# My first recorded breeding log



## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

I've decided to try my hand at breeding again and to try to record it here. I've had a few unsuccessful tries as of late (hungry daddy's eating up all the eggs). Thanks to MrVampire181, Oldfishlady and Tony from The Betta Shop in St.Paul, MN I feel like I'm ready to give it another go. I will try to give updates and provide pictures when I can. Plan to record the process even if it ends in failure.

A few details on the setup:
I've fed all my fish live blackworms for the last two weeks (something new). Something else new I'm trying is wild almond leaf extract.
I will have approximately 4 gallons of water in a 10 gallon tank. Temperature will be between 80 and 82 degrees F. Hiding places, artificial plants, and styrofoam cup, as well as live Wisteria and Java plants.

My thoughts on why I have failed my last attempt are: Water was cycled and not fresh, poor conditioning of fish. 

And yes I know what I'm getting into.

So we'll see... :-D


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Good luck!


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

For our experts out there: I do not plan to feed my male during the breeding process. Should I continue to condition him in the breeding tank until the female is released or should I cease feeding him as soon as he enters the breeding tank? Thank You.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Haha blackworms will get your bettas horny in no time. I use them to condition my wilds for spawning and it works every single time. 

Even just feeding my bettas them as a treat gets the males showing off and strutting their stuff.

Good luck on your spawn log. Sounds like you are prepared!


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

Thanks MrVampire. You are the Alice Cooper of the Betta world. I'm not worthy! LOL (Waynes World reference)


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Not an expert.... I fed my males in the breeding tank as well as the females. Once the eggs are there the male stopped eating anything I gave him so I just ended up vacuming the food out.
I have never had a male or female eat eggs or fry, but I always feed frozen fresh food to my fish. If they were used to dry, then I suppose they might think the eggs and fry were a treat for them?

Best of luck.
Jeff.



bettaboytroy said:


> For our experts out there: I do not plan to feed my male during the breeding process. Should I continue to condition him in the breeding tank until the female is released or should I cease feeding him as soon as he enters the breeding tank? Thank You.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Its up to you if you continue to feed him. I don't simply because I want the water to be clean.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*Pics of my set up*


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*Pics of Mom and Dad (I hope)*










This is Jay.










This is Prudence (A little bit of stress stripe from camera flash)

Jay is now in the breeding tank hopefully laying claim to his new territory.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

Sorry, still trying to figure out how to post pics.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Since I use a more natural method of spawning.....I feed before, during and after spawning-but I am also feeding live food-mainly mosquito larva...

Same with my lights-I stay on my 12h/day PP-lights off even with eggs/fry.....

Good luck....


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Good luck, I feed my male until he is taking care of a nest full of eggs. From my experience, he won't eat until the fry are free swimming.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*The 1st date*

I put the female in a cylindrical vase and put her in the breeding tank. I plan to keep her there for a couple hours or so. The male is flaring and showing off and she has gone to vertical striping. After only about 10-15 minutes he is already starting to spend time under the foam cup. I think bubbles will come shortley as he is spending his time between her, the cup, and gulping air.

I think I've decided to continue to feed them both live food until they are actually together. Hoping to get them together possibly this Friday late afternoon. looking to introduce her a few times with the vase and hopefully get a nest started before she is let go.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*The 2nd date*

After removing the female for a few hours I thought I'd let them see each other once more before bedtime. Both fish seem really excited and showing interest. Immediately the male tried to lead her to his cup and started blowing bubbles. Seems like he was trying to tell her "It's over here! come and see!". Then he quickly started on the nest like he wasn't sure how long it would be before she "decided to leave" again.

I like the reactions I'm getting from both fish and I like the look of the water. The Almond leaf extract has turned the water a light tea color.

I read somewhere (most likely here) that someone seemed to do well breeding when it rained. Don't know if this is coincidence or not but barometric pressure does seem to effect lake fish. Anyway here in my neck of the woods we are getting our first humid weather of the year. it has been a wet start to the month with thunderstorms randomly coming through. Not sure if it will help or not but I'll take anything I can get.

As I finish typing it's more of the same a quick trip to the female, a flare, and a race back to the cup to blow bubbles.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*Final date*

After feeding the fish I have put the female/vase one last time with the male. I will be letting her go in an hour or so. Both fish still are showing lots of interest. A light thundershower outside is setting the mood.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*The waiting begins*

Female was released about 1 1/2 hrs ago. There's been some chasing by the male. He is actually quite docile towards her. She can hide from him quite easily because of heavy cover. There is a small nest. It's about the size of a teaspoon. My last couple attempts at breeding I had introduced the fish on Friday and had eggs Sunday morning. Hoping for the nest size to increase tomorrow and for the female to become more interested in the males nest building.


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## EvilVOG (Nov 23, 2011)

my male would mostly ignore pellet food, but i had Daphnia that was just living in there wild and i think he was snacking on that at some point because he got quite fat very suddenly while tending eggs (i initially thought he was eating eggs).


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*Small healthy nest and a few pictures*









Another picture of Jay










Here's Prudence when she was still enclosed in the vase. Notice the "tiger striping"









Jay again flaring (The white blur is his dumbo ear pectoral fin)









Jay at home under his nest.










Top view of the styrofoam cup showing the "spillage" of the nest to the outside of the cup. Hoping it doubles in size sometimes tomorrow.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*Promising behavior*

Well, I saw one unsuccessful embrace about 15 minutes ago. The nest has at least doubled in size during the last 24 hours. Female is starting to show much more submissive behavior. Jay spends most of his time on the nest with a few breaks to go check up on her. He knows she's spending most of her time in a ceramic vase and goes to peak in on her from time to time. He seems to be the most docile male I've ever attempted to breed rarely chasing her but definately showing interest. She's starting to seem more and more interested in what he is doing also.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

*More embraces*

Embracing with more regularity now. I have yet to see eggs released though. Seems as if they get distracted when I try to watch or take pictures. Hoping there will be eggs by tomorrow morning.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

bettaboytroy said:


> The Betta Shop in St.Paul, MN


Ok random browsing of threads lead me here...I'm honestly upset with myself. I am from st. Paul and only in South Dakota for school and I've never heard of this place. I even live within a few miles of there. How have I never heard of this place!? I'm totally kicking myself in the pants at the moment. Guess what I'm doing the next time I go home?


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

And now that I've read the rest of the log, Good luck!!! I'm hoping for babies for you


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

This is in reference to thread http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=100351 . Hope it's OK I started a new thread to ask a question.
About 4:30 PM last night my fish started to embrace. They did it many times with no eggs being dropped. They were good solid embraces. i figured by morning I would have a nest full of eggs. This morning nothing. Came home from work this evening and still nothing. The female still looks full of eggs. She looks really tired and he acts frustrated. The only positive is the nest itself is bigger. Any idea why she will not drop eggs?
Should i give it another 24 hours? Should I break down the tank and start over with 2 new fish? Should I take her out and introduce a new female? They are still embracing i just saw it as I'm typing this. When I first tried my hand at breeding my first 2 attempts yielded a ton of eggs/babies. I learned a lot but lost most of those fry in the learning process. Now I have much more knowledge and confidence but i just can't seem to get anything to work the last several times. It's really hard to put so much effort into getting everthing ready then to have to tear it all back down and wait another couple months to try again. I'm following all the rules and then some. This fremale has laid eggs before only to have the male eat them all (different male). Is it possible she does not produce fertile eggs? lots of questions. Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions. My previous successful attempts were done using the shock method where I just introduced both fish at the same time. Anyone think this might be a better method or did i just have beginners luck?

P.S. I'm pasteing this post in my other thread so i can keep track of my own log better.

Thanks guys.:???:


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

it is possible she doesn't produce fertile eggs but that shouldn't stop her from laying them. Maybe put her back in the hurricane or breeder cage in the tank and start feeding her live foods every 4-6 hours. Also have you tried an artificial rain? It's where you stimulate rain with room-temp, treated water. I've found the best way to do it is just to put a slit in a small air hose, block one end, and then siphon the water through the hose.


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

Another 24 hours has past. Fish are still embracing (at least 48 hours worth). Still not seeing eggs drop. Quite confident there are no eggs in the nest. Since yesterday the nest has drastically fell apart. It is only half the size it was. Fish have been together for 4 days now. Maybe try it for another 24 hours and then if nothing tear it down and try again with a new pair? Thoughts? I can be patient I just don't want the fish to become over stressed. How long can they go with out eating? I've heard a week but that starts to scare me a little.

My backup female is not quite full grown. She is about 1 1/2 inches from nose to tip of tail. She is a double tail. Her belly seems big and she is showing an egg spot. I think she is big enough. Anyone think she is too small yet? Generally do younger fish or older fish make better breeders?


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## bettaboytroy (Apr 15, 2012)

As of last night I removed the female. Still has not dropped any eggs that I know of.The nest was all but gone. The male will remain in the tank for a little while longer. I hope to be trying again with a new pair soon. I have a female picked out. I just have to decide between 2 males.


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