# My first spawn - black and blue HM



## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster!

I had tried spawning before, I had a copper HM pair and they embraced and everything and he tended the nest of eggs ever so diligently. for about 3 days. and then the nest broke up and he stopped paying attention to it. and then there were squished looking eggs on the bottom of the tank. no babies anywhere. I was pretty bummed. This happened twice before I decided either the setup, or them, or him. or her. He was such a lovely fellow too. 

Anywho. So i got this guy from AB








His name is Burt! 

And I got a lady who looks a lot like him. They did their dance and had some eggs on 6/25 and they hatched!! they hatched on 6/27! And now i have itty bitty adorable babies! I am going to guess 50. Hard to tell. 









This was the day they hatched. 
Burt moved most of them into the plant to it made it really had to count. 

I've got bbs and microworms. its so hard to see if they are eating. I really need to invest in a magnifying glass.


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## Darth (Nov 19, 2012)

That is a melano male, can you please show a picture of the female?
Betta fry do not eat for the first couple days, they rely on their egg yolk even though it isn't visible, to feed them at that point is only going to ruin your water faster wait until they are free swimming a couple days before your first feeding.


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Oh yeah, I didnt put in any microworms until they were free swimming. They started swimming on their own yesterday afternoon. lemme see if i can get a good picture of her. shes a little chewed


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

I dont know how those pros get such nice pictures of their fish... heres a mediocre shot of her.


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## Darth (Nov 19, 2012)

Ok, I see a lot of blue melano females are infertile. uperblack females are fertile and so are Black lace.
This looks to be a black and blue bicolor if the female was all black you would not have had a spawn.
Congrats on your first time, and know this....it never gets old!!
Also put her in a quart jar with a half teaspoon of salt for a few days.


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Yeah, as much as i've read, I am still not confident in identifying some colors. Especially black. There are too many different kinds of black and not enough clear pictures of each kind to really drill it into my head. 

Also, do you think all the babies will be black and blue, or will i get a surprise?

eta: also, i sure wish i had a magnifying glass!!


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

My wee ones are doing pretty well! i did a wee water change.. only 1/2 gal of the 4 in the tank. and ive been sucking up any mess on the bottom. i use a turkey baster and squirt it into a petco betta cup and stare intently at the water until im absolutely completely 100% positive there are no wee ones in it. I havent taken any new pictures because i cant tell if they are any bigger or not. Ill take one for their first week birthday on thursday. 

i cant wait til they grow more!!


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## Kittiesdragons (May 1, 2013)

Congrats on your first Spawn! Hope all continues to go well for you!


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Here's one of the babies at 10 days old! 









I keep having dreams about the fry. I had a dream last night that the fry had suddenly grown to the size of 2 month old fry. they were all off-white colored too.


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## DoctorWhoLuver (Feb 23, 2012)

So cute! 

Lol. I've had so many dreams about bettas and betta breeding lately X]


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

to date, I have had 23 losses. this seems like a big number, right? i feed them twice a day, i try to suck up as much mess as i can with a turkey baster while avoiding the babies, i give them mostly microworms with some bbs here and there. i have an airstone for bubbles, ive been slowly dripping in more water over the past couple days. 

what am i missing or doing wrong?


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## nmaybyte (Mar 13, 2011)

Anything abnormal with the water chemistry?


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Er, I actually dont have anything to test with. I work at a local pet supply store though so i will pick up something tomorrow. I kept meaning to get test stuff but i always forget once im there.


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## nmaybyte (Mar 13, 2011)

I've not bred any little ones (yet) but all the research I've done says that if you have an abnormally high kill rate that there might be something worth looking into. Such as the water chemistry, fungal infection, bacteria, etc. I would like for one or two of the more experienced breeders to give their input as well.


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## whatsupyall (Oct 17, 2012)

Thumbs up for dreaming about them. That's just awesome. I don't dream, but it's the first thing that come to my mind when I wake up lol. I don't know what you are doing wrong, it might just be the genetic faults that make the fry weaker. On the other hand, I don't change my water for the first two weeks. I do add water though. I guess it really depend on spawn size too. Make sure you are feeding enough. Starvation can kill fry FAST during these early stages of life. Good luck and share some pictures. :BIGcool:


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

I forgot to update over here! My ammonia was high and pH was low. I've been adding a gallon - two gallons a day since i got that result and so far since i did a thorough cleaning of the bottom ive only seen one or two more casualties. 

i still have like 40 or so babies left. and if i squint i think i see some arms growing! 

they also seem to be more interested in swimming higher in the water column than they were before. there are a couple that have been hanging out at the top of the water. which is cool. i was getting a little concerned that they hang out at the bottom so much. 

of course, thats where all the microworms end up, so maybe they just like lounging around with their snacks. ill try to get more pics up over the next day or two if i can get a good one. 

pesky things are hard to photo.


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## darkangel (Jun 11, 2013)

thats exciting


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

ok. i took in another water sample today. everything looks good! adding a few gallons of water and blammo! everything is perfect. 

you can tell just by looking at the babies that they are so much happier. 


when i feed them they are far more interested in it than they have been before. i gave them some bbs earlier today and omigosh, it was so adorable. one baby in particular was just eating up everything in sight. little fat bellies everywhere 


would it bother them much if i scooped one up in a cup to take a good picture?


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## Mar (Apr 9, 2013)

xD Subbing, can't wait to see them grow up, so cute!


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## whatsupyall (Oct 17, 2012)

Nope, would not bother them at all if you do you very carefully. I usually just take it while they are in their nursery home lol.


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## xfrequentflyerx (Jul 17, 2013)

Beezu said:


> Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster!
> 
> I had tried spawning before, I had a copper HM pair and they embraced and everything and he tended the nest of eggs ever so diligently. for about 3 days. and then the nest broke up and he stopped paying attention to it. and then there were squished looking eggs on the bottom of the tank. no babies anywhere. I was pretty bummed. This happened twice before I decided either the setup, or them, or him. or her. He was such a lovely fellow too.
> 
> ...


They are cute!!!! So very cute.  Idc if this happened a year ago. Still awesome.


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

Happy 3 week birthday, fry! 

They are getting easier to photo since they are getting bigger and the camera in my phone can figure out better what it is supposed to focus on. 

still not the best pictures, but they arent terrible!


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## xfrequentflyerx (Jul 17, 2013)

D'awwww they are SO CUTE!!!


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

you cant see it in pictures i took with my phone, but i can see dorsal and anal fins!! SO CUTE!! ill take pics for their 4week birthday thursday and post them, maybe itll be more noticeable then =D


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

ive got some 30 day pics!


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

oops, second two are sideways...


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

It's been a while since I updated. Sorry if you've been curious!

I set up a 30gallon for them to grow up in and popped about half in tonight. 

they are tricky buggers to catch! I tried to get the biggest ones to put in the big tank so the little ones can sort of catch up in the 10gal. the littlest look like they are about 2-3 weeks behind the big ones. 

they are starting to nibble at flake food. I need to get a good razor to chop up some frozen bloodworms for them to see what they think of that. 

They will be... 8 weeks old on Thursday. 
I will try to get more pictures once i have all the big ones moved over, but here is a picture of what i have so far. 

Also, I added a pleco to each tank to take care of algae and missed food. one is an albino bristlenose pleco, and one is a regular bristlenose pleco. they are cute  
they do a good job, but they sure poop a lot.


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## Kittiesdragons (May 1, 2013)

Looking good! They are too adorable!


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## Beezu (Mar 9, 2013)

omigosh, i havent updated in a while!!
They will be 12 weeks on Thursday. 

They were growing pretty quickly in the beginning but I feel like they arent as much anymore. ive got them on NLS, flake food, and im going to chop up some frozen bloodworms for their dinner tonight. 

PICTURES!!


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## Jennifer Vazquez (Jul 12, 2013)

so pretty.


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