# Our first attempt Male CT and VT female



## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

So back in december we tried to mate our Ct Male with a nice little girl... Epic fail! The girlie was roughted up and ended dying a little while later. He was mean!!!

14 days ago we decides to give it another try. We set up a 5 gal tank and separated it in 3 sections. The male was stuck in the middle with a female on either side of him. Once we saw who he was interested in, we put the other girl back in the main tank.

It took almost a week for our boy to start making bubbles:evil:. We kept them well fed with frozen bloodworms,frozen brine shrimps and home-grown fruitflies. 

Finally, last tuesday we let them out together in mid-afternoon and we waited. They were very nice to each other but HE wasn't satisfied with his net so nothing happened. They we separated for the night.
The next morning, they were but back together again; after a few hours we had a 3 hour spawning which gave us around 250 eggs.

Out of those 250, only 25 hatched. We are now a the end of day 6 and we have counted at the most 15 free swimming babies in the tank. The others have either died OR are hopefully hiding in the java moss.









this is Dad









This is mom


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

Dad did not appreciate me and my camera... or perharps it was the distubance of the nest when we released momma the second morning...









Still for a first time father, he did a great job!









Still trying to take pictures of the little ones but my camera can't focus on them


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Congrats....now the fun begins.....lol.....

Do you plan to leave the male long term, are they eating well and what are you feeding.....


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

Oldfishlady said:


> Congrats....now the fun begins.....lol.....
> 
> Do you plan to leave the male long term, are they eating well and what are you feeding.....



Dad has gone back to his own ten gal 2 days ago, before he could have a snack.

Judging by the round tummys they are eating the microworms in the bottom of the tank. We also have some brine shrimp on hand ready ( we have a fresh litter of swords fry in another tank)

We have been doing small water changes every day to keep the tank from getting polluted with the leftover food. Still trying to figure out the right amount of food to distribute...

Question to regular breeders: I have been doing lots of reading and see that some people fill the tank up when babies are free swimming whereas others keep the water level low... In your experience which is better??? we have 4 inches of water in now and are debating whether we should fill it or not.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Good deal.....be sure and keep the decaying microworms cleaned up-sometimes with the bare bottom method the bacteria that microworms create can cause missing ventral fins....sometimes by adding a few common snails can help with clean up of the decaying MW....

I spawn using a natural method-soil based full to the top with water heavy planted 5-10gal tanks-but when I did use the standard bare bottom, low water method........

In the low water spawns-once I started adding food- I would remove half gallon and replace with 1gal 1 time a day in 5gal with the fry-
I would use the drip/gravity method to replace the water-once full I would start making at least 50% daily to twice daily after you feed with 15 fry in the 5gal......


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

What are the common snails you are refering to??? We have melanoids (cone shaped ones) in the community tank to keep the soil aerated. Would they be good?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

The live bearing trumpet snails....yes, they will work....I use them in my soil based tanks for soil aeration too...as well as the common pond and ramshorn...they all have jobs in my systems.....


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

Yay! Babies! Their so cute. Good luck with raising them.


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

We are starting week number 3 of our fry's live. We've had a few losses but remaining babies seem to be doing good. Counted 14 of them last night while doing daily water change :-D

Also (finally) found a CT female for the next repro! She's not a perfect crown; friend breeder was saying she's probably and offspring of a CT and VT repro. 
CT female don'T seem to be very common around here :-(. Most LFS have VT females and most breeders in the area are doing HM, deltas and DT...


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

Lost 5 babies again  still counted 9 of them during tank refill and feeding time...


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Betta fry are difficult to raise! It takes a while to actually get a grip on how to do things and successfully raise them.


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> Betta fry are difficult to raise! It takes a while to actually get a grip on how to do things and successfully raise them.


We figured out how to do water changes without opening the cover but since we have an airstone on the tip of the tubing, we don't get all the crap that on the bottom of the tank. Any tips advise would be welcomed from the pros.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I really don't worry about the waste on the bottom. I have snails for that lol. I just clean a lot of water daily to keep ammonia and stunt hormones well under control.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

I put a piece of old pantyhose at the end of the air tubing I use to suction water and waste out of the fry tank.


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## styggian (Dec 13, 2011)

Saphire said:


> We figured out how to do water changes without opening the cover but since we have an airstone on the tip of the tubing, we don't get all the crap that on the bottom of the tank. Any tips advise would be welcomed from the pros.


http://youtu.be/FOY_PVjErR8 :-D


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I use my python siphon with pantyhose at the end because I'm too lazy to carry a bucket to the bathroom lol. I then use the python to refill jugs of water for water changes because once again too lazy lol.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I use my homemade siphon I made out of airline hose with a couple of chopsticks attached to make it ridged and my thumb functions as the control valve for more control. 

Making about 50-60% daily water changes-for larger spawns I will make twice daily water changes-usually about 20-30min after I feed.

I siphon into an old 1gal ice cream bucket with a handle-then I use a flash light and shine under the bucket to help spot any fry that might have gotten sucked up. I use my little siphon to suck the little fry up into the tip and place back into the tank.

I refill by gravity for the first two weeks-I have hooks over my tank so that I can hang my ice cream bucket with like temp dechlorinated tannin stained water back into the fry tank using my siphon that is clipped to the edge.

After 2 weeks-I refill with like temp dechlorinated water from 1gal milk jugs pouring the water over my free hand to displace the water flow so not to injure any fry.

I like to keep common snails in my fry tanks-ramshorn, pond and trumpet-they help create infusoria for free range fry food and help clean up any uneaten food, dead/dieing fry, decaying organics-the snail poop is much safer for the fry tank and easier to see than the bacteria created by decaying organic matter.


















As you can see its a pretty simple setup-I used twist ties to attach the chopsticks-but have since changed that to the black electric tape and that works better-the twist ties would hang up on the plastic veggie wrap and tear it.
I like to start my siphon on the top first to remove any surface scum before the water level gets to low-then I start on the bottom..


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

This may sound kind of dumb but i've been obsessing over not opening the tank since we are in the middle of labirynth formation... Am i paranoid? We need to adjust the heater cuz temp in there is very hot... Even if we added water it's still a toasty 87 degres in there. Is it dangerous for the fry? I know my snails did not like it... Even with acclimating they died pretty quickly.

Thanks for the help and support... This community is really great!


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

There shouldn't be a problem as long as you put the wrap back quickly.


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## Saphire (Mar 20, 2012)

We are starting to see a little bit of coloration in our little guys!!! (happy dance)
Another kind of dumb question : how is it possible to have a whitish colored fish from brightly colored parents??? One of the bigger fry looks like it's going opaque while others are starting to go towards the reddish/orange hues.


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