# Pineapple Butterfly OHM x Pineapple HM Spawn



## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Piineapple babies! At least that's the hope :-D This will be my first spawn if all goes well. 

Dad is a show quality OHM Pineapple Butterfly imported from Thailand. I'm showing his eBay pic because his fins sadly will probably never look this good again after he bit them up during shipping:


















Mom is a similarly sized Pineapple HM with a slight copper sheen to her iridescence (dad's is more blue). She also has very thin black edging on her fins. I don't have pics uploaded of her yet, will get those as soon as I figure out where I left my camera.

Anyway, the breeding tank is all set up. It's a 10 gallon with about 6" of water in it. It has a bubble filter in place for when the fry are free swimming, lots of frogbit on the surface with good roots hanging down, an IAL (I'm adding more today), a snail and a Krabby Patty decoration for cover. I didn't have any styrofoam cupos so I took a piece of flat styrofoam about 1" thick and carved out a hollow space in the middle but left the sides touching the water. It also has an insulated metal sheet over it which I'm hoping will keep in the humidity underneath it. The whole tank is very humid right now too, I didn't cut out any pieces on the versatop cover so the water cannot evaporate easily.

I also have an LED light over the whole tank so daddy can see at night. I thought it was just a blue LED but realized this morning it has a daylight/nightlight feature so the daylight is mostly white LED with a few blues.

The spawning tank is set up in my closet XD It was the only good solution, my fish room is my bedroom and since the light will need to stay on for 3 days after the spawning it needs to stay in there so it doesn't drive me nuts at night.

The growout tank is a beautifully planted 20gal long tank. It has fluorite substrate with a sand cap, two African mopani driftwood logs covered in rare mosses, and lots of frogtbit in there too. Plus some java fern, anubias, and crypts.


ANYWAY, I put mommy in a 2 gallon tank which I placed inside the breeding tank last night, and somehow she escaped into the main tank XD I decided that since she was the one who jumped and the not other way around, I'd let her stay in there and see what happened. I was conditioning them in side by side tanks for a week before this so I figured they could be ready.

Mom was displaying vertical stripes and bowing her head down at dad, swimming up to him to flirt and then swimming away, At first dad seemed to have NO CLUE what was going on lol. Then he got the picture and started chasing her back and flaring at her. He also decided he liked the styrofoam area. They did this for about 4 hours and never once stayed close long enough to attempt an embrace. it was almost midnight at this point and I decided that since there were no bubbles I'd take out the mom for the night, since I wouldn't be available to remove her from the tank in the middle of the night if the spawning occurred. I'm going to try them again after my job interview today. I am a tad worried that the water is to viscous still to support a bubble nest. I added extra API water conditioner (I usually use Prime) because I've noticed the slime coat stuff really helps with keeping bubbles on the surface. I will also keep the tank hood open to let dust fall in.

I have been feeding mom and dad several small meals per day of their regular pellets, defrosted bloodworms and brine shrimp. I wish I had access to mosquito larvae, but it's reached the point of getting too cold outside at night to support them.

Hoping this afternoon's breeding goes more successfully. They're both first-timers and so am I, so we're all kind of just trying to muddle through this XD At least I have everything set up well and did my homework!

*Babies*
If you're interested in a pineapple baby (or several) please subscribe to this thread! Should my spawning be successful I will definitely have babies available for the BettaFish.com community, to thank you all for your help and expert advice. Depending on how the spawning goes, I will have pet quality babies available at a very reasonable price, and potentially some show quality babies as well.


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## CandiceMM (Jul 15, 2012)

I will be stalking your thread!!! I wish you all the luck and hope you have many babies!!!! Can't wait for updates and pics!


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## Talen (Sep 6, 2012)

I am going to be stalking this thread too because that is one beautiful fish. Good luck


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

If you get any yellow females, I'm interested.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Glad to hear you found a good female. 

Two things...

- Your growout tank, although I'm ure it's beautiful, it's not practical for what you will be using it. You will be making 100% daily water changes for the next 3-4 months and the substrate and decorations are just going to get on your way. The tank needs a good bottom scrubbing every couple of days to get rid of the bacteria there or your fry might suffer from missing ventrals. 
A bare bottom tank is ideal for growouts. 

- If you leave your hood open your male will never have a good bubble nest because the air pressure will pop his bubbles. The tank should be airtight.


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## BettaBaited (May 22, 2012)

Wow. He's gorgeous! The finnage is beautiful, & you gotta love those yellow lips!


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

vilmarisv said:


> Glad to hear you found a good female.
> 
> Two things...
> 
> ...


I only left the hood open over night, should I put saran wrap under the hood also? It's not airtight. And I have some Malaysian trumpet snails and ramshorn snails in the 20G. I told OFL about my plans and she said they'd do a good job with cleanup of any uneaten food. The Malaysian Trumpet snails spend most of their time eating gunk out of the substrate, wouldn't that take care of the bacteria along with using my turkey baster?

Both fish are in the breeding tank again, they have tried to embrace but they can't quite figure it out yet.


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## TwilightNite (Mar 3, 2011)

Ooooh.... The male is beautiful! I bet the female is too! I cant wait to see the babies if the spawn is successful! May the Odds be ever be in your favor!=)


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

vilmarisv said:


> Your growout tank, although I'm ure it's beautiful, it's not practical for what you will be using it. You will be making 100% daily water changes for the next 3-4 months and the substrate and decorations are just going to get on your way. The tank needs a good bottom scrubbing every couple of days to get rid of the bacteria there or your fry might suffer from missing ventrals.
> A bare bottom tank is ideal for growouts.


OFL spawns and raises all her bettas in planted tanks, she almost never has missing ventrals. I think there is much more food available in an aged planted tank that the fry are swimming trying to get the natural food already in the tank. I would also think the fry would be more at home and would swim around more than in a bare tank with almost nothing for them to do.

That's just my two cents. I have never bred before though.


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## homegrown terror (Aug 6, 2012)

the dad is beautiful! i think he might be a MG though, not a pineapple. pineapples usually have solid yellow fins with black/navy blue rimming around the edges.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

homegrown terror said:


> the dad is beautiful! i think he might be a MG though, not a pineapple. pineapples usually have solid yellow fins with black/navy blue rimming around the edges.


He's less shiny in person, but I can see why you think that and I believe he could produce MG offspring if paired with another fish with heavy iridescence. I also wouldn't be surprised if one of his parents was MG. The blue is confined to the edges of the scales, but when light hits it right it looks like a smooth sheen 

I have reset the spawning process because of a mishap with the female getting into the breeding tank too early and getting beaten up. Conditioning will restart in 4-5 days


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

Aw I almost got him... but I will most likely want his babies  And I dont think he is completely pineapple or mustard gas. He is almost to what I would call a yellow salamander ( what I am trying to breed/ figure out) but his body is a little to light.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Here's a pic of the female when she escaped, showing vertical bars:









Here is what she looks like now. Sigh :/









Both tanks were heavily tinted from IAL so their colors are a bit obscured.

I got a video when she was still in her jar too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyL_mO-yKSg&feature=youtu.be


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

kfryman said:


> OFL spawns and raises all her bettas in planted tanks, she almost never has missing ventrals. I think there is much more food available in an aged planted tank that the fry are swimming trying to get the natural food already in the tank. I would also think the fry would be more at home and would swim around more than in a bare tank with almost nothing for them to do.
> 
> That's just my two cents. I have never bred before though.


I think you need to compare your breeding goals with OFL's. 
She has good methods that work for her but if you're breeding show fish there's things that will improve your fry's finnage and growth rate that might differ in a setup like that. 

My fry are very active and swim all over the tank. I make my own natural food by using plants at the beginning of the spawn to create infusoria for the fry to eat the first few days. Then I start the water changes and feed live food. 

The problem with ignoring the need for large water changes is the stunting hormone released by the fry. Your fry will grow but at a much slower rate than one that get large water changes to remove the hormone. 

By the looks of your pair I assume you're breeding to maybe show one day but if I'm wrong then ignore my imput.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

vilmarisv said:


> I think you need to compare your breeding goals with OFL's.
> She has good methods that work for her but if you're breeding show fish there's things that will improve your fry's finnage and growth rate that might differ in a setup like that.
> 
> My fry are very active and swim all over the tank. I make my own natural food by using plants at the beginning of the spawn to create infusoria for the fry to eat the first few days. Then I start the water changes and feed live food.
> ...


You do make good points and I am thinking about going ahead and getting another 20 long tank to keep bare for them. I just got some really nice metal shelving on wheels with 4 tiers so I will have the space for more large tanks.

I would like to breed high quality fish with good features and hopefully show one day, yes.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Just wanted to give an update: Conditioning has restarted and this time I have opted not to put a piece of cardboard in between the male and female (their tanks are side by side).

Additionally, I have a greater variety of plants set up in the spawning tank this time, which I think will help the female feel safer. There's a bunch of java moss, guppy grass, frogbit, and subwassertang in there. I will be adding some IAL soon so the water is nice and dark by the time the fish are ready to be moved to the spawning tank.


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Is this the pair you were talking about? this is a very nice pair!


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

Mo said:


> Is this the pair you were talking about? this is a very nice pair!


Yes it is!


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## tanseattle (Jun 28, 2012)

Any pictures of the fries??


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## Mo (Mar 15, 2012)

Hey. Ill ship those baggies out today or tomorrow since I havnt been able to do so all week long. I cant wait to recieve this pair!


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