# New here and I have a question about my first time spawn



## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Hi, I am new here and have a few questions. I got my bettas to spawn for the first time last night, it was amazing to watch them embrace again and again and when the eggs started falling with the embraces I was even more astounded at how the male caught every single egg before it hit the ground and took it up to the nest. I removed the female when she started to run from him and now I am anxiously awaiting fry... also here is a link to a video of one of the embraces with eggs...

youtu.be/HWNXnGKUtk8

So now it has been 24 hours and from what I have read, I should see some wiggling hair like things in the eggs as the embryo's develop.. but I don't see anything. My betta is still hanging out under the nest but he also swims around the tank occasionally although he always returns to the nest. I am afraid he may have eaten the eggs since this is the first time they spawned. 
So when should I start seeing something before I assume that either the eggs were a bad batch or that they have been eaten? I have left the light on 24/7 so that he can always see and care for the eggs. 

I bought both of these bettas from a fish store, the male from one fish store and the female from petco or petsmart (cant remember which store). I know sometimes pet store bettas can be retired breeders or young ones. I have had them for 4 months and fed them a varied diet of frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, and omega one betta pellets. They live in heavily planted 5 gallon aquariums.



Also, here is a thread on another forum where I logged this spawn.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f82/how-do-you-spawn-your-bettas-183715.html
It was really an accident. Years ago I had bought several bettas and had several 10 gallon tanks and tried without any success to get any two of them to spawn. This time around I just happened to have one male and one female because thats what my kids picked for their tanks. I thought "hmmm, let me put them together and see what happens"... so yeah it was pretty amazing. And my local fish store will buy bettas for 1/3 of the price they can sell them for, but he said they have to be 'pretty big'. And I think the male I have, from what I have researched, is pretty good breeding quality. 


Thanks for any info anyone can provide!


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

They may not be very noticeable.
If the tank is on the colder side it will takelonger to hatch, if they hatch. What temp do you have the tanks set to?
if he is still guarding/tending the nest there are probably eggs there. If you have a flashlight you can shine it up at the nest and look for eggs or tails.

Also,I love the video. <3 Looks like a CT female and a VT male? You should get plenty of red comb-vailtails from this spawn. Not something normally bred for but your fish are lovely and as long as you have the petshop willing to take any fry to can't rehome everything looks good.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Bambi said:


> They may not be very noticeable.
> If the tank is on the colder side it will takelonger to hatch, if they hatch. What temp do you have the tanks set to?
> if he is still guarding/tending the nest there are probably eggs there. If you have a flashlight you can shine it up at the nest and look for eggs or tails.
> 
> Also,I love the video. <3 Looks like a CT female and a VT male? You should get plenty of red comb-vailtails from this spawn. Not something normally bred for but your fish are lovely and as long as you have the petshop willing to take any fry to can't rehome everything looks good.


The tank is heated and set to 82 degrees and I live in florida and my house is usually around 76 
I assume the female is crowntail and yes it is a Vailtale male... I actually find them to be the most beautiful. I know it is not recommended for breeding, but honestly I expected nothing to happen, and it is not something I plan on doing on a regular basis. I know it sounds irresponsible, but I do have the means to take care of the fry and set up appropriate housing for them and I have done my research.

and thank you for your response, I really hope to see fry soon... I imagine betta tanks all over the house... he he he...


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Her is a quick little video I just took. He attends the nest for a while, sometimes just staring at it, then he swims around the tank for a bit, and then goes back to the nest... I am an anxious momma!

The breeding completed at 2245 last night, it is now 2325 so it has been over 24 hours. I am anxious to see fry!

http://youtu.be/bQ3Kq9gWDgM


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

Haha it really does end up that way if you don't have shelves or something set up for them.
In the new vid it looks like he caught something and spit it back into the nest. 

hehe and it's not /bad/ to breed VT's especially when out crossing to something els.People just tend to avoid making combtails because the first generation can tend to look messy. I look up to the people who want to breed better vailtails. you're boy looks lovely and if I found a VT with his body/fins in another color(like platinum white or black orchid) I'd buy him for sure. I passed up a black orchid VT at walmart once because he was to sickly to have any hope to get better. if I had the money to get, say, 4 bettas of my choosing I'd get a VT boy like yours(any color) a OHM and a HM female and a HM male(in the color i was breeding for,probably plat.white) and then work on breeding for a VT line of platinums. xD


....and now I'm rambling. Sorry. xD Anyway, he's still by the nest which is a good sign.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Thank you so much for your response, I am probably watching the nest too often.. I need to relax, go to sleep and take a look in the morning, it's just so exciting to see life develop. 
oooh and red is also my favorite color


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Do you have the BBS and fry food prepared and ready? A grow out tank larger then the 5 gallons they are in (talking about a large tank since you can easily have hundreds of babies)? Enough jars and a way to heat each one appropriately when they need to be separated yet too young to sell? IAL? Powdered fry food? Infusoria and live foods? Where are you going to sell them all when they are older? Do you know how to ship properly? It's winter time so shipping over the next few months may not be idea.. 

Only reason I am mentioning this is because you didn't properly condition them- which to me shows it was a spur of the moment thing and you didn't think of the hundreds of dollars it's going to cost to raise those fry, and what to do with them at certain ages, and where you are going to keep hundreds of babies and young adults... and you didn't condition.. especially mass produced pet store bettas. You will most likely have to cull (kill off) a lot of those babies.. will you be able to do that?

There is a ton more you need to do.. since it seems all you did was throw 2 in together (which you are very lucky neither had gotten hurt as that normally happens when not properly conditioned and introduced). 

I'm sorry if I come off rude but you just created hundreds of little lives and unless you have some larger tanks free of other fish, the proper fry food, jars, all the money needed and everything else.. such as what sort of filter are you using, etc.. it just to me makes me sad to see 

And VT will be dominant trait there with those. And nothing wrong with VTs, as I like the "classic" betta look..


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Welcome to the forum and Congrats......

Any progress to report...........It can be so much fun and rewarding rearing your own Bettas from egg-to-adult....

Look forward to following your spawn log....lovely Bettas by the way.....


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Wow, ok, first of all I said I have the means to raise the fry. I have an empty 55 gallon aquarium in the garage I could use for growout but was leaning more towards large rubbermaid tubs. I was thinking of building some sort of floating individual housing for the males.. that is even if I get any fry... As for a progress report, the male is still guarding the nest and I do not see any fry. 

Did you not read that my local fish store will buy adults at 1/3 the price they sell them for?

Also I have had these two for four months feeding frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and omega one pellets. I've heard you only have to condition for 2 weeks, 4 months is not enough? 

I have infusoria cultures growing, not to mention the tank is very densly planted so it should be colonized with infusoria as well. I also have a microworm culture and powdered food, although I've read that betta fry usually won't take powdered food. I've also looked onto feeding egg yolk, which worked well when i raised guppies, but I've read conflicting evidence on egg yolk for betta fry... Some articles say its the best, some say microworms.

If you had read my post I think I addresses most of those concerns already...


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

And I did not just throw the two together. I put her in a plastic breeding box for about 24 hours and when I released her they began spawning within about 10 minutes. 

Yes I have money needed to buy supplies, jars if I decide to jar the males. Not to mention I keep my garage at 80 degrees since it is my herp room (we have 6 snakes in there) so I could easily put jarred males in there. I hate that you assume I am uneducated, at least ask questions and wait for answers before you pass judgement. I have read every article I can find on breeding bettas. I am able to do the right thing. Right now I'm not even sure if I will get fry or not.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

There is no need to jump down someone's throat for being concerned about your bettas and fry  Anyways, good luck and welcome to the forum.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Myates isn't asuming you are uneducated... we just want to make sure you know what is in store for your first spawn. you could do all the research in the world by internet, books, videos.. but when it comes down to actually doing it you'll be surprised how hard it can actually be :lol: Just remember, that the pheremones given off by larger fry will slow the growth of the others, so a lot of water changes will be in store  lol. I didn't even find an article on that, until after my first spawn.

You might get some combtails, or VT with slightly longer rays.... messy tails, or straight up VT  VT is dominant, as are certain colors over others.


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

A note on the microworms VS eggyolk thing. The thing with egg yolk is that, inmy experience, unless you have alot of fry it mostly just messes with the water. I've never fed microworms but alot of people love them as long as you don't over feed with them since it can cause your fry to have no ventral fins.

All my past spawns have readily accepted dry or non-living foods as long as that's what they were introduced to first. my very first spawn has no live food untill they were old enough for chopped blood worms. Their first food was decap BSE and sperulia(or however it's spelled) powder.

r
EDITED to add:

Also, if you have a 99cent store by your house, they sell many different sized containers. I plan on getting a few on their plastic shoe boxes since they stackable(room for air holes or slits)and long. A little air tubing, aquarium slealent and a stopper neat the bottom of them makes for easy draining for water changes


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I have had only one problem with egg yolk... my fry refused it. powdered food, live food (Baby brine shrimp, microworms, infusoria) all are pretty good, depending on your picky babies :lol: and some are rather messy 

And I never knew microworms caused the missing ventral fin problem... why is that?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

It sounds like you have a good plan and did your homework.....lots and lots of different ways to spawn and rear fry...it can vary based on you, your breeders and what you have on hand and it sounds to me like you have a pretty good setup....now we just gotta get these eggs hatched.....lol......you have several days before you have to worry about adding any food since they will feed off their yolk sac for 2-4 days and with a mature system and live plants you may even have longer....that is how I do mine too-a more natural method.....mass live plants can create lots of microorganism for the fry......

You have to understand that we get members both young and old- that don't do their research, have a plan or have any idea what they are getting themselves into when spawning this species....like you are.....you did your homework......I don't think the other posters meant to offend you....its just you are one of the few New members that sound ready- along with the understanding of what it takes and with a plan......

Since he is still tending the nest-it could be any time now before you start to see any bouncing babies......lol......it can take 24-32h depending on temp and pH.....

Keep us up dated....

***Edit-microworms-it has been associated with missing ventral fins in the growth and development stages of Betta fry, however, from my understand of the research-its not the microworms per se-it the bacteria that they create when rotting on the tank floor that causes the missing ventral.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

I wasn't meaning that you were clueless, I had seen in another 2 threads that you mentioned you only had 3 tanks- 5 gallons being the largest, and _"This time around I just happened to have one male and one female because thats what my kids picked for their tanks. I thought "hmmm, let me put them together and see what happens""_ seemed that you were not conditioning them and had not made plans, and that the tank they are in is the male's home, and have gravel and many small plants on the ground, which tend to not be idea for a spawn tank. I took all that into consideration before asking if you had proper means to care for all the fry.

I do hope you luck with the spawn.. and I'm sorry that I can be over protective as I have seen too many that have not done the research try and end up with too many deaths.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

some males will eat the free swimming fry, but others will chase them and put them back in the nest :lol: just giving a heads up hehe...


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Silly daddies...


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

So true...lol....they do love to keep us on our toes.....lol......and sometimes they eat the eggs/fry due to a health problem and that is what we want them to do....do our culling for us....and some males will eat eggs/fry if they are disturbed to much too....when they feel a threat-they will eat the eggs/fry for the protein for energy to spawn later when its safe and some are just egg/fry eaters......I give mine 3 chances and then I will artificial hatch their eggs......


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Again, I want to apologize.. (and my correction of a 29 gal community) the tubs will be fine to raise the fry in, the room sounds good- humidity being good for their labyrinth. Just keep in mind the water will be cooler then the room temp. I would recommend setting up the 55 gallon soon, or the tubs as you don't really want the tank to be cycling while the fry are in it at such an early stage.

Best of luck!


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

I also run two filters on my 29 g and can easily use seeded filter media to seed new tanks. I am no stranger to water changes either. 

if I do put the males in individual rubbermaid containers , my garage is our herp room and is usually 80 degrees ... We have 6 snakes. I suppose I cools also set up flexwatt on shelves to heat the tubs with a thermostat. There are lots of options, and I'm not sure if I am even going to have fry yet.... 


When I get home I will update and thank you all for the info.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

well that's good  hehe might not be a stranger to normal water changes.. :lol: fry water changes is crazy lol


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

I have fry! Just saw some falling and the dad putting them back in the nest!


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Awesome.....and Congrats......now the fun begins.......we expect pics and lots of updates....lol....


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

definitely :lol: depending on what kind of dad he is, you can leave them in until they are free swimming... I took my male out, even though he was wonderful with them throughout their young uncoordinated free swimming age... just, it is tiring for the dads :lol:


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

They are sooo tiny, almost microscopic, I can't really get a picture of anything yet... how long till I can expect the fry to be free swimming? The male is still dutifully attending the nest, I've only seen like 2 fall so he is doing a really good job.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Myates said:


> I wasn't meaning that you were clueless, I had seen in another 2 threads that you mentioned you only had 3 tanks- 5 gallons being the largest, and _"This time around I just happened to have one male and one female because thats what my kids picked for their tanks. I thought "hmmm, let me put them together and see what happens""_ seemed that you were not conditioning them and had not made plans, and that the tank they are in is the male's home, and have gravel and many small plants on the ground, which tend to not be idea for a spawn tank. I took all that into consideration before asking if you had proper means to care for all the fry.
> 
> I do hope you luck with the spawn.. and I'm sorry that I can be over protective as I have seen too many that have not done the research try and end up with too many deaths.


I have a sand substrate, and I wasn't concerned because I don't need a ton of fry, so if a few eggs get lost, they will most likely get eaten by my malaysian trumpet snails in the sand. 

my largest tank is a 29 at the moment. I have two 55 gallons, one is empty and the other holds my ball python. 

And yes the spawn was in the males tank, but I already put the female in my 29 gallon today and she loves it. He will be moved to her 5 gallon as soon as the fry are free swimming.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Myates said:


> Again, I want to apologize.. (and my correction of a 29 gal community) the tubs will be fine to raise the fry in, the room sounds good- humidity being good for their labyrinth.
> 
> Best of luck!



sorry was busy with the kids today, I didn't see this post till just now. No worries, I really do appreciate good advice, I just would like to be able to answer some of the questions before you pass judgement 
I consider myself an educated person, although I do make mistakes, which is why I spend a little time on the forums, not only researching and researching, but to gain insight from others experience.



EDIT: I also apolagize, re-reading my initial post I didn't mention some of the crucial information so I can see why you were mislead. I have another log running on a different forum and I mentioned there that my local fish store will buy decent sized bettas for 1/3 of the price they can sell them for. I am not thinking I would make a profit.. lol... but it is better than nothing. 

Sorry if some of my info is repeated. I was at the doctors office waiting room with my kids (routine pediatric checkup) answering questions via my phone so my thoughts may have been a bit scattered.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

Raising a spawn and you have kids, my hat goes off to you! I have a 2 and 3.5yr old... I'm scared to even try breeding fish


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Pitluvs said:


> Raising a spawn and you have kids, my hat goes off to you! I have a 2 and 3.5yr old... I'm scared to even try breeding fish


I do a lot of different things and if I don't have something to do I get depressed... I am a registers nurse and I have worked in the Emergency dept since I was 19. (Started as a tech while in school). It is in my nature to stay busy and nurture.

Last year I rescued a baby squirrel and was up every 2 hours feeding it with a 1ml syringe and ordered specialty formula. 

Occasionally I will take in a pregnant female cat, usually a stray someone doesn't want and I raise the kittens, get the momma and all the babies fixed , dewormed, and vaccinated... and rehome them. At least that way if someone let's them go they aren't reproducing. And I have a good relationship with a local low cost spay and neuter clinic. 
I've also nursed abandoned kittens which are actually much easier than squirrels..

So just to give an insight in my nature and to ensure to those doubtful that I will do things the right way.  why else would I be here asking for as much info as possible

Oh and my daughter will be 5 in Feb and my son turns 3 in April. They both go to preschool, I would not attempt this when they were babies... Lol.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

So some of the videos I've seen on you tube, the fry seem to fall alot, I've only seen one or two fall and he catches them right away and puts them right back in the nest and then puts more bubbles up around it. They are sooooo tiny, I guess they will start falling more often when they get bigger.

Is it absolutely necessary to leave the male in there until they are free swimming? I mean, couldn't they just hatch on their own from this point? I am so paranoid that daddy is going to change his mind and eat all of them.... I mean I know the males naturally cull the weak, sickly, deformed.. but I would like to have at least a few offspring make it to adulthood.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

this is my video, on youtube, of the fry which half were free swimming and the rest are hopping in and out of the nest :lol: this is what you can expect!! haha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjQIR1EpY0I&feature=g-upl&context=G22704d6AUAAAAAAADAA

sorry for the bad quality :lol:


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

They fall more often as they start trying to swim on their own. xD

You won't be worrying for long in another day/two/three they'll be free swimming and you can take the dad out.
then you can worry about culling yourself. for the first couple weeks they're still small enough to b e eaten by the parents If i see a bent spine or something i cull by feeding to one of the parents while they're small enough.

Congrats on the fry though <3 I'm hoping to have a spawn soon aswell, i miss raising fry. A breeder in my town is going away untill the 30th but said when he gets back I can buy some of his fish. He has some lovely white HM males and some females(unsure of colors) so I'm hoping for a new pair..or two..or three.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

or five.


oops I mean four >.>


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Best of luck with your fry. The father seems to be doing a great job. I wouldn't worry about him until all the fry are free swimming.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Thanks for the info. He does look like a good daddy. I get off work in about 4 hours, hoping they are easier to see when I get home! This is so exciting.... as soon as I see a decent amount of free swimming fry and am able to remove the male I am going to start buying supplies for either jarring the males or making some sort of floating divider to float in those big 30 gallon tubs. That way I will be able to use less heaters and actually have a filter.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Laffs....You sound like me....lol.....I raised a baby squirrel a few summers ago and a opossum this summer (_see pic and story in my album_) and too many to count newborn kittens that needed bottle reared-not to mention all the injured critters I tended too over the years-except that I tend to keep them all(_all spay/neute_r)-but I also live on a cattle ranch.....I need something to nurture as well to ward off depression......I worked years in the ER too and in the medical field for near 40 years until I retired due to health several years ago...my body is broken but my brain isn't and it has to stay busy....lol......or I will go nuts.....

Anyway.....

You can take the male out before the fry are free swimming-but its better to leave him if you can-free swimming usually start around 2-4 days after hatch...this can vary.....I have artificial hatched both in the spawning tank and in small container with success and removed the male a varied timelines without issue
In some of my many experiments I have conducted over the years-With my inside spawns-I have left the male long term and kept both male and female long term to get multi spawns-just removing fry as they grow-since it was the older/larger fry that ate the younger/smaller fry...neither the male or female was ever seen eating them
I use this method outside in the summer/warmer months with great success..

Generally with my spawns I rarely have many fry that fall from the nest and the ones that do usually can get themselves back to the nest or to a nearby live plant...You can see bouncing fry that kinda "bing" to and fro under the nest....but I also use a more natural method in NPT's full to the top with water

The eggs/fry that are seen on the bottom usually are not what I want to keep anyway-not always- but most of the time these are not the healthiest if they can't get themselves back to the nest. 
Eggs that fall all the time can sometimes be a sign of either infertile or unhealthy to start-not that they won't hatch if fertile-they usually will-but sometimes will show signs of health issues as they mature-usually swimming problems-buoyancy related, tail dragging, spine issues and the like and this may even show up as late as 6-10weeks of age and older....
I have had eggs that fall, stay on the floor of the tank and hatch- that grew up without health problems too-but never seemed to grow out the way I like for them to-always seemed smaller......and amazed that they didn't get eaten by either the snails or shrimp I keep in the spawning tanks....lol.....

A lot of things can go wrong-but a lot of things can go right too....this is one of the easiest egg layers to spawn-but rearing the fry can get tricky sometimes....but so much fun and rewarding....

Keep us posted.....


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Thanks fish lady! Seems that you and I share like interests. I used to live on my grandmas property which was 20 acres, I had more space to rescue animals then, now I have a small house in a small countryish city, but still in the city limits so I don't have room for a lot. But there is room for fish! Lol. 

I guess it is a good thing then that I don't see a lot of fry falling. That means I probably have a healthy group. And nice to know I can take the male out a little early. This is a densly planted tank so they have lots of places to hide but I worry because today I work 12 hours and I'm off tomorrow, but then I work another 12 hr shift and I don't want him to decide to eat them if they start free swimming while I'm at work. Then again I know its good to leave him so he can eat fungused eggs and sickly fry... Decisions decisions. Lol.

Honestly though I will be happy if I even get 5-10 healthy adults out of this. Once I see what its like growing them I may invest in some higher quality bettas to breed. I really like the half moon ...


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

ashleynicole said:


> I do a lot of different things and if I don't have something to do I get depressed... I am a registers nurse and I have worked in the Emergency dept since I was 19. (Started as a tech while in school). It is in my nature to stay busy and nurture.
> 
> Last year I rescued a baby squirrel and was up every 2 hours feeding it with a 1ml syringe and ordered specialty formula.
> 
> ...


We have a lot in common. Although I'm a stay at home Mom right now, I hope to go back to school for nursing in 2013. Right now we're trying to live trap a female stray that I have been working with trust wise so we can get her indoors and vetted, we do a lot with rescues locally. I wish we had a low spay clinic here though, we pay full price for spays which are $200-$300  But yeah, very nice to meet someone much like myself! I think that's why I haven't planned to try breeding yet, the rescue side of me and the drive to only take care of something I can handle haha Most of our Betta would be long gone if they didn't come home with us.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

Pitluvs said:


> . Although I'm a stay at home Mom right now, I hope to go back to school for nursing in 2013.


I admire all of those who made it through nursing school with kids, I can't even imagine. Luckily I didn't have my kids until after nursing school (thank God the birth control worked! lol).. I always hear about people who got preggo on birth control.

So male is still guarding the nest, The fry are still so small I can't see them inside the nest, I've only seen like 1 or 2 that have fallen and the last time I saw one was yesterday and it looked like it was trying to wiggle back up on its own before dutiful dad grabbed it and put it back in the nest. *sigh* I know it's only been a few days but it feels like forever! LOL


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

:lol: forever isn't known until you have to step in and be Mr. Mom rather than the betta dad :lol:


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

haha the first few days seem to go by so slow but in two weeks you'll wonder where the time has gone and in 2 months you wonder how they grew so fast. xD


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

So.. I think the male may have ate them... Today I don't see anything and he is swimming around the tank more than he has been. I went ahead and took him out and put him in a different tank, just in case there are any left, but I don't see anything at all... and yesterday I saw a few falling and trying to swim a little bit... 

It was really neat to see them spawn though, not sure if I will try agian. Who knows, maybe a few survived and are still buried in the bubbles. I will watch the tank for a few days.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

That's a good idea... just in case some are still there. Check around plants too... Well, if you ever did try again, when the babies hatch take him out. They'll be okay, even if they don't end up staying in the nest.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

yeah, not sure if I will try again. If I do I will do it in a separate 10 gallon with floating plants. Now is just the wait and see if anything shows up in the 5 gallon planted. I guess I should give it a week and if I don't see any fry by then I can put a betta back in it?


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yep  you can do a water change after you realize there is no fry. You should wait I'd say 3-4 days.... then you'd know for sure.


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## ashleynicole (Dec 20, 2011)

I keep looking in the tank, I feel like I am straining my eyeball muscles. I saw one little fry swimming in the back. but I haven't seen it since and I keep looking and looking. I have a lot of plants in the tank so I suppose there could be more... and if they are down by the sand, would my snails eat them if they are alive and fell down into the sand? I have a lot of malaysian trumpet snails that burrow down in the sand.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Usually any fry unwilling to dart away when something gets close is usually dead or deformed enough that they won't last anyways. Check the plants. I had tons of fry basically hiding in plants, that I could not see until I gently shook the plant.


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