# Marble HMPK Spawn - Dalmatian Cello x Marble Cello



## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

So everyone, it has finally happened!

My fourth breeding attempt has finally sparked my pair to spawn and the male to NOT eat all the eggs, unlike last time.

The fish are a pair of marble HMPK from Aluka's breeding project, purchased about 6 weeks ago. Conditioned them heavily for two weeks before I decided to breed my male with a female blue/red sister. They spawned, but he ended up eating all the eggs 

5 days of reconditioning later, and I pop in another one of his sisters with him, and voila, they instantly clicked. 36 hours later, I got them spawning 

Setup is a 10 gallon, filled halfway with 1 IAL, a bunch of Anacharis, Moneywort, and Guppy Grass. Styrofoam cup was used for the nest as well as a 20 gallon sponge filter, which will be used when the fry are free swimming.

The male is guarding the nest and momma has been placed back into the sorority with minimal nipping/damage. The key to this was that she was slightly bigger than the male 


Here are the pics and vids!


Here are the pics
Male/Daddy
View attachment 328674


View attachment 328682


Female/ Momma
View attachment 328690


View attachment 328698


Attached are 2 videos: One of the pair spawning and me being a creep, filming them; the other one is about all my tanks and you get to see the nest, my sorority, and setup. I hope to keep all of you updated on the spawn. Cheers!

VIDEO 1 (Spawning):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slBvx1XZCwQ

VIDEO 2 (nest, sorority, setup, etc. ----CAUTION: I blabber A LOT!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yBnwMkJvPw


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

I cannot wait to see the babies, they are such a beautiful pair


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## Aluka (Dec 25, 2012)

Good job!!! Sorry i was too busy to respond last time when you messaged me, i was at my friend's house helping her rescape her tank, lol


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

Your first spawn brings headaches, and I guess it's no different for me.

I woke up the day after the eggs were laid, and the bubble nest was in tatters. The majority of eggs were on the floor, so i decided that most of them wouldn't make it since my male was doing nothing to build another nest and bring the eggs back to the surface.

So I leave the eggs alone, about 50-60 of them, mostly on the floor, and they started hatching at about 2 PM yesterday, April 4. 

All the eggs hatched by this morning, but my question is: how small are the fry?

I see a lot of small dots, almost microscopic and without the smallest trace of any fish resemblence, darting around, easily around 30 or so. Are these other microorganisms or my bettas?

Are they in the free swimming stage? I fed microworms this morning either way.

I'm so confused guys! HELP!!!!


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

I'm only two days ahead of you. My fry were free swimming by day 2 of hatching. My thread has a few pics of the fry for reference:
http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=364457


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## Aluka (Dec 25, 2012)

the fry should look like 2 black dots and a tail, they look nothing like fish, lol


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

I'm going to try and get pictures once I'm done with work today. Either way, is it normal for the fry to be free-swimming only a day after hatching?

My main concern was that the nest was a corner of the tank and most of the white dots are concentrated in the middle. 

Since most of them developed on the ground of the tank, will they be able to survive and develop swim bladders? I took the male out btw


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

That is a little fast in my opinion. The fry should have completely consumed their yolk sacs before turning free swimming.


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

Well, another spawn down the toilet. I put the mail in a 64oz container in the tank to keep his temp stable, and he managed to jump out of it, into the tank while I was running errands.

I can't see any of the white dots anymore...looks like he either took care of them or the undeveloped babies met met their end 

I'm definitely going to recondition the pair a little more extensively this time...maybe try spawning them after a week since the female is in great condition :/

What do you guys do with males that are egg-eaters and bad at making bubble nests?


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

dont necessarily count your male out just yet.
the first time i used my male, i mismanaged the female, and she ended up not being able to hold her clutch and lost all her eggs. the male ate all those...

i feared he was an egg eater. luckily for me, when I put him and the female back together, the spawn was successful, and the pics you see in my thread are of the fry. my main point being, males will eat the products of a botched spawning, whether it be because the fry were beyond saving, unfertilized eggs, or eggs gone bad. 

it's also normal for the nest to go to hell once when the eggs have hatched. the fry are moving and wriggling, it will break up the nest and cause them to sink. at that point, the male is no longer occupying himself with fixing the nest but rather catching the fallers.

worst case scenario, he is demoted from breeder to pet. and if i have no room for pets, give him up for adoption.


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

Well, my FOUR attempts with my #1 male did not go smoothly at ALL. He ate the eggs twice and the fry the third time. At my fourth attempt, the eggs mysteriously disappeared and he stopped caring for his nest, AGAIN!

So here I am frustrated about my male being a dud and I realize that I've got the perfect replacement. So now, I'm trying this new boy, who I call Ronin. He's a dragonscale bi-color, and it's sad for me to admit that he was my most neglected boy out all 5 that I have, mostly because I never attempted a spawn with him.

The female marble is looking as great as ever, since the last spawn was with one of her sisters and it allowed her 2 weeks to rest up and get plump again, lol. I have no problems with her...she's actually helping make the bubble nest since this new guy is so relaxed and non-aggressive! 

I can safely say that he's the most docile Betta I've ever seen and an impressive bubble nest maker to boot. Fingers cross that these guys spawn and give me beautiful fishies 

ps: I will make a separate thread with these guys if they spawn.

VIDEO (of courtship, setup, and bubble nests galore): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sB2fBNgyjw&feature=youtu.be


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

best of luck!


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