummies. I added a few more microworms, just a pinch, and the fry are a lot more active and visible now.

I still think I have around 200, forget counting them right now, just too small to be effective.

So now starts the 2nd sit & wait period, were you feed them and slowly start to see them mature. I will add more water in a few weeks.

I sold Riker today to a friend of the family along with a 1gal filtered tank, food and water conditioner and 2 pages of instructions. I want to see as many of these fry directly to owners, so I am practising right now.

Will keep you posted on this thread! Thanks all!