# Bellino x Greeny Spawn



## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

*Bellino x Greeny Spawn Log*

This is the official spawn log for Bellino and Greeny! Greeny is the currently unnamed green metallic female I received from Basement Bettas in San Antonio. She is expected to reach 180 by the time she fully matures, so I am calling this spawn a HM Marble and HM Metallic Spawn. Does that sound right? Lol. 

Anyways, at around 9 last night I put Bellino in the spawning tub. He checked everything out for about two hours, and he didn't seemed stressed, actually more excited than anything else, so I put Greeny in. She was in a large pitcher almost filled to the top, and the pitcher went up about 5 inches past the main tub water level so she was able to swim to the top if Bellino's flirting got to be too much. For the first 30 minutes I watched them, Greeny had _horizontal_ stripes, and would swim up to the top so she couldn't be bothered by Bellino. Then, she started to swim down to see into the main tank, and Bellino would be there and she would be like EEek! and swim to the top. But soon she started to follow him around the cylinder a bit, and would ask sort of flirty. Her colors became very vivid but she was still showing the stripes so I walked away for about an hour or so. Later I checked on them, and she was no longer showing horizontal, but very faint breeding bars. I let her out about 30 minutes later (still vivid, eggy, with vertical bars). No major aggression, just chasing and Bellino's flaring. 

It is now 9:20 am and Bellino has built a small nest over night. I see Greeny and her breeding bars are extremely obvious, as well as her colors, even through the dark of the IAL tea, much more prominent than yesterday. Bellino acts calm and hangs around the nest. I saw Greeny come out to see a bit, and she swam away when Bellino saw her. He went and flared at her, and chased her off, but I didn't see any physical contact. I hope it happens today, though I am not sure because it is Bellino's first time.

This morning:


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## monroe0704 (Nov 17, 2010)

Yey it sounds like it's going well! I wish you luck


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## FlareThis (Jan 24, 2011)

Sounds good so far! I would love to see pictures of the parents!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good luck!!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks! The bubblenest is looking thicker and almost foam like, and the area has gotten larger. They are chasing each other a lot more now, but Bellino is still working on the nest. I watched him take a few breaths and add to his nest, it was so cute!

You can see pics of the parents here (mom is female #1):
Planning for the Future


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## mernincrazy8525 (Feb 28, 2011)

good luck can you post pics of the soon to be lovely couple.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Just posted one about one second before you posted lol, we both posted at 4:55 haha.


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## mernincrazy8525 (Feb 28, 2011)

lol


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Update: Greeny will now go up to Bellino and the nest and flare her beard area (still showing vertical bars), but retreat when he flares and chases back. Bellino is still adding to bubblenest.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Sounds like everything is going smoothly.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Greeny is now showing stress stripes, but she will still try to go up to the nest.

Should I remove her?


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Help?


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## Panthera (Nov 2, 2010)

Is she constantly showing stress stripes? Or does it switch between stress and breeding bars? If she is just showing constant stress stripes and isn't showing any interest in breeding, I'd remove her. But if she's still showing breeding bars every now and then and the male isn't killing her, I'd leave her in.

Good luck!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

They are spawning!!!!! I can't believe it, I am so happy right now. 

I managed to take a small video. Sorry about the poor quality lol!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw3-DvvsFJk


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Congrats  sounds like you have a great pair there.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks


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## Sweeda88 (Dec 6, 2010)

Yay! I'm happy for you. How exciting!


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## LolaQuigs (Mar 28, 2010)

Do you know what colors and tail types this spawn might produce? Sorry if that's a dumb question, I know nothing about genetics XD


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## mernincrazy8525 (Feb 28, 2011)

your female woke up really fast! was that her snacking on some eggs at towards the end


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

^ Lol I think so, but I have also seen her put some in the nest.

To be honest I don't really know the genetics part, but I think I will get marbles, halfmoons, and doubletail. Maybe some metallic. But I honestly don't know! Lol all I know is that the parents were pretty


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## FlareThis (Jan 24, 2011)

Yayayayay!!! I'm so happy for you!!!


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## LolaQuigs (Mar 28, 2010)

Congratulations on your spawn, the parents are beautiful; I can't wait to see future pictures of the fry!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Female was removed about 7 yesterday evening. I came back from dinner to find her hiding again and displaying horizontal stripes. She is now in a 2.5 qt at about 80 degrees. She had a few tears, so I put in a dose of aq salt. From what I can tell neither Greeny nor Bellino have any major injuries, just a few superficial rips here and there. Greeny is eating fine in her qt and acting normally. She ate some microworms last night, and today she had some more microworms as well as some NLS micro pellets. Will do 100% water change tomorrow.

I also gave Bellino a few microworms, though he was wary to go get them as he didn't want to leave the nest. He had to do a few double-takes to make sure the nest was safe, and then he quickly swam down for the wormies lol.

As for the nest, a few of the upper foamy bubbles have popped, but the nest is still strong and I can see the eggs. Temp is at 84 degrees, but lowers to about 83-82 during the night once the heat from the sun is gone. The tub gets a good amount of diffused sunlight.

Hoping to see them hatch soon. Most sites say within 24-48 hours, but that seems so fast!


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## mernincrazy8525 (Feb 28, 2011)

congrats!!!!!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks! It is my first time so I am super excited. I have been having moments where I am like Yay! Babies! and others where I am like Oh no! Babies! What am I gonna do! But all in all I am super excited, although not about all the water changes


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## LolaQuigs (Mar 28, 2010)

He sounds like a great dad!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Congrats on the spawn!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks! Now I have to get ready for the hard part haha.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, feeding the fry and doing lots of water changes. lol


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Speaking of water changes, I must do some right now on my tanks lol.


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## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

Congratulations!:-D


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Update: The eggs have still not hatched, and it has just been about 48 hours since they spawned, but the male has added onto nest.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Still nothing :/


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Update: The FRY are here!!!! I didn't think they were so tiny! This feeling is just unreal. OMG.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

OMG, I'm so happy for you!! They finally hatched! YAY!!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I can't believe it. I totally thought the eggs were infertile! It had been over 48 hours haha.


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## fishman12 (Sep 1, 2010)

Yay!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I wonder why they were late in hatching.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I don't know, that is what is weird to me. The tank has been at about 84 the whole time, and I did the daily water changes very very gently. I did occasionally feed Bellino a few white worms, but I don't think that would make them hatch late.

Made a realization yesterday: I hate been confusing micro worms and white worms. I have white worms, not micro, so I decided to order some walter worms from Basement Bettas. So I will have that and bbs, and frozen bbs, for the fry.

Oh I almost forgot, does any one have tips on growing the fry at a faster rate? I just found out that my mom is making me go on a two week workshop/camp thing this summer


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Daily water changes as close to 100% as you can get, high temps (84-86*F), and LOTS of food.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay I can do all three. I was on Mr.Vampire's website and I read that he uses an airstone when siphoning the tank as to not suck up the fry, so I will use that technique for a while.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

You may find that you get velvet using that method because it does not suck up the mulm on the bottom of the tank. I prefer to very slowly siphon the bottom of the tank into either a clear or white shallow bowl/container and check for fry that way, then once the bottom is clean I attach an airstone and siphon the rest of the water that way.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay then I will just do it that way. I don't want to risk disease. Also I just remembered that the ventrals might not develop properly if they are swimming against the gunk on the bottom. Should I wait to siphon the bottom once the free are free swimming? I tried to do it today but it was disturbing the nest too much (before I knew there were fry).


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Yeah.. you don't want to do water changes until they're at least free swimming. I like to wait until they are 7 days old (7 days from free swimming) to start doing water changes.

The first two weeks suck because you WILL suck up fry so water changes take forever because you have to suck a little out, look for fry, take them and put them back in the tank, suck some more out, look for fry, rinse, repeat. It usually takes me about 30 mins just to do a partial water change on a 5 gallon fry tank.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay so I won't do a water change until next weekend. Would it be okay to just add a bit of water once they are free swimming?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

As long as you do it slowly it should be fine.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

I just use the same syphon tubbing to drip the new water in the tank. 
If you can't place the container of the new water higher than the tank to drip the water in, then you can dip cups of the water in the tank and slowly tilt them to pour the water in. 
When you're syphoning use your finger to control the suction, that way you can stop it if a fry gets too close.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks! Luckily I can raise the clean water tub high so I can siphon it in.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

I can't really tell if my fry are free swimming or not. I have seen some fry completely horizontal, but hovering just below the nest. 

Should I take him out, or wait until I see them swimming around the tank?


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

If he appears to be munching on the fry I'd take him out.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay. I haven't noticed him doing that, but it could be because when I check on the tank he comes to the side and stares at me. He doesn't pay too much attention to the fry when he sees me. He will occasionally turn his head back to check, but for the most part he leaves them alone. 

It is just very very hard for me to see the fry, so I can't really tell what they are doing.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

You'll know when they're free swimming because there will be no fry left around the nest. Free swimming is not really the point when they're horizontal but rather the point where they leave the nest in search of food.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay… so that is what they were doing. I have seen less fry in the nest than than yesterday, so they must be off exploring now. I will gently remove the male now.


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Okay so the fry are about four days old now. 

I feel like such an idiot though, I was transferring the fry to a 10 gallon aquarium (the spawning tub was too deep), and I had an accident :/

I spilled like three gallons of water on my floor and on part of a towel. Some of the fry got entangled in the fibers and I couldn't get them out in time. I am not sure how many I lost, but I'm guessing about 20. I now have less than 10.

Ugh I am so stupid! But luckily the ones I do have left are healthy. I just saw one stalk and eat a walter worm. 

Here is a photo of the worm-eating fry:


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Aww, I'm sorry, Turtle!! It seems like a lot of people have stuff like that happening to their fry. I remember one member whose fry were at the stage where they were ready to be jarred. She had them in separate containers in one large tank to keep them warm and her heater malfunctioned and she lost all her babies.


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## PewPewPew (Nov 26, 2010)

Im sorry that happened :c Im sure the others will do well, though, and its great to hear of their health.


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## AkiGari (Apr 17, 2011)

Very pretty. I have never seen Betta with such contrast around.
Best wishes to your new fry!


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## turtle10 (Dec 30, 2010)

Thanks! They are doing good


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