# Holy Freaking Sheep Ship! (Emergency! HELP!!!)



## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

I have a triangle, five gallon tank with a divider. You can kind of see it in my signature. Well, I had Max on one side and Maxine on the other, because I just wanted them both to have room to swim, and I was eventually planning on breeding them. 

Well, my parents are divoriced, and I have to go across the state almost every weekend. While I was away, somehow, Maxine got into Max's side of the tank. Maybe the water was too high...? So I got back tonight and I was making sure that all the fish were okay... and Maxine is on the bottom of Max's tank with her fins _ripped apart_. I freaked out. I opened up the lid, and there's a whole freaking bubblenest full of eggs. 

I've done some research, but I was going to wait until I could get a 10 gallon tank and a heater and all that stuff. I didn't even have a floater thing for the bubblenest, but Max made it anyways! I *VERY CAREFULLY* got Maxine out without harming the nest and put her in a bowl. 

I wasn't prepared for that, and I hadn't completely read up on every little detail like I usually do with important things like that. So... HELP! They're in a 5 gallon triangle tank with two plants and no divider (I took it out when I was getting poor Maxine out) and a lid. I keep the lid on, because when I take it off the bubbles pop a little bit. 

Any advice? I'm not moving anything or messing with anything, but what can I do to help these little lives grow? When should I get Max out? When should the babies come out? Thank goodness I did so much research already, but I still want to know everything I can.


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

*Max's Bubblenest*

These are the eggs in the bubblenest:


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

crystalcat said:


> Any advice? I'm not moving anything or messing with anything, but what can I do to help these little lives grow? When should I get Max out? When should the babies come out? Thank goodness I did so much research already, but I still want to know everything I can.


First i would like to say congrats with your eggs, i guess nature will take its course and they will breed if they are ready. I know some people that have the female betta in a plastic breeding trap with no lid and when she is ready to breed she jumps over into the tank with the male, but that is only in rare cases as bettas are jumpers and they can jump just for the fun of it. You should remove the male when the fry start swimming horizontally, so after the eggs hatch and you see little fry about 3-4 days after that point they will be free swimming as they have used all there food in their sacs which weighted them down. about 24-48 hours after the eggs have been put in the bubblenest they will hatch and it mostly depends on the temp, the higher the temp the faster the hatch rate. I would like to let you know that you will need food, and seeing as you were not expecting this you probably dont have much food, but what you can use on such short notice is egg yoke, but if you have like mw, or ve that will do good as well. But for the egg yoke it is so easy just HARD boil a one to two eggs then remove the egg white, then you can add the yokes to a bowl or plasrtic bag and add a cup of water PER egg then just crush the yoke until you cant see it anymore so the water will be yellow then add a bit more water so its a very pale yellow then you can add some of your mixture to ice cube trays and freeze them for later consumption. The rest add to a squirt bottle and spray only once over the top of the aquarium in the morning and once at night. dont over feed or it will cloud the water. you can feed them this for about the first 7 days then its pretty much usless. When you want to use the frozen egg cubes just but it in the spray bottle and thaw it then add a bit more water till you can actually spray the bottle and your good to go. Also dont let the thawed egg mixture sit out as it will go bad a kill the fry, this mixture only last a few days in the fridge and i would reccomend using new stuff every other day. hope this all helps you!


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## k stiles (Aug 29, 2009)

holy crap, Lethbridge pretty much covered everything, so good luck, if its in a five gallon you might want to remove some eggs.


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

you could remove some eggs however some will die and for right now a 5 gallon will be big enough till they start to grow when that happens they will need to be moved to a 10 - 20 gallon tank. If they are left in the 5 gallon for too long some will die which will leave the survival of the fittest, because they will need space to grow and as betta fry grow they emit a growth stunting hormone which will effect his brothers and sisters


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Thank you for your advice. Will I be able to see them swimming around right away after they start swimming, or will they be little wierd floaty thingys? And also, my tank has no heater, will that be a major problem? And, in the event that I need to move the eggs, how can I do that? I have one small net.

While I was at school, my mom went to town (we live in the mountains) and looked for live food. None of the stores had any live food at all. We went off the breeding info sticky. We looked at another site that said crushing the pellets/flakes worked. Will it? I currently have five almost full varieties of food right now for all thirteen of our fish.

Thank you for helping me and please answer my questions!


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

crystalcat said:


> Thank you for your advice. Will I be able to see them swimming around right away after they start swimming, or will they be little wierd floaty thingys? And also, my tank has no heater, will that be a major problem? And, in the event that I need to move the eggs, how can I do that? I have one small net.
> 
> While I was at school, my mom went to town (we live in the mountains) and looked for live food. None of the stores had any live food at all. We went off the breeding info sticky. We looked at another site that said crushing the pellets/flakes worked. Will it? I currently have five almost full varieties of food right now for all thirteen of our fish.
> 
> Thank you for helping me and please answer my questions!


Well once the eggs hatch 24-48 hours after they have been laid, you will see very small little fry on the bottom of the tank and on the glass and hanging from the bubble nest. How warm is your tank usually? it is recommend to keep the temp at around 82 i prefer mine higher but 82 is a good all around temp. if the temp falls too low it wont be good for the fry. Also temp flacuation can also be harmful for fry. I wouldnt move the eggs, what kstile was trying to say was remove some eggs so they dont hatch so they will all fit in the 5 gallon tank, i would just let things be and once the eggs reach an older age then you can move them to a bigger tank. You can try the flaked food but i sure dont reccommend it, like i told you before try the egg yoke it will work for the first 7 days within these 7 days you can order brine shrimp online or something because you will have alot of fry die if you try flaked food.
http://z7.invisionfree.com/BettaBreeders/index.php?showtopic=133
this site is a good site how to make egg yoke. But really try to get live food for the good of the fry. anymore questions just feel free to ask


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Okay, thanks. Another website said to crush the pellets. Will that work?

I will try to get my mom to order some food online. We're working on a 10 gallon tank and heater right now as well.

I *will *save these babies!!


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

pellets/flakes samething they are not live and the fry will not know that it is food and thus they will starve and they are very fragile at such a young age. and even if they would eat the pellets/ flakes there is a very slim chance you can crush it so small that they would be able to eat it. Just wait till they hatch you will see how small they are. just use the egg yoke for the first bit and try and get live food


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I agree with Lethbridge. Fry cannot eat what adults eat, even if it's crushed up.


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Okay. My mom used to breed guppies (it took a very long time to explain to her that bettas are different xD) and said that you have to raise baby brine shrimp or "sea monkeys". Is this true?


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

Yes you can use egg yoke from day 1 to day 7 then brine shrimp are by far the best live food until they can be switched to flaked food. If your looking for something easy for hatching brine shrimp go with the "Shrimpery" by san fransico bay company its only like $9-12 in the states and you can order it online for not much money its easy to use and very little clean up and you have brine shrimp 24 hours later, and they will continue to come for another 36 hours after the first batch. hope this helps


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Okay. I live in the California mountains and, though its not snowing right now, it was 21 degrees this morning and it might snow. Will the brine shrimp die in the cold? And will they ship to P.O. Boxes?


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

lol you dont get it the brine shrimp are eggs and you hatch them so no they wont die because of the cold the eggs can take just about anything. The shrimpery is just a hatchery for the brine shrimp it works well. and yes they should ship to a po box


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Oooh, okay, I get it! So could you post the link to that? Haha, sorry!


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

http://www.bigalsonline.ca/BigAlsCA/ctl3664/cp17911/si1318007/cl0/sanfranciscobayshrimpery
here is the web site use to order my stuff online so you can use this one or on one of the many others. But ya you get the picture what the shrimpery is all about


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## crystalcat (Nov 9, 2009)

Yah. Thanks! I'm sure the wittle babies will appreciate it!


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

any sign of hatching yet?


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