# M1 + BFF Spawn Log



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

Here is my long-awaited first spawn.




Male: M1, my Petco variegated multi Halfmoon.




[FONT=&quot]Female: BFF, my Black Fire Female from NIB’s spawn.[/FONT]


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

Set up:


The tank is a 20g long. It is set up on a custom stand I made from a re-purposed entertainment stand. I added a shelf to hold a florescent light and the containers for the refill drip. The tank has 2 sponge filters powered by a split Tetra Whisper 20. The heater is an Aqueon Pro 100. The temperature is set to 82-84 degrees. Water conditioners are Seachem Prime and a homemade IAL extract. 3 Mystery Snails started out in the tank, but only 1 remains in there. The other 2 have been sent to other tanks in need of algae cleaning.


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

Spawning:


The first attempt at spawning was several weeks ago. At the start, the pair looked receptive to each other, but M1 never built a nest. Eventually he started chasing BFF too much and the spawn was cancelled. 



After 2 more weeks of conditioning, they were put back in the tank in the traditional hobbyist method. M1 immediately went to work on a huge nest. BFF was in the chimney glass for 2 days and finally released on Friday 1/27/2012. The spawn itself happened on Saturday, 1/28/2012, though I did not know it at the time.


I made a rookie mistake by not checking the nest for eggs. I assumed the spawn had failed again. I introduced another female, who was promptly chased from the nest relieved of her fins. I gave up and started a water change. It was after removing half of the water from the tank that I noticed a nest full of eggs. I slowly dripped the water back and cursed my incompetence.
The next couple of days M1 was hard at work tending the nest and the eggs. On Monday, 1/30/2012, I saw my first dangling tail.


More pictures will come in the next few days with more updates. I wanted to get this log started for you all.


----------



## LittleBettas (Jul 23, 2011)

Aw!!! congrats!!! my spawn *should* hatch on the 9th is all goes well  Im excited!


----------



## LilyK (Oct 19, 2011)

Keep us updated!


----------



## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

I'm so glad you saw the eggs before it was too late. Congratulations!


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

*17 Days old.*

They are 2 weeks and 3 days old. Everything is going well. I have moved over to feeding exclusively BBS, and after a few batches I have perfected my hatching and harvesting method. It is so much fun watching the fry chase after the brine shrimp.

I have been doing water changes every day since there were free swimming. The first few times I vacumed the bottom of the tank I sucked up a minimum of 10 fry each time. They were all placed back in the tank and seemed no worse for the wear. Recently I have started using a small airline and an air stone to slowly siphon the water out. Daily I pull out 2.5 gallons of water and drip 3 gallons back in. I am no longer adding the IAL tea to the water and the tank is looking beautifully clear.

The fry are growing at an almost alarming pace. I have a hard time beleiving that just 2 weeks ago they were specs with tails that bounced around on the bottom of the tank. There are a few runts as you would expect, but the "small" fry are disapearing. They are either dying, being eaten, or growing fast over night. The larger fry are showing dorsal fins and becoming less and less transparent. The largest of the spawn is noticeably darker then the rest of the spawn. I imagine the others will take this coloring on soon.

Currently, the count is anywhere between 40-70.


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

This is really good. I like how you keep the tank nice and clean. Do you keep the water level at the current level?

You said: *"Recently I have started using a small airline and an air stone to slowly siphon the water out."*

How exactly did you do this using an air stone? What does the air stone do or is used for?


----------



## OMB (Nov 6, 2011)

Now i have another thread of yours to follow.  Makes me want to start breeding bettas too! Can't wait to see when theyve grown enough for fins and colors to show. You have us on the edge of our seats!


----------



## newarkhiphop (Apr 22, 2011)

nice nice keeps us updated


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

bettalover2033 said:


> How exactly did you do this using an air stone? What does the air stone do or is used for?


 After reading everything about cleaning breeding tanks I still thought "How hard can it be not to suck up a fry?" I sucked up 14 on my first attempt 

I now use 3/16" airline tubing with a 1 inch airstone as a siphon. The airstone slows down the water flow and makes it impossible to suck up any fry. Standard airline tubing flows at about 1 gallon every 8 minutes. With the airstone it flows at 1 gallon every 20 minutes. 50 minutes total to pull out 2.5 gallons.



bettalover2033 said:


> Do you keep the water level at the current level?


I am adding .5 gallons of water each day. I pull out 2.5g and add 3g of new water. I started with the standard hobbyist breeding method of 4-5 inches of water to make it easier for the male to keep the eggs in the nest. In about 10 more days the tank should be full.

Again, the fry seem to have grown over night. I counted 50 in the middle water column. a few floaters and a few belly sliders, but the majority of the fry are swimming well and growing fast.


----------



## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

Do you have plans to re-home, or sell the fry when they are of age? I can't wait to see them grow


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

I plan to put the best up on aquabid. I will keep 2 pair of the best fin and color for the next spawn. Some will go to friends and family, and the remainder will go to my local betta charter and for sale at local pet stores that have expressed interest. 

A little early to talk about divvying them up and starting the next spawn, but I do have a plan in mind if everything goes well.


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

*3 weeks old.*

Three weeks old today and the fry are doing great. Still growing quickly. The largest have developed their stress stripe (I am calling it "camouflage" right now) and have a blue iridescence under my flashlight. The tank is filling up slowly. The other day I noticed that I can see the fry in the tank from the kitchen. A big step when just 3 weeks ago I was getting headaches from squinting at them.

The "A Team" fish are doing great. Some of the belly sliders have taken to the middle of the water column, so they should be alright. The true runts are another story....

Saturday morning I saw my biggest fry swimming around with the head of one of the runts in his mouth. The tank is taking care of the first round of culling for me. (last picture)

I'll update with more pictures as the week goes on.


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Your fry are looking beautiful!! Oh gosh I would be grossed out by that, but in the real wild, this must happen often to get rid of the weakest fry for the largest to live. At least you don't have to take care of it *( for now )*

You are doing a great job!!


----------



## MaisyDawgThirteen (Dec 7, 2011)

Keep us updated!


----------



## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

I had a fry once try to eat one if it's dead siblings, he bit off more than he could chew, had to spit it out.


----------



## OMB (Nov 6, 2011)

Interested to know how things are going???


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

CalvinWill said:


> After reading everything about cleaning breeding tanks I still thought "How hard can it be not to suck up a fry?" I sucked up 14 on my first attempt
> 
> I now use 3/16" airline tubing with a 1 inch airstone as a siphon. The airstone slows down the water flow and makes it impossible to suck up any fry. Standard airline tubing flows at about 1 gallon every 8 minutes. With the airstone it flows at 1 gallon every 20 minutes. 50 minutes total to pull out 2.5 gallons.
> 
> ...


This makes a bunch of sense, but how exactly do you get the debris from the floor out? It wouldn't be able to pass through the air stone. Unless you were to cut a hole through it which wouldn't make any sense.

You know how sometimes your tank bottom gets dirty with brown or a darker color...how do you clean that out with the air stone?


----------



## CalvinWill (Sep 23, 2011)

I do a weekly siphon to get the debris and poop out of the tank. With the daily water changes my water doesn't have time to foul. 

I will post pictures today during my cleaning. 5 weeks old yesterday and doing great.


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

That's reasonable. So you tank is always filtering out continuously during the day and you just keep adding?

Do you sleep with it filtering out?. This is a great technique to get the stunting hormone out if the tank.


----------

