# First spawn log- Dthmpk x traditional pk



## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Hello everybody! I apologize in advance because this may be a bit long! The male I spawned is a black copper double tail Halfmoon plakat. He has fairly even lobes, and is extremely aggressive and energetic. I call him the Hun because of how aggressive he is. Atm I have six adult males and he's easily the meanest. 

The female is a blackish marble/piebald. Her body is somewhat marbly, but very dark, and she has a white face. Its strange because when she is in breeding mode, she is mostly black, normal mode just swimming around the soroity tank she is black and white, and wheb she is stressed, she is mostly white. She is a traditional plakat, and is the most aggressive of my females. 

Now I am not going to lie. This female was not my first choice. I tried spawning the Hun with two other females, but he is so agressive that the females just could not come out of their hiding spots without being ravaged. So I decided to pair him with my most agressive controlling female. If actually worked out quite well, because whenever the Hun would rush her, instead of fleeing, she would meet him head on. This confused him enough to back off. I put them together at about 10 am, and they spawned at 3 pm. The female actually initiated it. She approached him under the bubble nest and nipped him in his side until he wrapped her. Both fish were virgins so I was surprised that it didn't take long for them to spawn. 

My spawning tank is a 4 gallon marineland. It was originally $60 but it was on sale at Petsmart, and on top of it being on sale, I used a $25 off coupon that applied to any and all marine land tanks, so I got it for $12 total. 

The heater is also a marine land, and it was free since I stole it from one of my husbands tanks.

The plants I use are guppy grass, which I got for free from a lfs. My jaw dropped when I saw how much they gave me. I still have not found a use for all of it.

The marine land tank came with a hood but it wasn't containing moisture, so i took a sheet of bubble wrap, placed it over the tank, and placed the hood over that. It holds the bubble wrap in place quite well, and my tank is now satisfyingly humid. 

The marine land tank came with a filter but its way too powerful for the fry. So I purchased a small sponge filter off of ebay for $5 with free shipping.

The foods I fed my pair for conditioning were: frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp, flightless fruit flies, live brine shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, amd frozen daphnia. I absolutely never feed pellets or flakes. I lost my favorite male and female to bloat when I fed them some betta pellets, so I am now paranoid about them.

The food for the fry I bought were: microworms, vinegar eels, and brine shrimp. The vinegar eels are a pain in rear to harvest. The VE and MW I bought, or rather coaxed, from a lps thats breeds their own bettas, for $5 each. They nornally don't sell food meant for their breeding stock, but I am pretty annoyingly persistent. My brine shrimp eggs were $6 for a small vial. 

Anyway, heres the male from the spawn. More pictures of him，and pics of female to come. Theres around 100 eggs. I will update often 

http://s913.photobucket.com/user/asiagagel87/media/Mobile Uploads/CAM00328_zpsek8y8aun.jpg.html


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Here is mommy... I took these pics right after I took her out of the spawning tank so she is in distress and not showing her best colors. She's actually quite beautiful once she colors up. As you can see, she did not sustain any damage at all during the spawning process. This girl can look out for herself! 
Oh I forgot to mention that I added IAL to the spawn tank. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible so as to help any newbie breeders like myself.

If the babies make it to adulthood this time, the will be going to three different LPS. I need better quality females before I can consider selling on aquabid, although I think my male is a pretty decent dt.

On another note, does anyone else's spouse think they are crazy for wanting to own and breed bettas? I swear my husband thinks I'm insane. He calls me petstore Asia because he says I live at the pet store. I got a lot of looks of disgust when I set up my brine shrimp hatcheries, although I will admit, they are pretty loud and annoying! And he thinks its really strange that I have VE and MW cultures set up all over the place. My defense is always that I could be addicted to much worse things, like coke or heroin, or even alcohol. That's shuts him up pretty quick!  But anyway, heres the female


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

Definitely subscribing, I love the pair!


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## umarnasir335 (Jan 9, 2014)

Interesting combo you got here!

Can't wait to see how the double tail gene will work with mom's coloring and dad's dragonscale gene involved!


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## tiffanylucky (Nov 6, 2013)

Do the parents have names?


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

They sure do!  all my bettas have names because thwy have distinct personalities. I have never had one betta that behaves exactly like another. A few have similar personalities but never identical. The male is named The Hun, and I call the female Xena...my warrior couple lol. 

The Hun is being a very attentive Dad thus far. He doesn't let a single egg hit the floor once it starts to fall. I believe there are 50 to 75 eggs. They did spawn for quite a long time but Xena was only producing between 3-6 eggs with each embrace. I wonder if its because the Hun is very short bodied, and possibly wasn't able to get the position perfect. But thats ok! Even with a small spawn I will be very happy!

I have tried spawning in the past, but failed. First time, the male ate all the fry. The second time, dad abandoned the nest and no eggs hatched. Third time, all the fry got to the free swimming stage, and I messed up badly. I could not keep my hands out of the tank. I was constantly obsessively siphoning the bottom, and when the fry was about a week old I was no longer satisfied with the siphoning. I just HAD to do a bigger water change...ended up killing all but one of my fry. I had started with 53. Now I have one, who I named Solo, and he is very happy and healthy, and growing like a weed. 

So this time I will be practicing hands off for the first couple of weeks with the fry. I will definitely NOT be doing any large water changes!

Oh and as a side note in case theres any confusion, the past spawns were from a different pair. This is this pairs first time breeding. 

I am hopeful of getting a couple dts but I am not sure if I will see any in F1. At the very least I am hoping the dad will contribute to a wider spread than what mom has. Dads anal and dorsal are a bit on the long side so I am hoping moms genes will help shorten them somewhat. The best thing about dad is he has pretty even lobes and I love his coloring. Not sure if I will see any black coppers in f1 though. Perhaps some partials. But either way the fry should have pretty dark coloring, maybe some partial dragon scales.

I am expecting the babies to start hatching in 8 or 9 hours. Pretty excited


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

I know who's is about your new spawn, but do you have any photos of solo??

I'm so excited! I can't wait until the eggs hatch!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

I know who's is about your new spawn, but do you have any photos of solo??

I'm so excited! I can't wait until the eggs hatch!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

I certainly do have pictures of Solo! I will post those next, along with pictures of mom and dad  He's currently two and a half weeks old, and eating mostly microworms and baby brine shrimp.  I have no idea if Solo is a he or a she but I call him a he lol! 

Here's some pictures of the Hun attending the nest. I have no tails yet but I can see the embryos when I shine a light at them. I'm going to wager I will see my first tails around 9 or 10 pm tonight  Also, I'm updating pics of mom, now that she's back in her sorority and normally colored again. In some of the pics you can see her pretty blue eyes, which I thought were unique seeing as how she's a darker color with light colored eyes!
Some are blurry though. I have yet to own any pet faster than a female betta!


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

congrats with your successful spawn! looks like you were able to find a good looking female afterall that wasnt a dumbo. looking forward to seeing how these babies turn out!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Thank you so much!  I am pretty satisfied with this couple! None of my other females wanted anything to do with the Hun, not that I blame them! He's pretty dang brutal with the ladies! 

Heres a couple of pictures of Solo, sporting a grotesquely swollen bbs filled belly! The white fancy/marble hmpk is the dad, and the platinum EE is the mothed. Solo should turn out interesting!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Yay I just glanced in the tank and noticed some tails! Some are already falling and the Hun is diligently placing back in the bubble nest


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

What a good dad ^-^. 
I love seeing dads tend to their fry, it's so cute.


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Its a bit intimidating seeing innocent helpless fry in the mouth of the Hun, since I have seen what that mouth can do to my females lol, but I have to say, so far hes being a great daddy. I have the tank set up next to my bed, and woke up a couple of times to see the Hun spitting mouthfuls of babies back into the nest, and I have to admire his determination. There is one little fry that has a curled tail. Not sure if it will straighten out or not, but he seems to fall more than,the rest. The Hun has put the baby back in the nest so many times, my husband and I agreed we would have eaten that little baby by now.  

They seems to be more fry than I was expecting, although I couldn't pin point a number just yet.

I have come up with a new way to get debris out of the water without having to actually replace any water. Although its painstakingly slow. I have been getting a cupful of water at a time and.running it through a coffee filter, and returning the water into the tank, minus any guck. It actually makes the water pretty crystal clear and this way I don't have to worry about the temperature being exact, or the ph levels being different. It will eventually have to be changed of course, but at least its getting rid of most of the debris that causes ammonia build up, and its very easy to see if a fry accidentally gets caught. I have lots of water with IAL aging right now, so hopefully I will be better prepared for water changes this time. 

If all goes well, Wednesday evening I will be removing dad and introducing microworms for the first time. When they are a week old I will start adding bbs to their diet.

I am not using snails this time around. They poop so much, I spent more time siphoning their poop than doing anything else. Plus anytime my fry died, the snails would eat them, which made it look like they had been abducted by aliens or something, since I had fewer and fewer fry but no bodies. It took me awhile to figure out what was going on, and yes, I face palmed mhself. I realize its beneficial for everyone if the dead fry are quickly eaten but I would prefer to be able to keep track of any fry that do not make it. 

Xena is doing great back in her sorority. I only isolated her for 24 hrs after breeding, because she did not recieve any wounds, and also she was in the spawn tank for less than 12 hours, so shes still in great shape. The more I look at her, the more I fall in love with her coloring. At first glance she may seem boring, but I just love her dark body with her little white face and blue eyes. She reminds me of a horse I had growing up. Same coloring!

well thats it for now! I really hope I get some decent quality fry!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

Solo is adorable! Wow the parents look amazing. I'm loving the dad!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

I am a huge fan of Solos daddy but unfortunately he has lost any and all interest in breeding. Which I am a little sad about, because I love his coloring!!! 

Woke up this morning to find 20-30 free swimmers, all scattered around the tank. I was like, "hey! We have a schedule stick to and you guys were not supposed to be free swimming until Wednesday evening!" Apparently the Hun concurs with me, as he's now making a point to swim the whole tank now, catching the little free swimmers, and putting them back in the nest. I feel bad for the Hun though. He hasn't stopped moving this whole time. Never rests, nothing. Wish there was a way I could tell him what a good dad he is.

On the other hand, I have two very deformes fry that the Hun doesn't seem to want to cull. I may end up having to do it him. Their tails are curled completely around their bodies and they can't move at all except to fall like a rock when the Hun places them back in the nest:-( 

My husband has some pretty big eels and cichlids, so they will at least go quickly:-( 

On a happier note, I have a couple pics of Solo from this morning. He is now 18 days old, and I'm either imagining things or he's beginning to show some iridescence. I am floating him in a cup within the spawn tank right now, since its just him


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

What a good father ^-^. 
I bet it's so cute seeing all of the little babies around!

Sorry about the two that are deformed ( p′︵‵。). I hope they're not in pain from it!!

Do you think you could put solo in with the other fry as soon as their just about his size?


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## SorcerersApprentice (May 31, 2012)

What a good dad. They're a beautiful pair, I'm sure the babies will be gorgeous.


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Thanks for your kind comments guys (or ladies  ) I really appreciate it. I actually am going to try to put Solo in with the smaller fry once they are too big to fit in his mouth! :-D Solo is too cute, I am excited for the babies to reach his size! Right now that just resemble little tadpoles lol. Well last night all fry had left the nest! The Hun was running himself ragged trying to build a bubble nest wherever he saw a cluster of fry, so I took pity on the poor guy and removed him. I was getting exhausted just watching him!

Unfortunately he seems to be pretty depressed now. I added aquarium salt to his tank and fed him as many BWs as he would eat. He did eat quite a bit, but sver since I removed him he's been moping at the bottom of the tank. I put a vertically striped female in a cup floating in his tank for perhaps a half hour today, hoping it might perk him up, but after an initial flare he esentially ignored her. I turned off his tank light so I hope that will help him relax. Not sure what else I can do at this point :-( 

I managed to get some pics of the fry last night, right before I removed the Hun. They arent the best pics. I have an lg connect so they camera is not all that great lol. I will try to get some more tonight. Its strange but some of the fry have darker spots on the body. To try to explain, instead of having one set of eyes there are a few that appear to have three sets. They arent actual extra eyes of course lol, but that was the best explanation I could come up with to describe the spots.

I am feeding them a bit of bbs, and mws, but I haven't seen any fry go for the food yet. Hopefully they will start hunting soon. I may even harvest some of my VE even though its such a pain lol, but perhaps the fry will try them. 

I forgot to mention I ended up using a big plastic bin instead of the four gallon. It just didn't seem big enough. But ok lol some pics now!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

Awesome photos! They look great. 
I hope daddy starts feeling better ;( I wonder why he's sad.


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Thank you for your concern, and for keeping me company on my spawning journey ;
 Dad is back to his normal hyper self! I swear, the Hun is the most active/hyper betta I have ever seen! He just has to constantly be moving when he is awake, and he sure is fast! He is already building another massize bubble nest. I think hes like a person with ocd that can't stand being idle for long  silly boy, wish I had his energy!

Well I have been siphoning the bottom of the tank, and other than that just leaving the water alone. I think I may begin to drip in new water tomorrow, about a quart a day till the tub is full. Then once they are at least two weeks I will start will small water changes and work my way up. I am very leery of messing with the water too much, since I killed 52 of the 53 babies from that spawn 

Speaking of my last spawn, Solo is thriving! I have new pictures I will upload soon. It does not show on camera yet, but his color is beginning to darken a tad. I am slightly dissapointed, sonce I was hoping he would be a white marble or platinum like mom, but as long as he continues to be healthy, I will deal with it. As of midnight, he turned 3 weeks old!

My other fry are very healthy and active. Their last feeding of the day I added a bit of bbs, then checked a bit later, and the fry had devoured them! So I added a bit more and sat down to watch, and it was so cool watching them chase the bbs and eat them! I am still adding mws as well but the fry seem to prefer the bbs. I can just barely make out their tiny pectoral fins on the bigger ones. But I have to squint just right  I am also seeing some fry have a different tint. Some are white, some have a tiny bit of reddish tint, and some are pretty dark. My husband thinks I am crazy because he doesn't see any tint, so someone please tell me I'm not crazy so I can show him your response and then give him a smug look. 

I did a head count, and counted 123 but I may have missed some or counted some twice.so thats merely a rough estimate. 

Just so everyone knows in advance, IF the fry make it, I will be offering most on here for free local pickup, or just the cost of shipping. The ones that don't find homes on here will be goingout to one of three lps that have an interest. So keep an eye out in the future if you want a hmpk with dt genes I will be keeping the ones that are the most robust, and the ones thag have the best finnage. If I can get even one dt with fairly even lobes, I will be pretty happy  Ifs so much work but I really love caring for the fry. Its so peaceful and relaxing. My back is not too happy with all the bending but even that can't put a damper on my enthusiasm and excitement to see what these babies grow into!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

You're so welcome! I am glad to be keeping you company on your journey!!
I'm so glad dad is back to normal, maybe he loves being a dad so much he wants to spawn again!!

That sounds like a good plan, take it slow. It's sad and morbid to say, but that mistake was a good learning experience that was definitely needed.

I'm SO glad to hear solo is doing amazingly! Don't be so quick to judge, Solo can change within hours! I had a navy blue butterfly half moon female and after a few months of having her she lost all of her colour, I was so sure she was getting sick but I guess she had a jumping marble gene and after losing all of her colour she started gaining black splotches! so now instead of a butterfly HM, she's now a marble/koi HM.

It really seems they love BBS! Too bad too much BBS can cause swim bladder disorder ;(. I mean I'm sure you're aware of that, but it's like giving a treat to your dog and It's so sad because they love it and you don't want to stop treating them!

From the photos you posted of a couple of the fry I do see a reddish tint.

WOW! That's a lot of babies! I can't wait till they all are grown up!

Where are you located? You're most likely not where I am


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Aww your hm female sounds beautiful! I would love to see a pic, kois are my absolute favorite color pattern! I have only had the fortune of owning one once. He was a dthmpk from petco, and he died before I even had a chance to get home and take him out of the cup! I took him back the next day and an employee admitted the whole shipment had come in dead or later died, because this was when we had the severe ice storm, which caused a lot of delays and freezing temperatures. 

I am in Michigan btw Lucky for me because theres two amazing fish stores within an hour of me 

Yeah it really does suck that bbs causes swim bladder because my fry prefer them to the other foods. This spawn seems to be growing better and faster than my last even though there are more of them. I have not found any dead fry yet, and my fingers are crossed that I wont see a massize die off again. 

Here are some pictures of the babies! You can see some orange tummies from bbs, as well as the tiny pectorals in the picture of the single fry


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

And because I think hes adorable I have some pictures of Solo as well. His ventrals have been visible for the last two days, which makes me happy because he is a die hard bottom dwelled. Always has been since day one lol. Oddly enough this group of fry mostly lurks at the top, with large groups in the two front corners of the bin. Last group never came near the surface.
I believe Solo is growing fairly well. I am not sure how to articulate it exactly, but he is already bigger than most the petco babies I see, but at the same time....less developed if that maks sense. Like his body is bigger but while I think the petco babies resemble adults somewhat, Solo is still very obviously a baby. I love him though. He's a cutie


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

They are so tiny!!! I just want to hug them all!!
Sorry to hear about your dthmpk =[ That sucks, they really shouldn't have sent any home!!
I'm in Calgary, AB =[


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Aww thats too bad that you arent in the us. I am hoping for some awesome homes for some of my babies, but I am glad that at least the pet stores they are going to are decent. I will probably keep several females and maybe three of my favorite males if the babies make it! 
Yeah the petco employees have flat out admitted to me that they do not quarantine their bettas. As soon as they arrive and are scanned in, they go onto the shelves. It would be nice if they did a quarantine though! 

The fry are one week old today. I have not been finding any dead fry really. Maybe one or two every couple days, which makes me happy. I will just take all the credit and tell myself its because of my brilliant and innovative coffee filter technique:-D The coffee filter helps a lot though. Its very easy to see any fry that get sucked up, plus you can return the water rather than having to replace it. I have started removing one full cup of water during my cleaning, and replacing it with a cup of preaged and heated water. I am so excited to see if my babies will begin developing tail soon, and how long it will take before I can tell whethee they are dts of not. 
I took some more pics of The Hun today. I was floating him in a tank with another male so that they could get some flaring exercise. The other male in the pics is also,a dthmpk, but his fins arent anywhere near as nice as The Huns fins. The Hun is beginning to lighten to more of a golden color.


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

It's definitely sad that pet stores don't quarantine...I work at a pet store pet time and they usually make it 95% of the time..

I'm super happy to know the fry are doing well! I'm glad that the majority of them are thriving!

Hun is so adorable!!! I LOVE the gold on him, It's fantastic.
I actually looked at the photos before reading what you wrote and I immediately knew the other male was a DT as well, a partial though. Still he's a stunning male, I really like the blue outline he's got going on.


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## ismintis (Jun 23, 2013)

You're babies are so cute! I'm totally stalking this thread... ^-^ Good luck with them you're doing a great job!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Thank you guys for all the nice compliments! They really make my day I am a stay at home house wife lol so I do not get a whole lot of interaction with the outside world(aside from going to the pet store everyday) So its nice to be able to share my experiences with my spawn 

I wouldn't call my other dt a rescue, since I didn't run into a burning building to save him or anything, but he is definitely a pity buy. He was sitting in petco for almost a month, and I figured that if he had made it that long in a tiny cup he deserves to have a good home. His tail is like nothing I have ever seen before lol. He was labeled as a dthmpk but I would say a tail like that deserves its own category so I just call him my little clover tail To me it looks like a clover leaf lol. He can't swim too well either, he spends a lot of time resting in one of his plants. I like his colors a lot though 

My husband has formed a strong attachment to Solo. He asked me if he could have Solo for his community tank once he is big enough, but I had to say no. Thats MY baby lol. We got to talking though and decided Solo deserves a very special tank of his own when he's old enough to be moved. He is a special little guy to me. He survived all my mistakes 

The fry are getting bigger everyday! I am expecting to see some die off between now and the weekend, since they are absorbing the last of the yolk sack. I did find one dead baby this morning while I was siphoning the bottom of the tank. There are some very small and some medium, and some quite big so there is a noticeable size difference. The fry just do not seem to enjoy the microworms much, and I can never seem to get a decent harvest of vinegar eels! I am not sure where I going wrong so maybe someone can inform me how they harvested theirs?

I will have some more pictures soon. Lol I know I probably update more than I need to but I guess I took the term spawn log literally. It just helps me to record their progress as much as possible


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

So glad we could make your day o(^▽^)o

That is a cute "new" classification! It'd be cool to find a mutant DT with three lobes instead of two, then it'd really be a clover!!

Awe that's so cute that your husband is really taking to solo! What community fish do you have? I quite like endlers, they're my most favourite live bearer.

I have no idea on the vinegar eels, but I was talking to a breeder that's close to me and apparently he did an experiment on his own fry (This guy is like an extreme breeder, makes beautiful betta) and he said only feeding BBS wasn't bad, it was the quantity of any food that causes SBD. He said he feeds BBS once or twice a day just enough for them to fill their bellies. Now don't take my word of this...but that's what he's doing with his fry.

I definitely don't mind loads of pictures!! It's also nice to look back when they're all gone and have left the (bubble) nest (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Ok time for me to stop being lazy lol. I don't think I have ever had any endlers. I am going to have to look into them! 

My husband keeps cichlids in one tank, then he has a tank of pirahnas, and a tank of leaf fish and spiny eels and fresh water flounder. I only keep bettas;-) unless you count snails and shrimp, because I have a lot of those My husband and I are huge animal lovers! We have a LOT of fish tanks, a huge cage with a bunch of male rats, a cat, and german shepherds. My nephew came over the other day and asked us, "how do you guys afford all these animals?!" And my husband glared at me and said, "We can't. But my wife is a pet store freak." 
I did cringe a little, he is always warning me that I need to go to the pet store twice a week tops, but I end up getting an itch and feel that I HAVE to go!:-D 
I am considering a job at the pet store just so I have more access to animals all the time lol. I am not a hoarder though, I make sure I keep it organized 

That's good advice about the bbs and I have started trying it out, just feeding twice a day, enough to fill their bellies, but not enough for there to be any left overs. Its been working great, so I thank you for the suggestion 
I have not been finding too many dead fry, maybe four in the last two days, but I was expecting it now to be honest. The ones dying are the ones who just are not picking up on how to hunt. Everyone else is super healthy! They are reaching the milestones as expected thus far, although some are now far bigger than others. But even the smallest seen to be healthy. I went to petco the other day and compared them to Solo as well, and he is much bigger and fatter than those poor baby bettas. But the baby bettas at petco have more color and the fins are more defined. Its strange that Solo can be so big, but still has given no indication to what color he will be. Lol, not even sure if Solo is a he. Solo could very well be a she


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)




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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

New pics of mommy. I think she's marbking, which surprises me.


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

And how could I leave out little Solo?


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Ugh I am the worst betta mom ever! I accidently bumped the tub they are all in while I was cleaning, and didn't think anything of it. Like an hour later I opened the top to do some siphoning, and Solo, who had been floating in a cup, was loose among the smaller babies! When I knocked into the tub I must have made his cup tip over. I have no idea if he ate any of the babies or not! He is definitely big enough to fit them in his mouth, easily, so I have no way of knowing if he ate some:-( 
I guess the only good thing is that they use the same water so I don't have to worry about contamination, but still, I am sure je probably got a few of the babies! And the sad thing is I could have avoided it altogether if I had just used the breeding net I biught specifically for the purpose of keeping Solo seperated. Solo isn't in any way hurt but I am still worried he might have eaten some fry.
Hes only two weeks olded but that two weeks sure does make an enormous difference! 
Ugh, I really enjoy spawning bettas and I love the work imvolved, and I find it fascinating and rewarding, but I am wondering if I will ever get a spawn that I do not make mistakes with!


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Well this morning I measured Solo, which wasn't the easiest thing I have ever done. Easier than getting my bettas to spawn, but harder than harvesting microworms, for the sake of reference ;-) 
He is measuring at exactly .6 inches, and will be a month old tomorrow. But he is still utterly gray lol. I am eager to see what his color develops into. I couldn't even begin to guess! No sign that he has EE. Pectorals look pretty typical.

I can now see visible tails on the fry. They are a week and a half, and eating like pigs! They are perhaps a third of the size of Solo, which would put them at .2-.25 inches. Getting pretty happy since I passed the ten day mark without any mass die offs. Gives me more hope that a good number of fry will survive!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

That doesn't make you a bad fish mom at all!! 
I don't think even pros get it easy, I'm sure they run into some trouble here and there. Because that's how life is! Things naturally happen, so don't worry to much :3. There will be many spawns in your future!

So happy to read that they're all doing so well!! I really cannot wait until they're older and developed their colours and fins!

Solo's dad is the only one with EE's right?


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## Plakatmasta (Jan 31, 2014)

Hey have you got any pics of the fry id like to see what they look like so far


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

As always, thank you for your encouragement and enthusiam Truong! It always boosts my moral when I need it the most Solos daddy was a hmpk, and his mommy was the hmpkee, although she doesn't look like a hm to me. Her spread is not all that great, but the father Benito can reach 180 ° if he really wants to 
Solos dad is a white fancy/marble, and mom is a platinum, but Solo, who turned one month old yesterday, is turning green! You cannot see it on his body in the pictures, but it shows on his fins! I would never have guessed I would get a green baby out of those two whiteys 

The fry are going to be 2 weeks as of tomorrow (2/02/2014) and they are growing like guppy grass lol:-D 
Unfortunately I am already beginning to notice some cannibalism:-( The biggest fry are picking off the tiniest. The smallest have already been eaten and I think the rest are ok, since theres not as much of a size difference in the smallest and the biggest now. I can see distinct tails and pectorals now, but no sign of double tails yet.

Heres some pics from today plakatmasta 
They are very similar right now, definitely no distinctive features as of yet.





More coming, my photobucket is working soooo slow today!
I also want to post pics of Solo's new hint of color, as well as show everyone the two males I am trying to decide between to spawn when these guys are grown its a bit early but I like to condition well in advance. I also have to decide ahead of time because I will be going and purchasing a few females next week, so I need to look for some ladies that will balance out my males faults


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Some more baby pics


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Solo's unexplainable transformation into a green fish=-O 









Any guesses as to gender? To be honest I am not sure at what age the egg spot should appear:O seems like an important detail to overlook lol. All well. I guess this experimental spawn will teach me what I need to know


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## ynahanson (Dec 5, 2013)

Oooh little fishes!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Cute!! Lol


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

The babies look wonderful! I can't believe how big Solo is now ^0^


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Sorry it's been so long since I updated! Heres whats been going on. Unfortunately I lost my whole spawn. I am in Holly MI and my whole area decided to lose power a couple of weeks ago. Woke up at 3 am freezing my rear off, checked all my bettas, and sure enough the whole spawn was laying on the floor of the tank dead or dying. :-( I was pretty devastated, but I still have Solo and all my adults survived. I rushed them over to my FIL who luckily has a generator. It was pretty chaotic, we were without power for days!

I ended up having to cram all my females in one ten gallon and floating all my other males plus solo in another ten gallon to keep everyone warm. My husbands cichlids and pirahnas all lived but most of his pufferfish died. He was pretty bummed about that. He also lost a knifefish and that bothered him the most I think. He really liked that knifefish! All the snails and shrimp ended up being just fine, as were the plants.

I decided to use our power outage as a chance to completely redo my betta tanks. I will post pics soon. I added a heavy duty five tier shelf with 5 new tanks, 13 new females, and four new males. I set up a second sorority for the new females, a 20 gallon long, and everyone seems to be doing wonderfully. I got some really nice females that I am really excited about! The males are nice as well, I got 3 new EE boys that I am pretty fond of, and three of my 13 females are ee, two of which are kings. 

I will be starting a new spawn log soon, just wanted to let everyone know what was going on, and when people on here get offended because experienced breeders are being so adamant about temperature, listen to the breeders!!! They are not exaggerating, betta fry are EXTREMELY sensitive to temperature changes. I am going to estimate my power was out for perhaps five hours before I woke up and realized...five hours was more than enough to kill off all of my fry. Just five hours with no heater, killed off hours and weeks of time invested...very heart breaking! But all I can do is try again. I am conditioning a few pairs right now, havent decided on which pair to use yet, but I will post when I do!


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

I'm so sorry to hear about your spawn! I am glad not all is lost though, I'm happy solo made it  he/she's a survivor!

My condolences to your husband  I hate when things happen out of our control.

I'll be looking forward to seeing photos!! I'm wanting to breed for CT PK but we'll see :3


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## Asiakp (Oct 25, 2013)

Thank you for your kind words! Michigan is just getting hit with winter storm after winter storm, its crazy! The high winds have been wreaking havoc over here on everyones power lines! My hubby ended up getting another ghost knife fish, a captive bred baby, so hopefully he grows as attached to this one as he was to the last. 
He has one surviving puffer and it seems to be doing well. I just noticed one of his leaf is dead at the bottom of one of his tanks, and hes going to be pretty bummed about that :-( I guess I am going to have to go fish it out :-\ Its strange, ever since I switched to stress coat I have had zero sick fish, aside from my poor spawn. No ich, no bloating, no stress, no fin rot, nothing. I swear theres some kind of miracle preventative in it. But my husband continues to use Aqua Safe and he has fish die all the time. Not sure if theres a connection or not. Also any shrimp or snails he has in his tank all end up dying within a few days. I do not help him with his tanks much, unless he asks me too, so I have no idea what he is doing to kill his fish lol. I do sneak them live food occasionally because he feels like they should only eat food in flake form or pellet form. He tried to feed my females in my 26 g sorority some pellets to prove a point and ended up having to vaccuum all of the pellets out because my fish wont touch flakes or pellets anymore ;-) But anyway, I guess my point is that he loves his fish but hes too set in his ways to change for them!

You should absolutely try the ctpks! I love them! I saw a black and gold male on AB awhile back, listed under hmpks, and he was just breath taking. Also have my suspicions that I ended up with a ctpk type female. The place I buy fish from has several grow out tanks and they generally let me go back and pick out my own females for a good whole sale price. The only problem is that as soon as they see you, you have fifty to a hundred female bettas in one tank all pushed against the front of the glass, because they think they are being fed, so trying to eyeball and pick out a particular female can be a bit frustrating. I was at a tank with a bunch of older pk fry, and I picked out this one female because she was extremely big and healthy looking. Once I got her home I realized she had some very pronounced protruding rays. So somewhere in her background must be a ct. The breeder is a veterinarian and told me both parents were hmpk, so I dont doubt him at all, just strange that she has this reduced webbing 
I cannot wait till you start your own spawn log! Looking forward to some beautiful ctpk! Do you know when you are going to start?


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## TruongLN (Jul 13, 2012)

You should treat them when he isn't looking and see if anything helps 

Do you have any photos of her?! I would love to see!!
I've been to a LPS with a grow out tank so I know what you mean when you say all of the females swarm because they're thinking it's feeding time! I sat in front of that tank for 35 minutes once because there was one specific girl I wanted.

When I breed it'll be just to see if I can keep them alive, no breeding for colouration or a specific fin type, although I'll probably get a plakat male and crowntail female. Mostly because I do want to try for CTPK but I know spawning and caring for short finned bettas are easier than long finned bettas.

I plan to move out in the beginning of this years summer, and I'm also taking a vacation to Victoria and Vancouver, BC so I wont breed until probably winter. I do however want to collect things in advance during the summer to breed, as well as getting a breeding pair. I do want to get a pair from aquabid so it won't just be a beginners "experiment" but a project. Kind of want to use a dragon plakat and a regular Crown tail because I kinds of like the look of a partial dragon betta.


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## 2muttz (Aug 16, 2013)

So very sorry for your losses.:-( This horrible winter is truly taking its toll everywhere.....

I'm glad to hear that your dear little Solo survived the catastrophe! Please post some pictures of him so we can see how he's growing and changing ~ maybe give him his own thread!

Good luck.


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