# Male wont eat after spawning



## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Thanks to a happy accadent over the weekend, my little Camii got her groove on with Gus and now Gus is the proud daddy of a healthy brood of little wiggletails and I'm unprepared! (Why couldn't he have done this when I was planning on it?!?). Anyway, I can't get little man to eat a thing. It's been 4 days now and all he wants to do is fuss over his fry. I tried taking him out to see if that would help, but that just led to him becoming very depressed. He's not too skinny yet as I have always fed him a healthy diet and kept him fit, but I don't want him to end up killing himself! 

Also, I'm gonna do a heavy cull in 2 weeks and just raise a few dozen of the fry to adulthood. Mom is yellow VT with purple stripe on her tailfin and dad is brugandy and blue metalic VT. Any clue what the babies could end up favoring?
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## Artemis (Mar 9, 2013)

I have never bred bettas but I do research and feed him what the fry are eating and let him go. If he isn't eating the fry it isn't a huge problem, they can technically go longer then 1 week without food but obviously not good so drop in some live brine shrimp and see if that helps maybe? But take my advice with a cube of sugar in a sack of 100


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Have you taken him out of the spawning tank? What are you feeding him?


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

See my edit Matt. I had already planned on dad in method. No, he's not eating the fry. He is very protective of them and surprisingly gentle although he will go down and scoop them back up and put them on the top leaves if the wonder too far.

I wasn't planning on this to happen til May, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants and doing a lot of improvising. As long as enough fry survive to adulthood to give my sis a sorority, that's all that matters. I most likely will give the rest as gifts.

He has had a diet of Omega One Betta Buffet and Freeze Dried Bloodworms. He has refused those along with flakes.

The fry seem to be doing well on my emergancy fry food (1 LFS in 60 miles of here and they were out and wont have any for weeks!) which is hardboiled egg yoke that has been strained and crushed to make the particles smaller. I scrape off a small very amount and place it in an eyedropper and mix it with warm water before giving it to them 3x a day.
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## Option (Oct 20, 2012)

My male during my most recent spawn ate frozen bloodworms like crazy! Didn't affect his fatherly instincts either. Then after I took him out he ate after just a few hours in the quarentine tank.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

So.. you weren't prepared yet you put them together and are surprised that they spawned? 

You need to raise the temp to 84, find someone asap to buy BBS and micro cultures from and get them overnighted to you to feed the fry.. as they won't eat anything not alive. And their food is too small for dad to eat.

Not uncommon for fathers not to eat for days after spawning. What keeps them healthy and alive is conditioning them, which I doubt he had, as all he eats is one brand of pellets and an unhealthy food of freeze dried.. I would suggest getting frozen food and offer it to him to help build his strength back up.. live food is better.

You will need to clean the tank daily, using an airline tube... how big is the tank? You will need to set up a drip system, as doing regular water changes like normal isn't safe for the fry.. they need real slow acclimation. If the tank has a filter you will need to turn it off and get a sponge filter.. if your tank is over 5g and is cycled, be aware that the cycle will most likely crash, which will end up killing the babies.. but you can't have a HOB filter with fry.. if you had placed them in a breeding tank properly set up, then ignore that.

The egg yolk fouls up the water very quickly, so make sure to clean the tank after each feeding.. They most likely won't eat fry food.. I still can't get mine to eat anything not alive for the first couple of months. Betta fry need live foods to grow, the fry food won't really cut it for their needs. It's great for guppies though.. 

Unsure what you expected or wanting from this spawn.. you will have VT fry of all different colors - if they are pet store bettas then their genes are unknown and you can end up with all sorts of colors. I would start looking now to see about finding them a home - as VTs can be very difficult to sell (not many are willing to pay $35 shipping + cost of fish for a $2 fish). So would see if there are pet stores nearby willing to take them off of your hands.. most likely they won't give you anything for them, but at least it would be a chance at finding a home.

What is done is done.. I wish you luck.. but in the future, if you weren't planning and especially if you aren't ready to spawn.. don't place them in the same tank. You are lucky they spawned and not killed each other.. when they aren't properly ready they get mean rather than lovey. 

Make sure you have grow out tanks, enough jars to house the juvenile males when they start to fight, as well as a way to heat all the jars up properly.

Good luck..


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## louisvillelady (Jan 12, 2013)

Is he still in with the fry? Do not be too concerned. I leave the dad with the fry as long as possible sometimes till they are full grown. Most dads will not eat until the fry have their first meal. I always feed them both at the same time. Some Dads will not eat until they give up the nest. Once he has given up the nest, if he is still not eating, I would pull him at that point.


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Woot! He finally ate. I've been worried sick, so it was good to see him munching down :-D



Myates said:


> So.. you weren't prepared yet you put them together and are surprised that they spawned?
> 
> You need to raise the temp to 84, find someone asap to buy BBS and micro cultures from and get them overnighted to you to feed the fry.. as they won't eat anything not alive. And their food is too small for dad to eat.
> 
> ...


1st of all, no. I did not throw 2 fish together and found that they have spawned. I had to clean Cami's tank and couldn't find what I normally float her in his tank in, so I just cupped her. When I went back to get her, I saw that she had gotten out of the cup and they were already embraced. 

I cannot get that. No debit or credit card. No checking account. And not enough spare cash to do it. The closest LPS is over 60 miles away and they carry no fry stuff. 

They have been eating the eggyoke I fixed, so I'm confused when you say they only eat live food. They will just have to make do since I can't feed live. I have been cleaning after feedings and testing water to be sure. I turned off my filter as soon as I noticed the eggs and it's a 10 gallon tank. 

The parents were conditioned with freeze dried bloodworms (can't get fresh anything). Like I said, I was planning on spawning them just in a couple of months, not last week. It happened and I'm dealing with the surprise as best as I can. 

Thanks. I'll need it! :lol:


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Just wanted to post a little update. My babies are doing well and growing at a healthy rate. I've been feeding them hard boiled egg yoke. Today they got their first bit of finely crushed Omega One pellets. They also snack between meals on the algae and plants in my tank. Gus is being very good with them and making me quite proud :-D

I almost forgot to answer your question on what I expected from the breeding. Well, if you see my previous posts, I was planning on breeding them in May. The reason for that is so a nice batch of girls who had all been raised together would be ready to give to my nephew by his birthday.
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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Your not feeding live foods?


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Yeah.. surprised that they are still eating the egg (which I would stop.. make sure you are doing water changes shortly after each feeding of the egg yolk) and crushed up pellets. The pellets especially are not what the fry need.. some may still be alive now, but I would look into getting them proper food, as it will make a difference as they grow. I know you weren't prepared to breed yet, but should still get the proper food once you saw you had fry. They are getting bigger, they should be pretty much too big now to eat the egg yolk.. order some BBS, and even micro cultures would be better. 
How often are you doing water changes and the %?


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

Yep! I've watched the little guys gobble it up myself. I crush a pinch of yoke very fine, mix with water in an eye droped, shake, squirt out any thick pieces, and add it in. I also have a mystery snail and ghost shrimp which are a handy little clean up crew and a mostly NPT. Because of all that, my levels are staying good and healthy and Amonia is holding at 0. I have an occasional 0.25 spike, but that is my well water itself and that goes in cycles.

Like I said, I can't get live food. I can't even get dry fry food from the idiots around here! They said "Give 'um flakes. It's the same thing" (rolls eyes). My OL time is limited to a phone and the only way I can pay for things is with cash, so if I can't get it from them, I have to improvise. And then there's the whole money thing as I hadn't expected the expence until May. At least by then I could have found someone willing to send me a culter for a moneyorder, but sometimes life happens and ya have to do the best you can.

->


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## Bluewind (Oct 24, 2012)

->
My pwc have been running about... 5 gallons /2-3x a week in a 10 gallon tank. Very slow drip out (takes hours) and slow back in (a tad faster to maintain the integraty of water temp) with water within 2 degrees of tank temp. The suction is so light that the babies can swim right up to it and in fact do out of shear curiosity.

I didn't have to do my 1st cull as the tank's inhabitants did it for me as it's not possible for all the little fry to be as healthy and active as they are! I'm grateful for it 

I'm glad I at least got to do a bit of research on the dad in method before the spawning happened. Leaving dad with the babies usually makes them less agressive as adults. I was just going to give my nephews a male each, but now I'm thinking a shared tanks with females would be better for them AND my siister. I might sell the others and put it towards a 10 gallon tank for them. She has an old setup (she did sw one) in storage but its glass is broke
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## JJChocolate88 (Mar 14, 2013)

hey seems like you're doing alright so far if they are still alive I JUST took my dad out of the tank this am. he is in the isolation tank and didn't even look twice at his bloodworms.

i am glad ur betta male is eating again.


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