# 2 pairs side by side



## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Pair "blue"

Male: blue red wash hm, age unknown, parents unknown (petshop boy)


Female: blue masked delta, age 7 weeks + 4 days, parents marble blue red delta male x marble non-red delta female


Introduced a few days ago (30 October 2015)


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Pair "red"

Male: cambo red hm, age unknown, parents unknown (petshop boy)


Female: red delta, age 7 weeks + 4 days, parents marble blue red delta male x marble non-red delta female (nest sister with the female from above)


Introduced a few days ago (30 October 2015). Hello, sugar!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Both females were released next day. Sunday, both pairs spawned.

Pair "blue"

Get out of here! 
Ok, just show me one more...


In the nest, eggs. Under the nest, sex.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Pair "red"

First, the male worked on his work on his techniques and succesfully stunned himself. Next time try the girl too! 


Then, he made his pervert move from behind. Hey, the egg hole is the other way around!


Fck off! Sorry... 


Show me one good try. Ok, will do.


Nice!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

"Blue" male tending his young.


"Red" proud father and his bet for eternal life.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Today, males out, me steps in. The last male out was the "blue". In his barrack, I offered him a nice meal. He gazed at the brine shrimp flowing in. Eat it, what are you waiting for? To my amazement, he spat a fry form his mouth, swallowed the food, then he caught the fry again.  Ok... I turned to the "red" male to feed him too. He was separated from fries earlier, the night before. What do I see? Fries, fries everywhere, in his tank. )) I rushed for a cup of tea. The whitest I could find. The hard work begins. I lost count at about 20 fries relocated in the grow out. One more to go, but everytime he evades me. He is still in there, with his dad. Note to myself: next time, don't drink and fish.


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Nice sown log, following


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Photo of "blue" fries, 3 days old, 1 day into the free swimming stage. The goal with the "blues" is to improve the form (hasty backcross to father in about 8 weeks), get some nice masked fishes and preserve the NR1 gene of the mother (need some luck in doing so).

The goal with the "reds" is just improve on the form and the color. I don't know the genetics of the male. I do know about the female that she was the one single red fish in about 200 sibling fries, so the red is not her strongest genetic background. You can see several sisters in her photo (second post). However, she does the an extended red veiltail grand-grandfather in her ancestry. Will see how it goes in a few weeks.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

"Blue" fries 4 days old. Already showing some growth compared with their siblings that failed to step into horizontal swimming stage.

The "reds" are doing fine, they just have a bigger tank so they are harder to shot. I also like to report that the last fry hiding in papa's tank was returned to his siblings after being apart for about 36 hours. 

Also, both spawns met today with their first water change so I had to retrieve about 50 fries sucked with debris. For this job I used my trusted baby powder milk spoon.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

I tried my photographer skills again and I think I did better.

Photo 1 blue fries. You can clearly see some orange full tummies. 
Photo 2 red fries minding their business.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Baby "blues" 5 days old.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Memories from the past: last summer, cambo spawn.


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## Akkikumar (Aug 8, 2015)

ooohh that's huge spawn .....


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Yep, they were.  Also, no runts whatsoever in that spawn.

Now back to the issue at hand. "blues" 6 days old.









Close up of a 6 days old "red".


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## Akkikumar (Aug 8, 2015)

When You jarred them??


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Those (mostly) cambo fishes were 5 weeks in the photo. I jarred the males at 6 weeks and 3 days of age (sometime last summer), counting one shocked male that was hiding in terror under the filter sponge. Poor thing refused to eat and finally died. 

Generally speaking, 6-7 weeks of age is the landmark for me, when fights begin to get out of hand.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

1 week landmark.

A tiny "blue".









A few "reds".


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Subscribing! Very beautiful pairs! And lovely fry! I can't wait to see the outcome


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

For short, thank you Blu. 

Day 8.

Blues...









Reds...


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Cute cute cute!


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

litelboyblu said:


> Cute cute cute!


Cute x500,000,000,000


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## HTageant (May 27, 2015)

Subbing!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

litelboyblu said:


> Cute cute cute!


Mean mean mean eating machines. 

Day 9.

"Blues"...










"Reds"...









Can I see tiny dorsals?


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 10 days.

Blue invasion. 









Red fury!









My mini bettas are doing fine.


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Cool


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

11 days of coolness. 

Blues...









Reds...


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 12 days.

Blues... business as usual.









Reds. Checking the temp is always wise. 









Holy cow, a galaxy of betta. :shock:


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 13 days.

"Blues"...









"Reds"... Fist hints of horizontal lines.


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## Kisiel (Jul 30, 2014)

Whoa your children grow really fast. Tell me your secrets!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

_"Plenty of food_..._plenty of clean water_"...not my words, but so very true. 

"Blues". Feed us, assh0le! 










"Reds". They hunger!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 15 days. 

Blues.. jarring time. First male on his own.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Awesome! He must be pretty aggressive if he's that small, already being jarred.  Very cute nevertheless!


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

Jarring already??


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Loving their fat tummies! Curious how you find the development of fish from early jarring? I've always left it as late as possible


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

No, of course no jarring, I'm just messing with ya. 


The lone fry was a scout, sent ahead to test the new home for the "blue" brotherhood. The "blues" were losing the race with their "red" cousins, who are noticeably bigger and are eating about two or three times more brine shrimp than the blues, without having the numbers on their side (or so I think). So I decided to move the blue team in a home as big as the red's.


The cramped blues.









Nowhere to hide.









Operation teleport.









Beam me up, Scotty!









Energizing!









Almost there...









Ready? Yes, sir!









The great exodus. 









The invasion is over and I am happy to report the all of the 134 soldiers survived. Place your bets gentlemen, the race is on! ))

Edit: I put a mark on the fist sign of iridescence of a fry...


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Yay! Glad they all survived!  They must love the space!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Of course they landed safely, no enemy was waiting for them on the beach.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Meanwhile, the red empire, age 15 days, is moving forward, guns blazing and taking no prisoners.  Some of them are already gulping air from surface. I also witnessed a sustained fight between two siblings. I think talking colors is right around the corner.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 16 days.


"Blues" being... well...blues. 









"Reds" playing the catch up game. Not being an iridescent layer/color, red will be late to the party, at least on the body, but those fins should color up faster. Unfortunately, blue washes will be a part of the game, but the parents were far from perfect in this respect, with the mother being the only red fish from her spawn.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Blues...









Blues not being quite blue. 









Red kingdom. ) Everybody has ventrals.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Big boys play with big toys. Watch my seventeen days red babies taking on their first frozen food meal, to be more specific, adult artemia salina.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 19 days.

Blues...









Reds are accomplished eaters and are growing faster.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 20 days.

Blues. Not all of them, I suppose. 









One red DT.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

DT? Neat. I'd love to see how he/she turns out!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

The lobs are not evenly matched so he/she will not turn out quite ok. But glad to see DTs popping up in the spawn anyways.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

3 weeks anniversary...

Blues.










Reds.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

These guys are growing so well! Can't wait to see how they turn out


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

The good thing of having two (or more) spawns of the same age is that you can check out in real time the developing of the fries. Now the "blues" are a little behind and I know where to concentrate my efforts.


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Yeah I've found the same with my hmpks who are quite a bit slower than my hm which are the same age

Are your blues a larger spawn than the reds?


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

No, both spawns are about equal in numbers.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 22 days.

Blues. I'm wondering how will they turn out. They look like tutti frutti to me. 









Reds.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 23 days.

Blues.









Reds.


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## Leotah (Oct 28, 2015)

Do you have any left that don't have homes already lined up?


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Yes, I always have, look here: http://vandbetta.blogspot.ro/

But there is a catch: you have to travel half a globe to get them. ))


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Age 24 days.

Blues...









Reds... Huston, we have a problem. Looks like ich.


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## Leotah (Oct 28, 2015)

Ohhhh gotcha. No international shipping.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 25 days*

No local shipping also. I only give fish in person, face to face. 

Age 25 days.

Blues.









New home for reds.









Temps.









The great migration.









I think they will fight and win any illness just fine. They are strong. 

Family picture. 











dcg said:


> No, both spawns are about equal in numbers.


Now I have a more precise answer. Blues = 133, reds = 129.


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## Leotah (Oct 28, 2015)

Oh if you were local I wouldn't mind driving


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Thank you! ))

New home bis.









Dinner time.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 26 days*

Age 26 days. 

Parents checking the fries.

Dad...









Mom...









Happy couple.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 26 days (part 2)*

Age 26 days (part 2).

First blue male.









First red male.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 27 days*

Age 27 days.

Blues...









Reds...


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 4 weeks*

Age 4 weeks.

So called "blues".









Solo dolo.









So called "reds".


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Looking really good! Im loving that little blue boy


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 29 days*

Then maybe you'll love the little green one. 









Blues...









Fight!









House of the blues.









Reds...









Nice dorsal!









House of the reds.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 30 days*

Age 30 days.

Blues looking funny.









Blues looking sexy. 









Reds... funny little faces.









Reds. Gorgeous dorsals.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 31 days*

Age 31 days.

Blues.









Some aggression.









Probably the bluest red.









Reds are fighting too.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 32 days*

Age 32 days.

Blues.









Some blue runts...









This is a blue. 









Now, those are the reds. 









A red girl showing her tits err.. ovipositor. 









No mask for my irid reds.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 33 days*

Age 33 days.

Blues.









A tank full of bettas = a thing of beauty.









Blue male.









Another "blue" male.









And yet another. 










Reds.









Reds again.









Red whale. 









Failed red DT vs thermometer. You can judge the size easier.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Subbing to this, those things are just too cute for their own good.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 34 days*

Let's see what the cuties are doing. 

Blues. Split dorsal, a sign of good behavior.









Blue male, more damage.









Also, the fry below is fatally wounded and being attacked by his siblings.









Let him die in peace.









Business as usual, fighting.









Some synchronised swimming. 









Solo spot.









Blues, general view.









Reds. Before dinner.









Reds after dinner. 









With their bellies full they just hang in there. The proximity means that occasional fights break out.









Red charging.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 5 weeks*

Photo bombing on 5 weeks anniversary. 

First, the so called reds.

Dimensions.









Those are centimeters. The damn betta kept on jumping and wouldn't align properly. 









War!










Peace, bro...










Little beggars.









Resume fighting.









Mystery male. 









A not so irid female.









Muscular male being proud of his dorsal. Be VERY afraid! 









To be continued with the blues.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 5 weeks (part 2)*

Age 5 weeks, blues, the making of. 

Dimensions relative to my hand. 









These are the real colors. Good lighting, no blitz.









Size vs thermometer.









Green male camouflaging. 









No blue plants, so no camouflage for him.









The males are grabbing the attention, but there are females too.









Green vs blue fight.









They called for a fragile truce.









"Blue" female being mostly red.









Green-red male. 









Cleaner green male.









Betta tornado!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

I love the giant dorsals on the reds!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 36 days*

Age 5 weeks + 1 day.

Blues.

Green boy minding his business.









Blue girl being gorgeous.









Blue boy stopping for a moment to smell the roses. 










"Blue" boy trying to look like his "red" cousins.









Reds.

Red boy being appointed ambassador to the blue kingdom.









He's not very happy about his new job.









Red boy navigating cautiously into the blue salad.









Red boy and an awkward fighting posture.  









Red kingdom.









Naughty red boy proudly showing his battle scars.









A blue and red coalition conquering a third tank. This is the runts kingdom and they are being trained for their future life in pet shop.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

When will you begin cupping?...feisty little cuties.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

I think 6 weeks mark will be hard to reach without jarring. This is that interesting period when you can have a tank full of betta almost looking like (and fighting like) betta.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Runts Kingdom... Ha, I giggled at that one.

I may have to try that method out too, in the future! Lovely fish! They are going to be beautiful once they're fully grown!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 37 days*

I hope so, mr. Blu, let's check out the blues at age 5 weeks +2 days.

Place your bets, gentlemen.









Blue showing off.









Green out of focus.









Blue kingdom.









Blue dating. 









Blue chasing.









Green girl.









Green girl been quite cooper.









Blue darting down.










Blue being cool.









Blues spying each other.









Blue being magnificent.












Blue full house.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Stunning


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 37 days (part 23)*

Let's see the red kingdom preparing for war. 

Age 5 weeks + 2 days.

Clusterfock fighting. 









Pale blue eyes being gracious.









Torn reds fighting. They are asking to be banished to the runts kingdom. 









Reds enjoying themselves.









Solo red boy.









Reds not being friendly.









Red being blue.









Red ambassador dominating.









Red kingdom.









Red being zen.









Red being disturbed and protesting.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 38 days*

Age 38 days (5 weeks + 3 days)

Blues.

Blue boy being blue.









Blue boy not being blue.









Blue girl being blue.









Blue girl not being blue.









Reds.

Reds doing fine.









Red ambassador showing his fake ovipositor.









Red with not so fine anal.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 39 days*

Age 5 weeks + 4 days.

Random blues.

































Random reds.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Sooooooo cuuuuuuuute


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## BettaBoy11 (Apr 21, 2015)

Adorable! Subscribing!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 40 days (reds)*

Age 40 days (5 weeks + 5 days).

I hoped I can make it to the 6 weeks mark without jarring.

But...









While the blues were playing it cool, those damn reds were going rampart. Quite few of them won a one way ticket to the runts kingdom. Time to do that thing. 

He honor of being the first male out is too much to take so he faints for the first few seconds. 









Than he looks happy to be the undisputed ruler of his own mini kingdom.









Than he flares to his blue cousins.









After all being said and done, is time to do what males do. First red out working on his first bubble nest. ))









More brothers follow...


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Yay jarring time! 
Haha omg I love the fainting guy!!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 40 days (blues)*

Age 5 weeks + 5 days.

Last moments of childhood.









Blue superstar now being a grown up in his own chambers. 









Sorry to break it out to you, but from now on you are doing time.









"Blue" with spooky anal. The "before" photo.









And "after".


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Nice, what are you feeding them at this age?
What camera do you use


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

At this age the get frozen foods (artemia salina, mosquito larvae) and dried foods but any food for adults will do.  

Let me check the camera... it is a Sony W730, the cheapest of them all I think, set on auto. I also use my phone sometimes, the fishes need to cooperate and that's fine.


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 41 days*

Age 5 weeks + 6 days.

The fainter moved his nest closer to the camera. 









Red girls being alone. Almost alone, there is one male bothering them.









A quite uninspiring red male turning marble.









He is banished to the runts kingdom.










No women, no cry... but the reverse is better. No males, no fights. ))









Blue girls stuffing themselves.









Random males being confined.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Beautiful!


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## Olivia27 (Nov 26, 2015)

OMG why do you have to live so far away? I so love your blue/purple HM boy! Thumbs up for raising this many children all at the same time


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 6 weeks*

The males are sleeping at their 6 weeks anniversary party, so this will be a female affair.

Red girls doing something.









Blue girl doing absolutely nothing.









Red girl side by side with her mother.









Blue girl charging her mother.









Red mom hiding after her daughter.









Blue girl having her arse kicked by her mother.









Let's play "find the mother". 









Blue girl looking wise.









"Blue" girl looking clueless.









Blue girl looking copper.









Blue girl being a stunner. 









The shadow of hand of god over the runts empire.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Haha cute!


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Wonderful! My fry are only 2 days old  ! 
I never knew you were married lol....
How many water changes would you do daily / whenevr? and how much?
Oh , for the water changes what size tank did you use?


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Kyle,

One WC daily. The volume dislocated is related to the number of fries, but I never go lazier then 50%. If the fries are few, I just don't fill the tank completely and keep water lever low.

Tanks 80cm long and about 120 liters when fully filled.

And, the most important thing to make clear: yes, married with children. ))


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Are you planning to sell quite a bit of them for space?


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 6 weeks + 1 day*



Kyle15 said:


> Are you planning to sell quite a bit of them for space?


I'll just let the pictures do the talking. 

Runts empire collapsing. Here is it shot down.









Hand of God doing its will. 









Water boiling.









120 souls in their way to the pet shop.









This round I witnessed a very low percentage of females, especially among the "blues", that were 134 fishes but only 22 females. I kept them all, even the runtier ones.

The runts making themselves comfortable at the pe(s)t shop. 









Red sorority.









Blue sorority.









They were sleepy, that's why they show stress stripes.

Males. Look at all those bubble nests.









I seem to have a maniac builder. 









Males going the barracks way.









Let's put some perspective.


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Cool,
What are you using for the heat ( Shelf ) I see a heater...lol
Wonderful, nice bubble nest!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

I'm using two room heaters. And I have a third one ready, just in case.


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Cool


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## Olivia27 (Nov 26, 2015)

Wow how do you get that many jugs! Gee gosh that's a whole lotta fish


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 6 weeks + 3 days*

First fry the found a new home was a "red" male. Meet A4M12, a very lucky mofo.


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## Overprotective Fish Lover (Apr 11, 2015)

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!


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## BettaBoy11 (Apr 21, 2015)

Nice!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 45 days*

From a photo session last Friday, age 6 weeks + 3 days.

A few of them hit halfmoon stage but, as it happens, almost no photo proving that is well focused. 

Here is A4M33 (blue boy) showing his D shaped caudal.









So I'll just put some nice photos without pursuing for the halfmoon aspect.

Here is A4M25, a bold "red" boy that hides very well his young age.









Here is A4M14, another "red" boy, being more balanced, almost round. 









A very clean picture of A4M30, a "blue" green boy.









A4M34. I'm in love with this kind of blue, royal blue I think it is. 









A4M19, another rather nice and round green. Or is it turquoise?









A4M17 being friendly with me.









A4M38 apparently found something.









A4M36 with a discrete butterfly pattern showing his teeth.









A4M8, a blue red fat boy.









A4M49, a green red counterpart.









Two males side by side.










And so on... I will not spam the thread with 100+ photos, but if you wish you can see all of my former fries being males  Here they are: http://vandbetta.blogspot.ro/


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 50 days*

A random male at age 7 weeks + 1 day.


















Here is the same male 6 days earlier at age 6 weeks + 2 days. You can notice the fin growth.


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## Kyle15 (Apr 22, 2015)

Nice


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

*Age 51 days*

Age 7 weeks + 2 days.

Last man standing. A4M56 is still not jarred. With his size he dwarfs the female behind. 









One "red" male standing his ground.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

They are so lovely!


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the winner of the breeding rights against whole generation A4. Coming from a superdelta father and a plain jane delta mother, he has a lot going for him. He also caries NR1 genes so I rooting for some mustard gas lovin' in the next generation. 










He has a whole kingdom all for himself, so I'm taking no chances about his well being.


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

Woooow so pretty! He's vibrant!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Oooh hes turned out real nice! Who do you plan on breeding him to


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## dcg (Nov 5, 2015)

Very few girls to chose from. From 130+ I only got about 20 females, including the runtier ones.

First choice.









The backup.









Great builder.


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