# Spawning Attempt 1: Gabriel x Ruby



## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

This evening I decided to start getting things ready for spawning. I still have a few questions; so I'll be using this thread to not only note my progress, but also for asking questions etc, so please keep returning ;-).

Anyway, for spawn attempt number one I will be using the following two fish:










Ruby; Orange Female Crown Tail from spidermanbettas in Thailand.










Gabriel; Pink/White (please tell me what colour he is, lol) Male Veil Tail from a LFS. (Picture taken by my brothers friend Lisa)

I have started setting up the tank, and this is what it looks like currently:










I have a sponge filter on the left hand side, which is currently running, a piece of bubblewrap for Gabriel to use for his bubble nest, and a silk plant.

I will be adding a 50watt heater by Monday, along with a floating live plant and a styrofome cup so Gabriel has a few choices for his bubble nest.

I will most likely be using a two litre Coca-Cola with the bottom, and top cut off for Ruby to be in until I am ready to release her.

I will be using the light that sits on Gabriel & Chucks tank as the light for spawning, and replace theirs with a desk lamp.

This leads me to my first question. Do I leave the light on 24/7 when attempting to spawn, and when the fry have been laid, and are first free swimming, or do I just continue with my usual 8 hour a day light scheme.

I have also read conflicting information about the filters (not to turn it on until after the fry are free swimming, and have it on all the time). What do you guys do?

Next Wednesday (pay day) I am going to pick up some live brine shrimp for Gabriel and Ruby, and also see what I can find for fry food, I think a LFS has brine shrimp hatcheries, so I might look into that.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I would add maybe one more plant or a cave for the female to have an extra hiding spot. It looks great!! Does the tank have a lid?


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## HopeInHeart (Oct 11, 2009)

Nice tank! Perhaps maybe a little more hiding spots for the female?

And, one thing I would do different if I spawn again would be to order a microworm culture online---they are sooo much easier than hatching bbs all the time, although once the fry are too big for the microworms you'll still have to hatch the bbs. You can get microworms off of ebay for just a few bucks.


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## HopeInHeart (Oct 11, 2009)

Oh, nvm DQ already said that about more hiding spots.


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Lol, I've already mentioned I'm adding another plant 



> I will be adding a 50watt heater by Monday, along with a floating _live plant_


I'm debating about a cave. I was thinking I could steal Gabriel's bowl seeing he won't need it while he is in the breeding tank. Otherwise I'm just going to stick to more plants. Silk plants are nice and cheap at a local store (only $1.50 each instead of the $5 + at pet stores)

Like I said, tank is still a work in progress 

Negative on the lid, but it will have something on it. I've heard cling wrap is good to use (I think in America you call it saran (sp?) wrap?). Opinions? I need to get more glass lids cut, so if need be I can do that.

I don't think microworms will be on the Australian eBay but seeing I'm going to need brine shrimp anyway, I might as well start off with that, but like I said, I'm going to see what LFS have.

Has anyone got answers to my questions re lights & filters?


And just a reminder, I'm in Australia so I don't have access to things such as petco, wallmart etc


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

We call it both, saran or cling.


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## Lethbridge (Nov 8, 2009)

Okay first off let me say i would recommend using the bubblewrap as your nest anchor as this will hold the bubbles together the best. Also when you use the coke bottle poke holes in the side so the hormones and chemicals can be taken in by the female.
About the lights it is different for everyone, but for me once the female is added to the breeding tank, i leave the lights on 24/7 till the fry are old enough to be moved to their own quarters.
As for the sponge filter i have a gang valve so i can control the air flow, so i run my filter at about 3 bubbles per second, then after a ever week, i turn it up just a little bit till it is running at full capacity.
And just like some of the others have said, add more hiding spots so if you are going to get more silk plants get alot, and just crowd the left had corner with your heater, sponge filter, and all those plants and on the right have your nest anchor, and you should be good!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Thank you very much for answering my questions 

I've heard both good and bad things about bubble wrap, so I thought I'd give Gabriel the choice. He's not picky though, A piece of my hair fell in his tank once, and he started a bubble nest around that :| lol.

So you leave the filter on the whole time? I'm not sure if I can turn mine down, will get my brother to look at it.

I'm getting some live plants this week, along with a few more silks. I did have a few more, but then Ruby got here quicker than I thought, so I put one in her tank etc.


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Have pretty much finished the spawning tank.

I picked up a thermometer, heater and some more silk plants over the last few days. I have cultures of Vinegar Eels & Microworms coming in soon. I'm next week I'll probably pick up a brine shrimp one, but not sure. I'm going to pick up some live brine shrimp soon for conditioning. 

Once the VE & MW cultures are in I'll put Gabriel into the tank so he can suss it out a bit, and maybe start his nest. I'm going to hold off on Ruby for a little bit, but condition her in her tank. I may move her tank next to the spawning tank.

I will be conditioning Sawyer at the same time, just incase Gabriel isn't interested. I don't have another girl that I want to put with these two currently, so here's hoping that Ruby does her job 

Here are some current photos of the setup:









The new plants. There is about 6 there. Will that be enough cover for her?









Coke bottle for Ruby









Full view of tank









Looking into the tank


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Nice set up!


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## doggyhog (Apr 30, 2009)

Everything looks great!!!! Good luck!!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Thanks  The VE and MW came in this afternoon but they didn't label them, so we have no idea what needs to go with what, and when I asked them they got confused. Sigh.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Thats nice. lol I hope you get everything figured out.


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

We finally worked out what was what! Lol. So we have the MW culture set up, and we are going to do the VE one tonight. I'm a bit nervous about doing the VE one because we aren't 100% sure what we are doing, and I'm really worried I won't have fry food


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

It sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck with everything.


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Moved Gabriel into the tank today. Noticed he is changing colour, he is losing his pearl sheen and is becoming more pink. I'm assuming it's just a normal colour change as nothing else seems to be wrong. 

At the moment he is checking everything out, including attacking the thermometer, and weaving through the plants. Hopefully he starts his bubble nest soon!

I haven't put a light on the tank yet. Will do so tomorrow, if I can find a replacement light at the shops tomorrow. 

MW culture has been set up, as has the VE culture, which I hope works. I'm not holding much hope on that one working! I haven't got any live brine shrimp currently, so I'm using frozen brine shrimp tonight for Gab and Ruby to start the conditioning. 

And, if all goes to plan, one of my friends wants a fish  They have a huge tank, so I might convince her to get two 

Oh and also, I picked up plastic beer cups today for future use of 'jarring' the fry  Getting ready in advance! lol


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## cindylou (May 11, 2009)

*You have very beautiful fish to breed. I usually put my sponge filter in after removing the male from the tank but thats up to you. I also leave the light on all the time until the male has been removed and the fry are free swimming. The best luck I have had as far as food is concerned is BBS. With the hatchery you can hatch millions of bbs at a time and if not all used in one day you can put them in the fridge everyday until gone. Your setup is perfect and there are plenty of plants now. I usually just put java in mine, makes great hiding places. I also put several pond snails for the algea if you can get your hands on them. Hope this helped a little more. Good luck and keep us posted.*


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Just thought I'd update.

It's been a week since I've moved Gabriel into the tank. He's been flaring at his reflection most of the time, and no sign of a bubble nest as yet. Both him and Ruby have been feed either frozen blood worms or brine shrimp a few times a day. 

The VE doesn't seem to be doing anything as yet, and it is too hard to see into the MW culture to see if that is going to plan. 

I have next weekend off, so I think I'll probably attempt breeding on Saturday morning.


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

I've been told to introduce the female into the coke bottle for a few hours each day, leading up until the day you plan to keep her in there until it's time to spawn. So I tested that last night. Ruby was going insane trying to get out.. Gabriel came to look at her twice, and then spent the rest of the time looking at his reflection. And no bubble nest this morning either. Maybe it's because I was sitting and watching them because I was scared she'd get out before they were ready. 

I'm so nervous!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

DefyingGravity said:


> I Ruby was going insane trying to get out.. Gabriel came to look at her twice, and then spent the rest of the time looking at his reflection. .


That cracked me up!! It's like he checked her out then looked at his reflection because he wanted to make sure he looked good enough for her. ROFL!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Lol, I didn't think of it that way, but I do like that theory!

I didn't put Ruby in the tank today, just didn't have a moment spare, but hopefully will put her in for a bit tomorrow, and then on Friday when I get home from work leave her in over night for hopeful release on Saturday morning *fingers crossed*

I don't think my MW culture worked, but I think I see something going on with my VE. Fingers crossed everything works 

*Crosses fingers*


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Ugh. So Ruby has been in her coke bottle in the tank for two days. Gabriel has been hanging around her, and appeared to attempt a bubble nest yesterday, however there is nothing today, and today was the day I planned to release them  

Should I take her out, and just start conditioning again? Swap Gab for Sawyer (who I haven't conditioned the same as Gab)? Or just take a risk, release her, see if he makes a nest and hope for the best?


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## dman (Feb 8, 2010)

oh no, i dont really know anything about that, i think you should try releasing her already. i wish you the best of luck!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

I've decided to release her. I was doing a bit more research this morning, and some people have said that their males didn't make nests until they actually started spawning! So I'm going to camp out infront of the tank to make sure they don't kill each other, and hope for the best *fingers crossed*


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good luck!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Well no luck with these two  She is still in the coke bottle in the tank until tomorrow. I was hoping he would build a bubble nest but he is being stubborn. So I'll put them back into their normal tanks, and I'm going to start conditioning them again, along with Sawyer properly, and maybe in two weeks, we might have some more luck. Sigh. I had hopes it would just work, lol.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm sorry things didn't work out. Hopefully you'll have better luck nnext time.


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## dman (Feb 8, 2010)

i thought you released her?


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

I did. She was in there most of the day, and he just ignored her, and spent most of his time looking at his reflection. So at the end of the day, I put her back into the coke bottle, and he ignored her as well, and she spent another day like that, and still no bubble nest. I've moved them back into their normal tanks now, and I'm going to condition Sawyer and Ruby instead for now, and see how we go


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## dman (Feb 8, 2010)

oh haha hmm.. thats weird haha good luck on your next try!!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Thank you  If Sawyer isn't interested I think I'd cry. I'm really wishing for a orange butterfly CT (just imagine my avatar in orange, lol).


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

I'm bringing this back up to the top because I'm attempting my spawn again.

After the last attempt, I put Gabriel in his own tank to heal his fins a bit, and he started building a bubble nest. Just small ones attached to the single plant in there, but I thought it was a great start, so Tuesday I moved him to the breeding tank where Ruby has been since the spawn (I divided a 1/4 of the tank for her, and moved it all around) and underneath the bubble wrap, and on it's side a bit Gab has started a beautiful size nest. I started conditioning them that day as well, so I'm going to do that until next weekend, and see if they look interested enough to start breeding, and go from there. I'm soooo glad he has a nest!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good luck with everything.


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## bloo97 (Mar 6, 2010)

Good Luck!!


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## mysquishy (Mar 12, 2010)

Good luck this time. Gorgeous bettas by the way!


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## DefyingGravity (Sep 23, 2009)

Thanks all. His nest is getting bigger, and Ruby is looking a little bit chubby (hopefully it's not all the extra food she is getting!)
I'm really impressed with Gabriel because he is spending so much time with his nest, and building it up  I have my fingers crossed.
Here are some pictures from yesterday. The nest looks a little bit bigger today, but I'm too lazy to go take a picture 

Underneath the bubble wrap:


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