# eek, I have babies!!!



## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

:shock::shock:
Where to start with my little saga......
A little while back I bought 7 Female bettas to start a sorority. So far so good, I was having some problems with fighting and ended up separating them into different groups to figure out who would get along with who. I lost a couple and ended up with 3 in the 20 gallon they were meant to be in, and still had two in a 5 gallon. They seemed fine, and then I see a bubble nest and being the brainiac I am, still didn't clue in. I am thinking "wow that female must be really aggressive or dominant or something.." So I remove the other female and leave the bossy "FEMALE" alone. Forward to Sunday afternoon when I take the lid of to do something and see little squiggles in my tank. BABIES!! Then I clue in that OMG that is not a female (duh)
So I freak out of course, do some reasearch, throw a moss ball and snail in the tank, and Monday go get some BBS eggs which I have managed to keep hatching (daily) until now.
I have of course taken the male out. They seem to be eating the brine shrimp OK. My big question right now is about my filter. I stopped my filter and put in a air stone Sunday night. Do I really need to put in one of those underwater foam filters or can I just put some mesh over my filter intake, so my babies don't get sucked up. And turn it back on as low as it will go?? It is just a little filter to begin with. And lastly that MALE still doesn't look like a male to me, I am not an expert by any means I only go by fins and his are just as short as the girls!!!


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

Sounds like your male might be a plakat. I once bought a female through Aquabid that turned out to be a male plakat.
Best of luck with the babies.


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

rowansd said:


> :shock::shock:
> Where to start with my little saga......
> A little while back I bought 7 Female bettas to start a sorority. So far so good, I was having some problems with fighting and ended up separating them into different groups to figure out who would get along with who. I lost a couple and ended up with 3 in the 20 gallon they were meant to be in, and still had two in a 5 gallon. They seemed fine, and then I see a bubble nest and being the brainiac I am, still didn't clue in. I am thinking "wow that female must be really aggressive or dominant or something.." So I remove the other female and leave the bossy "FEMALE" alone. Forward to Sunday afternoon when I take the lid of to do something and see little squiggles in my tank. BABIES!! Then I clue in that OMG that is not a female (duh)
> So I freak out of course, do some reasearch, throw a moss ball and snail in the tank, and Monday go get some BBS eggs which I have managed to keep hatching (daily) until now.
> I have of course taken the male out. They seem to be eating the brine shrimp OK. My big question right now is about my filter. I stopped my filter and put in a air stone Sunday night. Do I really need to put in one of those underwater foam filters or can I just put some mesh over my filter intake, so my babies don't get sucked up. And turn it back on as low as it will go?? It is just a little filter to begin with. And lastly that MALE still doesn't look like a male to me, I am not an expert by any means I only go by fins and his are just as short as the girls!!!



A foam filter would be best. The problem with one of the mesh or foam intakes is that the fry will get stuck on them and perish...

A foam filter is available for 10 bucks or less.

Jeff.


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)




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## ZackyBear (Dec 1, 2011)

rowansd said:


>


The first one didn't work  so I fixed it.


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

thanks, I have problems with pics for some reason! I did post a pic titled my female who is not! in the pictures section


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## LebronTheBetta (Apr 23, 2012)

What's a Foem Filter? I never heard of that type of Filter before...


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

LebronTheBetta said:


> What's a Foem Filter? I never heard of that type of Filter before...


As far as I know(hope I got it right, cause I just put one in) it is any little filter that you put right in your tank..not hang on the back, or undergravel) and use a little loose carbon and foam in it. and instead of an impeller sucking water up and through it, you run your air tube into it. So the air blows through it (at this point I don't know how it cleans the water) lol , it just filters some how!


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

LebronTheBetta said:


> What's a Foem Filter? I never heard of that type of Filter before...


A Foam filter uses... foam like a sponge, and air will move water through it. It filters some particulate, but mostly it houses benificial bacteria for biological filtration. Bacteria break ammonia down into first nitrite, and then nitrate. Nitrate is much less toxic to fish than the ammonia, but must still be eliminated by water changes. Plants will consume some of the nitrate, but it would take a huge quantity of plants to eliminate it all. Also when you change water in your tanks... I like to take the used water and put it on my house plants, and plants outside as well. The Nitrate is great for them! There are many hydroponic systems that use fish in water to keep plants fed to provide veggies for people... Talapia is a popular fish for this.

Your under gravel filter does essentially the same thing, but the bacteria live on the gravel. In a spawning tank usually there is no gravel so as to keep the fry safe and clean.

Jeff.


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

Is that your "female" betta your talking about in the picture above?
If yes,it looks like a male plakat to me.
I could be wrong,but the anal seems too long for a female.


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

Fabian said:


> Is that your "female" betta your talking about in the picture above?
> If yes,it looks like a male plakat to me.
> I could be wrong,but the anal seems too long for a female.


Here is a better pic of dad! The fry have just passed the two week mark and so far so good. I have between 15 and 20 fry, and have been feeding them BBS until now, this week I am going to try adding some frozen mysis shrimp.


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## Anitax3x (Aug 26, 2011)

I wish you the best of luck! Try and get pics of the fry  !


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

Yes,it's a male.Does he only have one ventral?


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

Fabian said:


> Yes,it's a male.Does he only have one ventral?


yup, only one! That is something I never noticed, until I took the photos of him.


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## MollyJean (Dec 29, 2009)

He could be a boy.. yeah. I see his beard.. has he every shown his beard before? It's strange his ventrals.. er.. ventral.. is so short, though. What's the Mother look like, by the way? How is she doing?


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## Aahnay (Jul 3, 2012)

Its wonderful you had everything you needed to save them. So cool. He is pretty too. How big is he?


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

Anitax3x said:


> I wish you the best of luck! Try and get pics of the fry  !


 Here is mom and a couple of the fry, they are hard to get pics of!


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## MyRainbowBettaFish (May 9, 2012)

the fry are so ADORABLE!!!


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

I am not sure how big dad is a bit over an inch? I guess. I am wondering though, if dad is a Plakat... any way to tell if the female is a Plaket or a Veiltail? I am just wondering if any of the male fry are going to have long fins, it is going to be hard to tell them apart, when it is time to separate them. Molly Jean as far as his beard goes, he doesn't show it to the extent my veiltails do. He was a great female impersonator.


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## Ant10a (Jun 16, 2012)

Congrats


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## tanseattle (Jun 28, 2012)

That is a story good to here. Are fries doing ok as of today??


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Those are wild type plakats (not necessarily wild born but descended). They're a bit smaller and more difficult to determine if they are male or female.

Congrats on the spawn and keep up the good work


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## djembekah (Feb 13, 2012)

one of the ways i tell the males from the females is to look at the ventrals. they really are different between males and females. its crazy. 

i've never gotten any babies, but i've had males wind up in my sorority twice. glad to see you can take care of the babies!


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## rowansd (Feb 22, 2012)

tanseattle said:


> That is a story good to here. Are fries doing ok as of today??


Sorry, was away for a few days-- had to give my mother a crash course in raising the BBS!!! The babies are still doing well and now I have to figure out the details on switching them to a bigger tank. My poor nerves--this is why I had no plans to try breeding!!!:-?


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