# Teal and red CT male x Gold CT Female



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Ok, My Male is a Petsmart Betta, and My female is a Chard56 CT.

My male is super picky. I tried for weeks to get him to build a bubble nest, He finaly liked the Dark blue coffee mug, with 1/4 of a inch of air above the top of the water. 

My female was all gold when I got her, but now she has some black on her body, which I will probably breed out. Her caudal fin when I first got her looked more like a combtail, but the points finaly got a little longer, and they are all evenly spaced which makes me happy.

This is my first successful spawn. This is my practice round so I won't be culling Unless their are some seriouse deformities. I really want to let their colors and finnage fully grow so that I have something to go on with my next spawn. So on to the fun part.....

The fry were completely free swimming by august 31 2013. 
I did a approximate count on the 30th and saw about 30 free swimmers, with many more still hanging in the nest. The male stayed in until the 30th, he doubled the size of the nest by the 30th, and by that night I took him out and let the fry do their own thing.

As soon as the first fry started free swimming I added infusoria, MW, and boiled egg yolk. 

Today is September 1st and I wanted to get all of the settled yolk out of the tank so I did a water change, and transferred the fry to a plastic bin. I felt that the 10 gallon tank had to much surface and I wanted to make sure they were getting enough to eat. I added a moss ball and a little more than half of the water they were in back into the plastic bin, also I have free floating plants for them to hide in.

I counted 91 fry.

Here are some pics of the male and female(it took me a hour just to get these photos, so sorry they are not better.) and I also added some pics of the fry. I am going to keep updating this log.

View attachment 200353
View attachment 200361
View attachment 200369
View attachment 200377
View attachment 200385
View attachment 200393
View attachment 200401


----------



## JayM (Aug 4, 2013)

Love Dads colours. Good luck.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks JM


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

My fry are now 5 days old. There are some that are bigger than others, but they are all doing great. I will do another update in the middle of next week, and Maybe more fry pics!


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

update...
I did a 90% water change today, I have 89 Bettas now. I thought I would lose a lot more than 2, I guess I must be doing something right. lol! The fry are 1 week old now there are a few still on the small side compared to the others but all in all they seem to be doing good.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

I moved my fry to a 10 gal tank . I was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to find food as well in the bigger tank, but I can actually see them chasing the MW's. They are swimming around a lot more than they were in the plastic bin, which means they will be stronger. I can also see how they are developing in the glass tank, which the plastic bin I only had a view from the top. They all have a small caudal fin, and a few I have seen the clear pectoral fin. I have been feeding Microworms and infusoria, and I have started feeding frozen brine shrimp that I chopped up in a chopper I have, also I use my spice grinder to grind some freeze dried shrimp, and pellets, and flakes just to get them used to more than the infusoria and MW. I don't know if they are eating the crushed and frozen food yet. I add them at the second feeding and then siphon the bottom before I go to bed every night.

I only have the tank half full, I'm going to start adding a cup of water a day until it's full, and hopefully by then I will have my 20 gal set up and waiting. Here are some pics of the fry, they swim away really fast when I get my camera close to the tank. Oh they are a little over 2 weeks now.

View attachment 209466
View attachment 209474
View attachment 209482


----------



## tilli94 (Nov 30, 2012)

I love it when they're itty bitty. You look into the tank and see one or two but the longer you look the more they appear!


----------



## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Wow, they super cute! Good job!
The parents are super cute...


----------



## bambijarvis (Jul 15, 2012)

I love the stage where they're basically a pair of eyes with a tail...xD

The females doesn't look like she has enough we reduction to be a CT(33% is the minimum I believe and she has hardly any). She'd probably a delta, who has CT some where in her(maybe first gen cross?)but if her rays are evenly spaced that's good.


I would add more than a cup a day, unless it's in addition to water changes.
water quality can make or break a spawn and they produce growth stunting hormones you want to remove from the water.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks everyone. I am doing a 50% WC every other day, as well as adding a cup of water a day. I want to make sure they are still able to find the food, and more water = more searching for food.
I don't know much about web reduction, I cant get a good flare out of her to take a picture, but her rays are evenly spaced and her rays have double points at the end on everyone.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

This Saturday the fry will be 3 weeks old. I can see a real difference in size from when thy were first hatched. You can see the red insides and full bellies on all of them, there are 3 or 4 that are starting to get a dorsal fin, it's so tiny and clear you can barely see it. 

I added enough water today to connect the filter. I was worried at first when I turned on the filter because there was so much movement in the water the fry were having trouble swimming. I tried a few things then I realized the filter has a valve on it where you can turn down the pressure. Now it's filtering out all the bad stuff and the fry are swimming happily. I think I am going to change the sponge on the filter to a thicker one just to help a little more with the water pressure. so far they are not getting stuck to the sponge so I think I have the right amount of pressure for them. 

I have about 8 gallons of water in the tank now and they seem to be able to swim to the top for more air without problem. I will take some pics soon if I can get one of the developing dorsal fin.


----------



## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Awww, congrats!
Can't wait for the pics! *hint*


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

View attachment 212626
Pics of some of the fry, they are still rather small, but are developing dorsals and anal fins. 3 weeks old.


----------



## bambijarvis (Jul 15, 2012)

Looking good. 
Keep up the water changes. Are they accepting the frozen/powdered food readily yet? Have you tried decap bse?


----------



## aussieJJDude (Jun 9, 2012)

Awww, they super cute!
Love them! Is it just me, or one of them is already showing colour?


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

A few have sucked in the dried flakes but spit them back out. However there are a few that I have seen eat at least one piece of BBS(I chop it in the food processor) They are still mainly eating MW. I do want to try decaps I'm going to go look for some at my local aquarium stores Monday. They tend to carry stuff that the franchise petstores don't. For me ordering online is a pain so I try to buy locally as much as possible.

There are 2 fry that are twice the size of the rest, these two's bodies are getting more opaque and less see through. However all are developing iridescence on their bodies. I see it mostly when the sunlight shines on the tank in the morning.

The two bigger fry's fins are more opaque as well and are iridescent without the sunlight. The 2 big ones have well developed anal and dorsal fins. I'm still waiting to see development of ventrals and lengthening of the caudal


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks everyone for your comments. I wanted to share a trick I learned today...

I am still feeding Micro Worms to the fry as well as chopped frozen(thawed) brine shrimp. and they started eating the brine shrimp .

Step 1; add a little water and 1 or 2 frozen cubes to a blender or electric food chopper(I added them frozen)

Step 2; Add a little of the mixture to the tank directly under where the water falls back into the tank from the filter.

Step 3; wait about 10 minutes then add the micro worms for any of the fry that didn't eat the shrimp.

Keep the shrimp mix refridgerated and discard after 24 hours, or refreeze the mixture(thaw completely before use)

This works well because the water from the filter moves the shrimp pieces around the tank so they stay floating around for more time than if you added them and they sank to the bottom.

The chopped brine shrimp pieces are different sizes, so the bigger fish can eat as well as the smaller fry. The pieces are bigger than Micro worms, but still small enough to fit in the fry's mouth.

I fed the fry this mixture in the morning before I added MW, so that being hungry they might try the brine shrimp. I added the MW after 10 minutes there were still some pieces of shrimp floating around when I added the MW, I wanted to confuse the fry a bit so they might accidentaly try the shrimp.lol. It seemed to work well. I know there were some fry that did not eat the shrimp but I knew they would eat the MW.

I did this a second time tonight and had the same reaction. I think I am going to add 1 cube of bloodworms next week to the food chopper with the shrimp to give them more nutrients. I will let you all know how it goes.

*NOTE: My fry are 3 weeks old, If you are going to breed make sure you feed live food first, or your fry will die, I am still feeding Micro Worms, this is just a experiment to see if the fry would eat the shrimp!!!*


----------



## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

Those are going to be some pretty fish!


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Thanks Troung!

Today I noticed all the fry are started to turn a opaque white on their bodies instead of the clear glass bodies they had before. All have caudals, dorsals, anals, and pectoral fins, but all the fins are still clear like glass.


----------



## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

That's so awesome to hear!!
I can't wait to see how they develop in a few months.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Me too, I really want to see them start to get more color...


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

OMG SUPRISE!!!!!!!!

so my fry are 4 weeks old today, I started another infusoria culture three weeks ago with water from the fry tank...... guess what was in the infusoria jar 

There was a fry in it!!!!! alive, apparently when I started the new culture there was enough infusoria to keep it alive. It has been surviving on infusoria for 3 weeks now. He/she is now happily swimming around the grow out tank with the other fry. I am always amazed at how Bettas are so hearty and can survive almost anything. I do feel sorry for the little one, he/she has been living in a little jar with the same water for 3 weeks...
He/she is smaller than my four big fry, but bigger than the smaller fry. I'm happy I found it before it got too big.lol.

A few of the bigger fry are getting a greenish bluish iridescence to their bodys.


----------



## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

-OH WOW!!
I am so glad to hear it's doing okay 
Any update pics?


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

The fry still look the same. just a little bigger thy are about 1/4 of a inch big now, but i'm hopeing this week they will change a little so I can get some more pictures up.


----------



## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

Can't wait to see how they turn out!


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

I added 2 plants to my fry tank a couple of days ago, and I noticed a few of the leaves on the moneywort were melting, I must have damaged them when I brought them home. anyway the green rotten crud was all over the bottom of the tank so I decided to do a 100% WC and take out all the gravel and clean it. I also added some stress-zyme, which is supposed to help keep the tank clean. I added my gold mystery snail, and a brown and black striped snail(not sure what it's called) that is a amazing algea eater. I got some black gravel from someone off craigslist and I mixed that in with the colorful gravel I already had. I love the way it turned out. here is a pic of the tank without the fry.
View attachment 218258


I only have 69 fry now, I assume that between the water changes and the smaller ones not getting as much food as the bigger ones some died. I have only found 3 dead when I did the water change though. 

Here is what 69, 1 month old fry look like all together...
View attachment 218266


Here are more pics of the fry, they all are gold right now, but I am sure they are going to get some color because even though mom is gold, dad is red and blue.
View attachment 218282

View attachment 218290

View attachment 218298


They are in the cup getting used to the tank water again and they look like they are screaming LET ME OUT!!!!


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

I forgot to add, I tried feeding hikari first bites today, and of course the fry completely ignored it. I am still feeding MW(there are still some smaller fry) The bigger fry really like the blended mixture of bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp. The only problem I am having is that the blood worms have a sort of shell that does not chop very well in the food processor , so some of the bigger fry are trying to eat pieces of bloodworm that are as big as they are. they do manage to eat it, after some trying. 

even if they won't eat flakes I'm happy because at least they are eating the frozen foods


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Hi all!
I am starting to see color in the anal fins of 5 of the bigger fry. their bodies are still opaque gold, I wonder if it's because the mom was gold, I assumed thy started getting color on their bodies first then it spread to their fins. They still won't eat hikari first bites but a few grab the crushed up flakes. I think tomorrow I'm going to mix the hikari with a little tank water so that it floats around a little before it sinks. The fry don't eat anything from the top of the water, they prefer to grab food as it floats to the bottom, then they hunt in the gravel to find food the rest of the time. 

I wonder if they are going to stay gold, I know red and blue are progressive so I thought they would be mostly like the daddy but with gold irredescence and maybe a few like the mom. I am really enjoying watching them grow and change.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

Tomorrow My fry will be 5 weeks old. Today I learned a valuable lesson with fry feeding.
I killed about 4 fry today, I didn't chop up the frozn brine shrimp well enough and apparently the 4 fry choked on the shrimp. I thought that if it was too big the fry would spit it back out, but I guess it's like they say their eyes were biggr than their stomachs. 
This is exactly why I did CT as my first spawn, I knew I would make mistakes and because you can buy CT's at the petstore I figured I could stand to lose a few. 

I siphoned out all the big pieces, and tomorrow I will try again with well chopped brine shrimp.

I did learn a trick for the chopped bloodworms. I can't seem to get them chopped good wwhen I chop only one or two cubes at a time in the food processor, so I added all the cubes of frozen bloodworms and chopped them while they were still frozen, then I took a littlemeasuring spoon and spooned the chopped worms back into the plastic cubes that they came from. I took one cube and let it thaw, then I tried to siphon out some of the water/blood with a piece of cloth so I didn't dirty my water too much. This worked really well.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

So I have noticed three different colorations in the fry. It's only iridesense so far but when the sun shines on them it's noticeable.

I have seen pink iridescense with red fin, blue irridescense with red fins and red/pink body with clear fins. grrrr I'm so impatient for them to start getting real color


----------



## bambijarvis (Jul 15, 2012)

They'll be all grown before you know it. 

Looking forward to more pictures. How many fry do you have currently?


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

I think I am down to about 55 with the recent mishaps.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

*Fry 5 weeks, 3 days pics*

You can see the iridescense in the bodys now with my camera, also a lot are developing red anal fins, and in a few fry I see the iridescense spreading into the caudal fin.
View attachment 224721

View attachment 224729

View attachment 224737

View attachment 224745

View attachment 224753


----------



## Champion Betta (Oct 29, 2013)

How cute! I'm subscribing.


----------



## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Aww!!


----------



## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

I cannot wait until they really develop their colour.


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

So, I'm back, My laptop got damaged and I finaly have a new one. My fry are doing good. 32 lived and are doing good they are in a 55 gallon tank now with some guppys and tetra. almost all are females .some are missing ventrals due to the micro worms, and they are on the smaller side, but are finaly almost fully colored.I'm going to post some pics tonight


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]
I'm takeing more pics.these were from before I got my guppys and tetra


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]I could not get my girls to be still for anything here some more pics


----------



## Superach (Feb 3, 2014)

Have you notices if any are missing ventral fins? just curious been reading about that and micoworms.. have my own spawn on the go now and am hoping they are all ok!


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

There are at least 6 that are missing ventrals. When I breed again I will definatly use shrimp instead of micro worms


----------



## Superach (Feb 3, 2014)

I am using both.. hope it works..


----------



## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

good luck


----------



## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

What about microworms cause missing ventral fins?


----------



## missavgp (Apr 17, 2013)

it's more that the microworms get the babies to stay on the bottom of the tank for long periods eating because mw don't stay in the water column long. The bacteria affecting the ventrals already exists in the tank but gets more concentrated with the worms dying on the bottom and the difficulty in cleaning a fry tank. The result is that the bacteria builds up and the ventrals seem to dissolve.


----------

