# It's useless.....



## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

....me attempting to give up breeding that is. I just can't do it. I still won't be breeding on the scale I was but resistance is futile. So I will be raising one spawn at a time, taking breaks as I see fit, keeping the spawns under 15 jarred males and 15 females in sorority, and not holding any back unless a spot opens up.

That said I have a fresh spawn today :-D Parents are Feisty (blue HMDT female) and Sondheim (blue/marble HM male).

Here's a few pictures of the pair. I'll get a full shot of the spawning tank soon. Its been quite a while since I used a 10 gallon tank to breed. 










Sondheim was bred by Karen Mac Auley (Martinismommy). He will be 1 year old this Feb. Which goes to show that just because a fish is over 6 months does NOT mean he's to old to breed. I had never had a chance to breed him this summer due to him getting a nasty case of fin rot so I'm ecstatic that he bred so easily for me. 



















I got a great deal on a TON of java moss from a member of TFK, Angel079. It's absolutely gorgeous and the fish enjoyed it.










Feisty is somewhere around 6 months old and was never bred. I got her from Dragonlady who breeds the most gorgeous DT girlys ;-) She was a great breeder and besides a few tears from swimming too fast through the java moss she's unscathed. 



















Feisty was in love from the moment she laid eyes on Sondheim. He, however, needed a little convincing LOL









They both really enjoyed the moss..



























I used a small portion of brazilian pennyworth that Angel079 was nice enough to send with my moss as the nest site.










Pics and updates to come. I expect the eggs to hatch tomorrow or Monday.

I'm expecting lots of blues, marbles, nice HMs, butterflies, and hopefully some DT in this spawn.


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## BettaHeart (Jan 2, 2011)

they are gorgeous :-D I started becoming more and more interested in HM since not many are sold here in town, kinda like buried treasure lol. I love .their colors, best of luck cant wait to see the babies.


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## BeautifulBetta (Nov 12, 2011)

Awww they're so beautiful!  good luck! <3


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

YEAH! I'm sooo glad you gave in! It's hard to resist when you have a great pair such as yours in your hands.
They are stunning! The male looks just like mine does now and that female is amazing! I hope you do get DTs.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Feisty is the main reason I wanted to spawn. She's SO nice its almost painful not to see her babies LOL plus its winter break and I need something to do.

I'm reasonably certain I'll get DTs. I'm gonna email Karen tonight and ask about his background and see if I can get an idea of how much DT he has in him. His dad was her royal import male and the female was a BOS girl.

I'm going to get a LOT of blue which is awesome :-D since Sondheim's father was all bue and both of Feisty's parents were as well. Feisty's father comes from Seig Illigs line I believe so hopefully I'll get some really nice greens. A green butterfly would be fantastic!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## betta lover1507 (Aug 6, 2011)

this spawn will looks soo pretty, i love your female >.< she is soo pretty. you male seems to be using lot's of red eye liner, and white lipstick there XP he is soo pwetty to >w< 
your gonna get some wonderful fries out of this spawn ;D


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

One of the best parts of breeding and wondering exactly what colors and combos you'll get. a green butterfly would be stunning to see indeed but even a spawn of all blues would look nice. I've got a blue spawn of my own at home, but both parents were petstore fish so I really don't know what I'll get other then hopefully some royals like their dad


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Here's a few more pictures from today. No wigglers yet but it's only been 24 hours roughly. They should be here by this time tomorrow. Sondheim has moved his nest to a different pennywort leaf and doesn't appear to be eating any eggs. It looks like a small spawn but looks can be deceiving, especially since I can't get a good look at the nest.

The spawning tank. Normally I use a ~4-ish gallon bin with only about 3 gallons of water in it to spawn but I decided to go with a standard 10 this time because it's easier to light it for the plants. My guess is there's about 6 gallons of water in the tank, give or take. The temp is at 82* and there's no IAL. I decided I will wait to add IAL until the fry are bigger because it'll be easier to see them while doing water changes if the water is clear. Another thing I did differently this time is I haven't added any snails yet. I'll probably add some MTS or a mystery snail once the fry are a week or two old.









Sondheim is a very attentive dad. He's always under his nest or just near it.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Why did I miss this LOL! Very good choice in your pair and shall I say that I have been eyeing your DT female for a LONG time and it did keep slipping my mind to ask where you got her from. I would probably choose a female DT over any fish! They are so small and look *Petite* that it makes you want to spoil them rotten! The DT girl coming from DragonLady explains it all. She has stunning fish and from what I see, takes very good care of them. If you aren't too busy, would you mind putting a mirror in front of Sondheim so I can get a good look at his dorsal? It looks pretty interesting to me.

Almost as much as his name does. "Sondheim".......Is that German? Where did you get that name from?

Good Luck and sorry for writing a book. Haha.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

The fry are going to be gorgeous! The male and female are soooo wonderful.


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## hummingbird (Dec 30, 2011)

WOW! Those are GORGEOUS photos too!
Your Bettas are amazing! 
Very cute!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Hmmm.. thought I'd replied from my phone but apparently it didn't send.

The fry hatched today, or last night to be exact. They were hanging from the nest when I checked before leaving for work at 5am. 

Sondheim moved his nest AGAIN so I can't get a good count. I still think 40 is the general ball park though. If I don't lose to many and don't have to cull for severe deformity this should be just the right size spawn.

To answer your question BL2033, Sondheim is named for a famous composer for film and stage. He composed one of my favorite plays.. Sweeney Todd. I like naming my fish from movies, plays, writers, actors, artists, etc and it just seemed to fit him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim

I'll probably be removing him from the spawn tank either tomorrow or Wednesday. At that time I'll try to get some pictures of him flaring.


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## nochoramet (Oct 2, 2009)

I'm so excited for this spawn! I adore Sondheim!


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## Badjer (Oct 25, 2011)

Love that HMDT girl! Such a stunning blue!


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## hummingbird (Dec 30, 2011)

Who? My girl?


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## PaintingPintos (Dec 27, 2011)

The male is so...PURDY  his fins are like long, streaming ribbons. Okay, too much poetry here. I also LOOOVE the female. Something about her dorsal fin makes her look... cute. I don't know if that's just me being weird, though. I love the match-making here and the fry I'm sure will have vibrant colors when they're grown up!! I want to steal them >.>


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## hummingbird (Dec 30, 2011)

PaintingPintos: Thanks! :0 My Female Bettas is of a rare purple hue! 
Sadly, she passed away this morning.......


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## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

I am very curious to see the fry growout from this spawn.  I'm so glad Fiesty was a good spawner for you. 

Her sister's babies are looking awesome... so far.:-D Don't be surprised if you get a few very nice melanos, too.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Dragonlady said:


> Her sister's babies are looking awesome... so far.:-D Don't be surprised if you get a few very nice melanos, too.


Oh god don't tell me that! Melanos are one thing I've been hoping to get since my first pair from Karen :-D I would be ecstatic if melanos showed in this spawn! I know they pop up in Karen's line too so fingers crossed! 

As long as I get some nice blues, nice marbles, and at least one or two DT I'll be a happy camper. :-D

I'm having to force myself to stay away. Daddy gets very upset when I look into the tank but ugh.. I just love watching them drop down and swim back up. No wonder my eyes are so bad.. I spend too much time trying to see itty bitty baby fish move around LOL


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Put me down for a pair.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Fry are free swimming today. I counted at least 40 so there's probably more than that.

Here's a couple pictures. They aren't very good though.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

OOOOHHHHH!!! Those fry are going to be gorgeous! I love the parents. Such deep color. By the way, I think your pictures are very good.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

They're gonna be gorgeous!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

1fish2fish said:


> To answer your question BL2033, Sondheim is named for a famous composer for film and stage. He composed one of my favorite plays.. Sweeney Todd. I like naming my fish from movies, plays, writers, actors, artists, etc and it just seemed to fit him.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Sondheim


Oh wow! I knew the name sounded familiar! I remember my parents talking about Stephen. (One of the most amazing people by the way.) Created true art!


:Reply to Update:
I especially like the first picture because his mouth is extending a bit and it looks cute. I've seen it plenty of times, just not (captured) at that angle.


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

Aww! I'm so happy for you! Cute little wigglers 
If they are free swimming your count is probably off... hope so!
Best of luck... will be following this for SURE!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

The ones I counted were just the ones stuck to the leaves/front of the glass.. so now I'm reasonably certain that there's even more than 40.. which is awesome.

@BL2033.. in that first pic he's spitting fry back into the nest. He's been doing that all day LOL.. poor guy. If you look closely you can see a fry to the right side of his eye.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

Oh wow. I've never really liked the body shape on DTs. But that is such a CUTE little girl! She may have just made me change my mind about them...and I bet those babies will grow up to be gorgeous!


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## cajunamy (Apr 28, 2011)

Sondheim : STAY ... IN ... THE ... NEST YOU LITTLE BUGGERS!!! lol

I can't wait to see them grow up!!!! Makes me all the more excited to try Beans in a couple of days


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

All day....

Sondheim: *grab**spit**grab**spit**grab**spit*

Fry... WE'RE FREE 8D


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Aww, baby fishies!!!!


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

1fish2fish said:


> @BL2033.. in that first pic he's spitting fry back into the nest. He's been doing that all day LOL.. poor guy. If you look closely you can see a fry to the right side of his eye.


Yeah! I was actually going to show you that with this picture:











Then I got a little carried away and wanted to edit the picture for you. I know I should have gotten your permission first, but I had to! It was an opportunity I couldn't resist:









___________________________________________________________

So all of those came from this original:











I hope you don't mind.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Aww they're cute! I don't mind


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Thank you. Glad you like them.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

IMO, the editing just made a cute picture even better.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

It does. I do it with my photos a lot when I have spare time.

Everyone is completely free swimming today. I'm probably going to leave Sondheim in for another day or two since he's not eating the fry. Once I take him out I'll start feeding BBS. I'll probably start a hatch tonight or tomorrow night. For now the fry are contentedly munching on whatever is in the java moss.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

1fish2fish said:


> It does. I do it with my photos a lot when I have spare time.
> 
> Everyone is completely free swimming today. I'm probably going to leave Sondheim in for another day or two since he's not eating the fry. Once I take him out I'll start feeding BBS. I'll probably start a hatch tonight or tomorrow night. For now the fry are contentedly munching on whatever is in the java moss.


What program do you use to edit? I usually use www.picnik.com Great.

I'm glad to hear they are doing fine. BBS is awesome! It works wonders for me. I do have to say that it's a bit annoying. Though I have my little sister do it because for some reason she LOVES doing it. I guess it's the fact that she is helping me with breeding. She's a bit clumsy so I tell her she can watch the fry, just not to touch anything besides when I ask for the BBS. Heh little sisters:lol:


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I just use photobucket.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

That works too. lol. I don't use it as much, but I guess it's because I've never played around with it much.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

All the photos I post are uploaded to photobucket so its easy for me to just go in and edit them from there. I have gimp on my computer but I can't figure out how to use it LOL


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

1fish2fish said:


> All the photos I post are uploaded to photobucket so its easy for me to just go in and edit them from there. I have gimp on my computer but I can't figure out how to use it LOL


Can I have a link to your photobucket? I'd like to follow you.


I also have gimp on my computer and have no Idea of how to start anything or what to do.

I do have a link that tells how to do pixel art and such. I read that all you have to do is zoom in a certain zoom and it will come out a pixel or Icon if you want.

I haven't read through the whole thing yet though.

I was told by: AcrimoniousArbiter
This is a good place to start: http://eglug.org/gimpixel


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