# Nervous...



## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

My first spawn should be hatching sometime between late tonight and tomorrow morning... I'm extremely nervous that something will go wrong.

My male has been tending the nest well, only wandering occasionally to the other side. I have no idea how many eggs there are, I can't see them. If they should be visible, what should I be looking for? 

I'm going to get another batch of brine shrimp hatching, but I'm nervous about feeding the babies, like when I should put their first food in and what not. I've read and read and read about what I should be doing, and I felt fairly confident but now I'm just nervous as heck!

Any reassurance would be welcome


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

How exciting...first spawn....

You won't need to feed the fry until they absorb their yolk sac and that varies from 2-3 days after hatch....if you plan to remove your male once the fry are free swimming this is usually when you will start to feed live food and start water changes or add water depending on what spawning method you used

On BBS it is best to feed newly hatched BBS with their yolk sac intact for best nutrition for the Betta fry-the BBS absorb their yolk sac within 8-12 from hatch...so it is a good idea to have two hatcheries going about 10-12 hours a part-I don't start adding newly hatched BBS until my fry are about 7-10 days old but I also use a natural method to spawn and my tanks have natural food source for them to feed off of-I will feed the newly hatched BBS for 2 weeks and then I supplement the BBS with an HUFA supplement so I can feed larger older BBS and still provide the needed nutrition for good growth and development


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

You can shine a flashlight under the nest to see the eggs. You'll probably see some tails hanging down. Good luck with everything. I'm sure everything will be fine!


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

Thank you! 
I'm still having trouble just getting some BBS hatched, but I think this time around I should have more luck. I want to make sure I've got it down by the time the babies are ready. 

I'm nervous about my male trying to eat them. When do you think I'm in danger of this happening?


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

And thanks dramaqueen! I'm going to take a peek right now! Haha


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

How are you hatching your BBS and which brand are you using?

Some males will eat either the eggs or fry at different stages for different reason and for no reason at all and it is hard to say when or if it will happen especially with first time breeders-usually as long as the eggs are fertile and healthy all will be fine-if the male was well conditioned to start and is not disturbed too much by the hobbyist....hopefully he will not be an egg or fry eater...really hard to say.....good luck.....


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

I'm not sure the brand because I threw the packaging away awhile ago  
I described my hatching process in my previous thread, 1f2f said it should work and suggested I try some baking soda, which I have with this batch. 

I'll just have to watch him closely, make sure he's not snacking on my fries


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Yeah, just keep an eye on him and if he starts snacking then pull him out.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Breathe 

Like OFL said, start adding foods about 2 or 3 days after they hatch. I usually feed the day after they start free swimming, but then again I have lots of java moss and IAL and snails in the tank to create infusorians. If you don't have live plants I recommend feeding as soon as they are free swimming.


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## Martinismommy (Dec 2, 2010)

I start feeding the fry 3-5 days after they hatch....I start with Walterworms.....I don't offer BBS until they are about 10 days old......I leave the Daddy in for at least 5 days after they hatch......He seems to weed out the imperfect ones......

Good luck and congratulations on your 1st spawn! I'll never forget my 1st......


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

Thank you for the support! I think I've been seeing a few tails hanging from the nest, but that's about it so far. I would figure I'll see some free swimming by tonight since it's been two days since the spawning.

Martinismommy, You're avatar is just too adorable!
Thank you all again!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good luck with them and keep us updated.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Good luck with your spawn. I hope your babies don't die off.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

My goodness! 

I've been watching the little boogers fall out of the nest and Absolem seems to not be able to rest because he keeps having to scoop them up and spit them back in! They look so different then how I would have expected them to look right away. Just dark little specs with a little tail floating down and all of a sudden shooting back up to try and get back in the nest. I don't think any of them are "free swimming" yet. If someone could define that a little more clearly for me so I know when exactly I should drop some food in, that would be helpful. I'm pretty sure it means when they aren't just falling from the nest and going back in and when they are actually moving around a bit, but I just want to be sure.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

I think it is when the babies are swimming kinda like a normal fish would be doing.. but on the other hand mine never did so I'm not 100 percent sure.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I think it's when they are swimming horizontally.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

I see three or four for sure little black specs with tails, but I also see a few on the bottom. Every once in awhile they will jump a little. Are they okay? I think that Absolem has been trying to keep them in the nest but they just won't stay.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

Well. Absolem ate all the fry. 

The fry were not yet free swimming. I really want to breed with Absolem but it's useless if he is just going to eat the fry. Is there anything I can do?


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Are you sure he ate all the fry?

You can always try again. Some people have had success artificially hatching fry but I don't know much about it. I would just remove the male as soon as you see tails.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

Yep I'm positive. Unfortunately I bought bad brine shrimp eggs, I'm positive that the eggs were bad, I wish I knew what brand they were, because I've tried every thing I could and not one would hatch. So maybe it's better that it went that way rather than them starving to death, but still 

What's a good brand I'm ordering some better eggs right now. I'm not trying to breed again for another month because I will be moving. But I would like to be extra overly prepared this time


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Oh, no! I'm sorry he ate all the fry. I'm sorry about the brine shrimp eggs, too.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Sorry about your fry. The male might have missed some if you immediately remove him.
Read Creat's thread, I just posted on how I artificially hatch. Or you could try the method used in bettysplenden.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Are you sure you didn't get de-caps.. those are brine shrimp eggs that don't hatch.. I think they're also called golden pearls.

I don't remember the brand of brineshrimp I got. Just that it was 95% hatch rate and did really well. I don't use live brine shrimp now so maybe someone else will give in put on where they get theirs.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

indjo said:


> Sorry about your fry. The male might have missed some if you immediately remove him.
> Read Creat's thread, I just posted on how I artificially hatch. Or you could try the method used in bettysplenden.


Thanks I'll check that out!

I'll do some Amazon searching for eggs. I'll make sure I check for the Hatch percentage.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

This is the brand I bought that didn't work out.


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## Duncan13 (Nov 7, 2010)

I use that exact same brand and they work okay for me. A lot of them still don't hatch but I usually get about a 55% hatch rate.


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## JaspersANGEL (Oct 12, 2009)

I\m so sorry about ur fry ChelseaK, I wish u better luck next time!!


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I use those eggs and get most of the shrimp to hatch...MY hatcher is a 2 gallon half filled with a broken heater (has heated up to over 90*F before). I use McCafe cups with airstones and place them in the tank. I get hatching very quickly.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Did you clean out your spawn tank yet? If not keep checking he might have miss some and they can hatch without the dad. If you find any good luck.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

I waited almost a week and there were no signs


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm sorry.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Well you can try them again in 1 week - 2 week. Next time you should probably remove your male after they mate.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

Yeah I'm not going to try again until after I move (2 weeks). Should I put an airstone under the bubble nest so it's easier for the fry to stay in the nest without the father?


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

How big is the tank your using? If your airstone bubble isn't too strong you could try putting it under the nest.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

The tub is pretty big, I put at least 10 gallons in. I have a control know hooked up to the airstone too so that's adjustable


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

What I did was put mine close to the nest and the current kept some of the eggs from being fungus. So now I probably have like 6 black planitum fry. As long as you see that there are some current going on in the spawn tank that will keep fungus off some of them.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

What temperature do you keep your spawn tank at? My first spawn with dragon I had them at 76 because it was the wal-mart heater auto temp. The first dragon spawn had like 13 fry but non of them became free swimmer so i'm thinking its probably the temperature. But now days I used a different heater and have it at 84 and they been hatching better and become free swimmer much sooner.


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## ChelseaK (Oct 23, 2010)

I had the tank at between 82 and 84 degrees. I will definitely try that with the next spawn. Thank you!


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