# [Spawn Log #2] Red/blue CT x Red/black CT - photo journal ;)



## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

Hi everyone, so I figured if I don't do it now, I never will. My fry from this spawn already turned 3 weeks old today. xD; This thread shall be an extension from my first spawn log here. I'm going to try my best and make this documentary as detailed as possible, now and then I'll point out some improvements I think I made compared to my last set-up. My current batch looks way healthier than the previous one at 3 weeks...and I hope it will stay this way!! >.<

Here's a small recap of my previous experience: I attempted by first spawn project back in mid-Oct'11. I had about 80+ fry, fed them almost exclusively on microworms and everything was perfect until the 3rd week. That was when I started losing them from a suspected bacterial infection (all who developed red bumps on their foreheads didn't make it). Nevertheless, I've got 28 make it to adulthood..but without their ventral fins.  Around 15 of them are healthy and thriving, while the remainder either have SBD or are severely stunted after surviving the infection. ^^; Five of the good ones have been adopted by my friend while I continue to hoard the rest, haha. One boy grew up to be quite a stunning pink/red cambodian with really pretty fins. Feels all my effort was well worth it just seeing him flare. ^^

_*SPAWN PROJECT NO.2*_

*29 January 2012*
Anyway, now wiser and less n00bish, thought I'd give raising fry another shot. I originally planned to spawn my red copper HM pair. I've conditioned and put them in my 10g tank and all, but alas, no results...they simply hogged my main tank for over a week. For a little date! ^^; 

During the frustrating wait...I noticed my CT male, the father of my previous spawn blew quite an impressive bubble nest in his 1.5g tank. So I decided to throw in my egg-bound red CT female, a sibling of his previous partner and see if something happens. :3 

Dad flaring at his son from the previous spawn (my favourite baby!<3)


















Red/black CT female 




























My CT male had proven himself previously to be a gentleman and a doting father...and since she's always been a bit bloated since the day I got her, I thought why not. When I checked on them the next day after I got back from work...


*2 February 2012 *
We had eggs in the nest! The female had a small piece of her anal fin missing but other than that she looked fine..and skinny!<3 No longer bloated. xD 










I removed the female and left dad alone to care for the eggs. He did great, plus, I noticed he even improved his egg-arranging technique..I don't know if he was clueless or just lazy, previously he used to stack all eggs precariously into one giant air pocket under the IAL. They kept dropping and he drove himself mad picking them back up..cycle repeated until babies hatched. Now all eggs were arranged nicely in the bubble nest as they should have been. 























































Since the spawn took place in a tiny 1.5g container with only plastic plants, I was a bit worried the babies wouldn't have any microorganisms to feed on later. There were plants in the main 10g tank, however, so I took out the reluctant HM pair and replaced 2/3 of the water. This is to prepare for moving the fry when they become free-swimming. 

Main tank set-up:










*3-4 February 2012*
Babies hatched! 











*5 February 2012, evening*
Babies started to stray away from the nest, dad losing interest. I removed the dad..and debated if I should move the fry to the main tank. Which I did..and looking back, I think this is the most daring thing I did with such fragile newborns. >_>;; Well, they're not going to survive without their first foods, and my microworm culture wasn't established enough as I had hoped..it's do or die. ^^;;

So I floated the container in the main tank for about half an hour...










...and later dunked EVERYTHING inside. :3






































*6 February 2012, night*
So far so good, none dead yet. White tummy, seems to be eating fine. Such a relief! xD





































---

...it's getting late now, I'll continue tmr. Sorry if I bore you to death..:3


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Congrats.........I wasn't bored at all.....

Too bad about the missing ventral fins on your first spawn....it happens sometimes.....offspring look nice otherwise.....

Look forward to following your spawn log.....


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

The male you used looks like he has popeye or something, how is he doing now? Congrats on babies!


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

OFL: Thank you for your encouraging reply! Since so much time has passed, I should be able properly chronicle the whole spawn in one go..xD' No more suspense left, hehe.

Greentea: The daddy of the spawn is a little less active now, but still doing great. The popeye effect, I think is just an illusion caused by the evening sun glare and the camera angle. He's actually never been sick for the entire 6 months I've had him, thankfully..though I'm not denying that he might've received better treatment because he's the sole betta daddy of both my betta spawns, lol. xD 

Sorry for the incredibly late reply, I know...the past few month's been crazy..was so preoccupied with family visits and work and fry babysitting I never really had the time to settle down, arrange my photos and post. 

As for the fry update, they're coming along really nicely. I ended up with 120-ish juvvies who are now almost adults. I must admit I'm really impressed with how the babies turned out considering how cheap the parents were, and since this spawn was supposed to be experimental before I move on to my red dragon HMs. xD; And I now realised what an utter failure my first spawn was compared to this time. They're all 11+ weeks now, and 13 have been re-homed thanks to my mum. She's actually much more excited than I am about giving away to her colleagues..hahah.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*9 February 2012 (5 days old)
*
Feeding on infusoria and BBS


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*14 February 2012 (10 days old)
*
Bellies orange with BBS~


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Nice job...they look great......It does get easier as you gain experience-but even with more experience sometimes you can still have a few failures...just part of working with live creatures.......

That is one of the things I enjoy most....seeing what your babies grow up to look like....sometimes you can really be surprised and amazed at some of the beautiful Bettas you create even with standard pet shop Bettas.....

Then you breed the siblings-the best of the best-some back to mother and father and then you can really get into some really nice looking fish.....it can be a lot of fun and rewarding......or at least in my opinion.....lol.....

Look forward to seeing more pic as they grow and develop......


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*18 February 2012 (2 weeks old)*

If you've been following my previous spawn log where I had depended heavily on microworms, you may notice that the size of this batch's 2 weeks babies (fed mainly on BBS) have already reached my previous spawn's 3 weeks old size. Learning from my mistakes, I realised how important it is for young fry to get proper nutrition when young. Not only would they grow faster (thus developing their disease resistance faster), I find that once you fail to provide them enough at any time during their crucial development stage, the damage is really irreversible. I know this because my previous spawn fell sick on their 3rd week, and the handful that survived did not really regain their appetite until their 4th week or so..and I had thought it was okay as long as they can do some "catch up" growing once they get better. By then, I switched completely to BBS. Even so, in the later stage of their lives, many became deformed (approx 70% of the surviving fry)..some were severely stunted, had SBD, some with crooked spine, and some just stopped eating completely in their adult days eventhough they were thriving on frozen bloodworms earlier. Just recently I had no choice but to cull 6 of my earlier babies because their conditions never improved no matter what I did. Looking back and comparing to my current spawn, I think I might have found some idea on what are the tell-tale signs that started the bacterial outbreak in the first place...I'll cover that later on when I conclude this spawn log.

Sorry for the long rant! Moving on to pics..xD;
































































































































Weird unknown creature that hitchhiked on my cabomba plant! I never found out what it was...>_>


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*22 February 2012 (2w 4d old)*

Ventral fins at 2+ weeks!! Seeing them almost felt as good as graduating from high school, lol~ Such a relief.


































































































































































































































Bonus video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxzMItSHP2I

Feeding on mw (as night-time snack, because I didn't hatch enough BBS for the day )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY1lHfkNGlU


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

Oldfishlady said:


> That is one of the things I enjoy most....seeing what your babies grow up to look like....sometimes you can really be surprised and amazed at some of the beautiful Bettas you create even with standard pet shop Bettas.....
> 
> Then you breed the siblings-the best of the best-some back to mother and father and then you can really get into some really nice looking fish.....it can be a lot of fun and rewarding......or at least in my opinion.....lol.....


I cannot agree more! 90% of the fun in betta breeding is watching them grow into the living gems and rainbows they are! I wouldn't mind giving them all away when they are adults for free because the best part is the fry rearing. The sense of accomplishment you feel when you reach the some fry growth milestones..and the suspense in it, is like stacking Jenga blocks..anything that goes wrong could ruin the whole thing, lol..it feels incredible. xD; Or it's just me sounding like a masochist..haha.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*25 February 2012 (3 weeks old) *

Sorry, accidentally posted a couple of pics twice in my previous post. Can't edit it since the 20 mins time limit is up. I'm tired of scrolling too, I know..


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*27 February 2012 (3w 2 d)*























































First complete water change! Took these pics, thought I count them all to the exact number..in the end I just couldn't make myself do it, lol. Too tedious, too many of [email protected][email protected]



















This stage is also the first time I messed up a bit with this spawn. Few days prior I bought myself a Chinese Algae Eater to clean up the debris on the glass. They looked harmless because they were so small and well, they did look like good suckers and they sounded like one, and they're prettier than the regular pleco. That was a blunder that costed me 5 fry. While he smootched the glass squeaky clean, he also moved very violently and fast. When I attempted to fish him out during my full water change, he trashed around..immediately after that a few of my fry started to go belly up and were dead minutes later. I suspect they got squished somehow in the process. ._. Before this I had only lost 1-2 other fry from the day of hatching. So now casualty is up to 7. ^^;; I didn't dare to put the algae eater back in after that and replaced him with a real pleco. The pleco is still here today and is doing a great job cleaning my tank without hurting the juvvies.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*4 March 2012 (1 month old)*

Colouring up! Mainly red on the anal fins...























































Look, food! xD


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*11 March 2012 (5w 1d old)*

At this point I've started them on micropellets and tiny pieces of frozen bloodworms.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*14 March 2012 (5w 4d old)*

Growth spurt!


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## newarkhiphop (Apr 22, 2011)

beautiful spawn, at what point are supposed to separate them?


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

newarkhiphop said:


> beautiful spawn, at what point are supposed to separate them?


Thank you~ I jarred a few at 6 1/2 weeks at the first sign of flaring...just in case.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*16 March 2012 (5w 6d old)*

...to the point you can see difference is size in just a matter of a day. >_>







































*17 March 2012 (6 weeks old)*

Consuming about 4 cubes of frozen bloodworms a day.



















90% water change




















*18 March 2012 (6w 1d old)*


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*21 March 2012 (6w 4d old)
*

The day I jarred my first two boys. Meet Cain and Abel, because they seem to hate each other, lol. Abel is the one with the blue streaks in his tail. They now head my favourites list. 



























































































Rest of the juvvies during 3rd full water change























































Video @ 6 weeks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOSzbArt2fw


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*24 March 2012 (7 weeks old)
*
Jarred 10 more...at this point I was just grabbing whatever containers I could get my hands on, lol. Starting to see nipped tail spikes and fins... :/

The "grown ups". Mom and Dad on the top left and top second. The dead looking ones at the bottom are my SBD fry from the first spawn. They're only alive when I drop them some pellets. Wouldn't take any bloodworms.  I've decided to culled them a few days back.









The babies...


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*25 March 2012 (7w 1d old)*

Newly jarred unnamed babies




































Cain & Abel~































































A cambodian butterfly~


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

*1 April 2012 (8 weeks/2 months)*

Ok, massive post, this. It's my last batch of photos before I got sent away for 2 weeks to another state for work. :/ After that they're left in hands of my not-so-enthusiastic mum while I was gone...sad face.

Pics of unnamed jarred babies


















Favourite #3! He's a real looker..black and lavender. Too bad he lost a tail spike so soon..:/




































The next few pics are mainly of different individuals I jarred...


























































































































































Cain & Abel! Can you still tell them apart? xD



























































































Okayyyy. It's 5am now, I should really be sleeping. I'll continue with 14th April onwards on my next post. Enough of scrolling, my finger's starting to hurt...

Edit: 
This is Cain at 7 weeks. Forgot to include it in my prev post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1B4jBdTUoY

Goodnight.


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## KadenJames (Mar 23, 2012)

GORGEOUS! Wow, what an amazing bunch. Makes me _very _impatient for my next few spawns. *shakes fist at HMPK* HURRY. UP.

What is your weekly tank cleaning schedule? xD


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

KadenJames said:


> GORGEOUS! Wow, what an amazing bunch. Makes me _very _impatient for my next few spawns. *shakes fist at HMPK* HURRY. UP.
> 
> What is your weekly tank cleaning schedule? xD


Thanks, I can't wait to see how your spawns turn out too! I'll be stalking your thread. 

I usually change at least 50% every day, the larger they get the more water I replace. So far I've only made around 4 - 5 full water change from the start. Sometimes I slack off a bit and change once in 2 or 3 days. But never more than 3 days.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

You really hit the jack pot since this was meant to be only a learning experience. Great Job!


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

A little update.  The babies are now officially adults at 3.5 months old. Got a whole bunch of black/reds, black and red cambodian butterflies, a cellophane and a handful of cambodian females. 90% turned out to be males..>_> About 80+ have been jarred weeks ago, while approx 30 of them, mainly females remain in their grow out tanks. You may imagine what it's like during a water change session, haha. No complaints though, it feels good to see them swimming in fresh, clean water!

I was away for 2 weeks on a working trip when they were 7 weeks old, and after I came back, noticed a few had nipped fins already..:/. Separated most of them immediately before I even unpacked my luggage, lol. My mum has given away a few to her colleagues. We've found an interested wholesaler who wants to look at them...but at the moment I'm putting it on hold. It's going to be hard to let go when the moment comes.


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

Some recent pics..

My lovely marble cellophane..my favourite of the bunch besides the marble butterflies. 




























Check this out, this guy has a double-triple ray..


















































































It's surprising to see so many marbles and butterflies in this spawn. Something I didn't expect..


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## BeckyFish97 (Apr 9, 2012)

Beautiful!!!Love the cellophane/Butterfly marble-ish one!!!


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## MoonShadow (Feb 29, 2012)

Gorgeous!! I absolutely love reading spawn logs from start to finish!!! Great job and stunning babies!


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## Enkil (Jan 15, 2012)

You certainly did get some very pretty ones! Congrats!


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

5 1/2 months update.


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## tanseattle (Jun 28, 2012)

So beautiful


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Nice job....they look great......how many did you end up with....both male and female....Any plans to spawn the offspring back to mother/father and/or sibling spawns.....

Also, you take great pics.....


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## checkerzelda (Oct 15, 2011)

Oldfishlady said:


> Nice job....they look great......how many did you end up with....both male and female....Any plans to spawn the offspring back to mother/father and/or sibling spawns.....
> 
> Also, you take great pics.....


Thanks~ I ended up with around 80 males and 30 females. 20+ have been given away to family and friends. I have no immediate plans to continue this line...I'm debating if I should because their parents are simply run-of-the-mill petshop bettas. Dad costed me only RM4 (USD1.25) and mum, RM2.50 (USD0.80)..they're practically FOC, haha. You can see the parents' form in my 1st post..they're nothing to shout about. ^^; I guess I was just lucky to get a variety of nice-looking offspring..even then, they're nowhere near show quality where I live (and not exactly commercially viable). xD;

But anyway, if I were to breed them siblings, which do you think I should pick? I'm leaning more towards the Cambodian Butterfly (1st pic), Pastel/cellophane and then the Black Orchid. They're less common.

I actually have a new pair of Red Dragons which I'm trying to breed now. The father recently ate most of the eggs...lol. So much headache and heartache. I may just switch back to my beloved CTs, shrugs.

The pics are taken with an iPad 3, btw. I think it rivals a DSLR. ^^


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## VictorP (Jun 5, 2012)

You should breed the marble male he has really unique colouring.


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## Creat (Dec 6, 2010)

I dont know to much about ct form but these guys are sharp looking. They arent perfect but I dont think they are to far off.


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## Anitax3x (Aug 26, 2011)

Awesome job! they are gorgeous!


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

I love the one in the third picture. Congrats on the spawn.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

They are absolutely stunning. It just goes to show you, petstore fish CAN produce some nice spawns.


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## VictorP (Jun 5, 2012)

dramaqueen said:


> They are absolutely stunning. It just goes to show you, petstore fish CAN produce some nice spawns.


I guess it's because most pet store betta are genetic messes. Considering the parents' colours and what they produced.


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