Round Two!! Finchy + Ruby

Iggy

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Jun 25, 2003
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#1
Breeding - Round Two!! Finchy + Ruby

Its decided. Ruby seemed to like Finchy better during my side-by-side experiment.. so they are next up in my breeding tank.

Rigel and Reena are now getting aclimatized to their new recovery tanks (seperated of course) and Finchy and Ruby are getting introduced to each other while I float their water bags to get them used to the higher tank temperature.

It will be at least another 20 minutes before I release Finchy. Once I see them swimming side by side (no flaring) I will let Ruby out.. which may take a few minutes or a day or so!

Wish me luck in round Two!!!
 

Last edited:
Mar 11, 2003
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#2
Sorry the 1st attmept didn't work out. I am scared to spawn my new bettas because they too are young and 1st time spawners. Its like starting over again when I had Abe and Stella, except these guys seem to like each other a little more. Good Luck!

Alexa
 

Iggy

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#3
Well, Finchy is now loose and Ruby is still floating in her bottle. Finchy is flaring at everything, and I mean everything, the tank walls, the tank background, the plants, me, the heater, the filter, and oh yes, he is flaring at Ruby!

I love Finchy a lot, but he is sure acting peculiar. I am trying to mess with the lighting to reduce the reflections on the sides of the tank, but he seems focused on his shadow and not Ruby at this time. I am hoping it is just because he is adjusting to his new surroundings and he will start to focus on Ruby and building a nest soon.

Ruby, for her part, is showing vertical bars, but no other definate signs, so she will likely spend the night in the bottle.

Hopefully, this will not end up with another week gone past and no mating :(
 

Iggy

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#4
Attaboy Finchy!

I caught him blowing a few bubbles for a nest. I was a bit worried, because he never built a nest in his regular tank, not that he could, because his bubble filter always kept the surface pretty bubbly.

He is still flaring at the side of the tank, but at least he is showing some reaction to Ruby's presence.

Ruby is starting to hang with her head down... more than Reena ever did :)

Go kids go! Go kids go!
 

Iggy

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#9
Wish there was more to report. I left Ruby in her bottle this morning because I would not be able to watch them during work today.

I am a little worried Finchy will try to kill her, he is acting fairly aggressive. Ruby is vertically striping but not doing her nose-down anymore.

Finchy has built a moderately small nest already underneath his styrofoam cup. I just wish they would show more signs, like swimming side by side, her nose-down posture or them both trying to do an S-motion.

I will watch them for a bit longer tonight, if they show any more positive signs, I might release her if I have time to observe them to see if she can hide and protect herself overnight like Reena did.

Finchy looks great with his long fins all displayed and his huge gill flare - handsome guy really. I think Ruby really digs him, but he is do damned big compared to her, I hope he does not hurt her too bad when I let her go!
 

Iggy

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#10
I also just replaced the rock picture background with plain white paper. The dark shadows were bothering Finchy and he would spend more time flaring at the picture than paying attention to Ruby.

Finchy is now working more dilligently on his nest. Ruby still seems pretty defensive when he comes over to look at her, so I think I will hold off a little longer.

I would rather wait till the timing is closer to spawn than risk having him tear her apart!
 

Iggy

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#11
Ruby is out now. She was showing some good signs... vertical striping, nose-down and swimming beside him.

It was kinda cute when I let her go, she followed Finchy around as he swam frantically trying to figure out why she was following him. After a couple minutes of that, he started to show his dominance and flare and chase her. Not too rough so far, and Ruby is showing signs of submittance to him so he is not going nuts on her.

Right now, she is parked herself underneatht he nest, and he is building it along side her. Whenever she moves away from the nest, he chases her back.

This looks like a winning hand!!!

WOW! They started to rub each other as I am typing this post! Just for a second, now he is chasing her back to the nest again.... she is submitting, but he is still showing dominance and nipping her.

Man, for a second I thought they were going to start... maybe shortly.... how am I going to sleep now???
 

Iggy

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#12
WaaHOOO!!!!!

Rumor has it ... WE GOT EGGS!!!

Yes, I am at work right now so my wife called all excited to tell me Finchy and Ruby spawned.

To bad I was not there to see it (she was), but from the description my wife is giving me on the phone, all is going well. Finchy is picking up the eggs and bringing them to the nest.

I hope they don't finish before I get home!
 

mcshell

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Jul 23, 2003
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#14
alright alright!!!
congrats on the eggs!!!
wish you all the best in the coming stages: hatch / free-swimming etc!
(and after reading all these, I felt that i was really lucky to get casper and june to spawn in a week :p)
*celebrate
CONGRATS AGAIN!!
 

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Iggy

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#18
Thanks all! Well they were done by the time I got home do I missed out on the spawning :(

Finchy seems to be cleaning/moving (eating?) the eggs around. There are a lot in there, so I don't think he is snacking on them per-say, I read on Bettatalk.com that males do a lot of egg re-arranging during the gestation period.

He is staying underneath the nest, seems like he is being a good daddy so far... only time and fry will tell.

Yes, I am glad I conditioned a 2nd pair. I kinda knew Ruby was my best bet, she is more submissive than Reena or Shelby.

My two cultures of micro-worms are well underway and ready for use anytime. I will start a brine shrimp batch in 2-3 days, depending on when the fry appear.
 

Iggy

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#20
Yup, left the lights on overnight. Finchy added a lot more bubbles around the egg nest - bored I guess?

Might see something tonight (fry tails), will let you all know!

Very exciting (and boring) you know!