# Reprise: MG/Melano Geno



## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Since my current fry are almost 2 months old I decided it's a good time to try another spawn.

Since I don't think any fry survived from the first spawning attempt I have decided to re-spawn my Melano geno pair that I bought from Karen Mac Auely (aka Martinismommy). 

These guys should produce blues, multis, melanos, and mustard gas.

The male (Tallahassee):









The female (Fertile Myrtle):









I'll be setting up the spawning tank on Thursday. Same as last time. 5 gallon plastic tub filled all the way up, two IAL, Java Moss, 50 watt heater set at 84*F.

Tonight and tomorrow, as well as during the spawn and after, I'll be feeding the pair live white worms. For the past 2-3 weeks they have been fed high quality pellets and frozen food so they should be pretty well conditioned by now.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I hope they produce a nice big spawn!


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Good luck with them.


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## beat2020 (Dec 31, 2009)

Good luck!

Edit: Also these guys should produce marbles, no? I believe some of the fish from the spawn where your pair came from, are either marbles or carry the marble gene.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

Beautiful bettas. Good luck with this spawn.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Change of plans.

I'm throwing the pair in there tonight. Since I know the pair has successfully spawned before I'm not worried about that part. The part I'm worried about is the female going all "Carrie" on the male after the spawn like last time so I want to be able to keep an eye on them and I'm off all day tomorrow so I'll have plenty of time.

Right now they're in 1/2 gall critter keepers right next to each other so they can begin flirting. Hopefully they'll be in the mood by tomorrow morning. I may even try OFL's method of introducing them at the same time (female not in a jar) and see what happens. If they're too aggressive at first I'll go back to plan A and put the female in a jar.

The last spawn was HUGE. I'm talking at least 200 eggs before Myrtle went crazy and ate them all so hopefully it will be the same for this spawn.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Most of my spawns I don't jar the female. I get impatient with him trying to build a nest and release her anyway and I get spawns in like 2 days...sometimes less.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Pair was released into the spawning tank at 10:10. I watched them for 10 minutes to make sure they weren't killing each other and now I'm giving them some privacy.

So far they've been very peaceful. Tallahasee is flaring at Myrtle but not really chasing her. He's more like following her around and flaring. No bubble nesting yet but they've just been put in there.

I have a 2x3" piece of bubblewrap in there as well as a floating IAL so it's up to him to decide where he wants to make his nest.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Tallahasee has some big fins so I don't think he'll get too aggressive. Also IDK how males can build under an IAL, they sink within a day but I'm new to using them.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

You'd be surprised what these guys can do. Bowie really tore Lilly up when they spawned.

Today nothing much has happened. I turned the light off at 12:30 am and turned it back on at 10am but nothing's changed. The male is still chasing the female around. No nips or tears and no bubbles yet. The female is nice and barred up and occasionally follows the male around flaring at him.

Personality wise these guys really mesh well together. He's not too aggressive and she's not too timid and vice versa.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Here's the mid-afternoon update:

Right now Tallahassee has two decent bubblenest going in both front corners of the bin. Currently he seems to be focusing on buiding a nest under the bubblewrap so we'll see which nest he actually uses.

Both he and Myrtle have nips in their anal fins but nothing too serious. Myrtle is hanging out in the back of the tank near the surface, not moving much.

My guess is they'll either spawn this evening or early tomorrow morning which is basically what happened last time.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

They started embracing at 9pm exactly. They've been going at it off and on for over 30 minutes now and only have produced 4 eggs. That's the problem with line bred fish like these is they have a harder and harder time getting the hang of it. I'm really hoping to find a decent out cross soon, I may have to bite the bullet and get one from overseas.


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## leeb62 (Oct 22, 2010)

You said your spawn before have alot of eggs. Don't worry about that they will produce alot of eggs lol.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

1fish2fish said:


> They started embracing at 9pm exactly. They've been going at it off and on for over 30 minutes now and only have produced 4 eggs. That's the problem with line bred fish like these is they have a harder and harder time getting the hang of it. I'm really hoping to find a decent out cross soon, *I may have to bite the bullet and get one from overseas*.


 My last spawn had the same problem and eventually produced a nice spawn.

Getting fish from Thailand is awesome...I'm getting some more soon


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I'm not worried about that. My problem is it should never take any pair 4 tries just to get 1 embrace, at first yes but they've been actively spawning for an hour and a half now. That is a problem that comes up when you try to breed a sibling pair that is too closely related (ie F5 or F6). This means the resulting fry may have an even harder time breeding. Not to mention if they are that closely related there may be a higher incidence of genetic deformity (although I have not seen that in my current spawn).


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Well I'm pretty sure they're done. The male was chasing the female off so I went ahead and removed her.

Let me say I am NOT happy with the results of this spawn. There are at most 50 eggs after two hours of spawning.

We'll see how many fry survive in the next few weeks. Meanwhile after I remove the male both he and the female will be re-conditioned and re-spawned in two weeks and the fry will be mixed together once they're old enough.

If I don't get better results with the next try I won't be spawning this pair again. I'll have to find some new fish to cross them with.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

We have tails! Can't get a good count but I'll try to when I get back from work.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The fry started free swimming today 

I counted at least 17 which is around where I thought we were with this spawn. The fry are itty bitty which leads me to believe the pair wasn't as well conditioned as I thought they were.

Tomorrow I'm going to dump a bunch of live VE in the tank. That and the infusoria created from the snails and java moss should tied them over until I get back on Thursday. 

Tallahasse is being a good daddy and doesn't seem to be eating the fry so I'm leaving him in there until Friday just because I'm going to be out of town until then and I want to be able to monitor him closely once I remove him.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

It's a good thing VE live a long time in water huh ;P


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Well technically they shouldn't need to be fed until Thursday anyways if you follow the wait 3 days before feeding rule but I always like to introduce live foods into the tank as soon as they're free swimming.

Once Tallahassee is out he and Myrtle will be re-conditioned using live white worms. With the live foods and daily water changes they should be ready for a new spawn in a week.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I always feed as soon as they're free swimming. I used Faith's info (www.bettatalk.com) when I started and that has stuck with me since then.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The fry are 7 days old today and doing well. I'm extremely happy to see that Tallahassee is doing a good job as a daddy. I don't think he's eating any of the fry.

Starting today I'll be doing small water changes daily, just enough to suck the detritus off the bottom. Then at 2 weeks I'll begin doing large daily water changes.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I'm glad they're doing well and that Tallahassee is being a good daddy.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The fry will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. They're not growing as well as I'd like but that is my fault because I've been lax on water changes this past week what with finals and all. Now that the semester is over hopefully they'll begin to grow at a faster rate.

Right now they're being fed live VE but starting tomorrow or sunday I'm going to begin incorporating frozen BBS just like I did with the last spawn. I'm also going to start doing 50-75% daily water changes starting tomorrow.


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Aww, do you have any pictures 1fish? I'd love to see your fry!!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I'll try to get some.. They're still pretty little.


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## beat2020 (Dec 31, 2009)

1fish2fish said:


> The fry will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. They're not growing as well as I'd like but that is my fault because I've been lax on water changes this past week what with finals and all. Now that the semester is over hopefully they'll begin to grow at a faster rate.
> 
> Right now they're being fed live VE but starting tomorrow or sunday I'm going to begin incorporating frozen BBS just like I did with the last spawn. I'm also going to start doing 50-75% daily water changes starting tomorrow.


How many do you think you have?


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## TaylorW (Sep 4, 2010)

Whenever you get some pics, please share! I love looking at everyone's breeding projects, the fish are so healthy and beautiful!  Not to mention cute! <3


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Heheh.. if you've read my fall spawn thread you know that I'm not stingy with the pictures ;-)

Beat.. I'm estimating them at between 20-50 right now. I'm basing that off the fact that I was able to count at least 17. I'm going to do a 100% water change tomorrow and try to get a full count. I'm still planning on doing another spawn and mixing the fry once the younger ones are big enough that the older ones won't eat them. I'll probably spawn the pair again next Wednesday or Thursday, maybe even as early as Tuesday.


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## beat2020 (Dec 31, 2009)

1fish2fish said:


> Heheh.. if you've read my fall spawn thread you know that I'm not stingy with the pictures ;-)
> 
> Beat.. I'm estimating them at between 20-50 right now. I'm basing that off the fact that I was able to count at least 17. I'm going to do a 100% water change tomorrow and try to get a full count. I'm still planning on doing another spawn and mixing the fry once the younger ones are big enough that the older ones won't eat them. I'll probably spawn the pair again next Wednesday or Thursday, maybe even as early as Tuesday.


 20-50 is a good number. 
Looking forward to updates with your next spawn.


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