# OMG I've got babies!



## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

They're starting to hatch :-D How soon do I start putting in vinegar eels? I ask because they are like super super super tiny (the babies) practically microscopic. They're are also some of the small worms from me feeding the adults live foods and they're chasing them already. I don't want to soil the water by feeding them too soon or too much, I'm so nervous! Gah! My first spawn >.< Mommy is in her own seperated small tank for recovery and daddy is still in the tank. He's not eating them so I figured it's fine to leave him in there and they're not all hatched yet anyway, like I said, they just started hatching...Any advice or ideas that I might not have thought of to make things go as smoothly as possible is very much so welcome, thank you all in advance ;-)


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## LoveSGSE (Aug 2, 2010)

When you noticed most of them started darting around, it's feeding time.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Well do you have ANY live plants?


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## betta99 (Aug 16, 2010)

congrats. At first they'll eat their eggsacs for a bit but then after they finish you'll need to take the dad out and feed them some other food.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

betta99 said:


> congrats. At first they'll eat their eggsacs for a bit but then after they finish you'll need to take the dad out and feed them some other food.


haha are you serious? they will eat their eggs sacks lol? sorry if im being immature but its kind of funny sorry again but i thought that they will have to eat the Infusory form the live plants? am i right?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

They eat they're egg sacks???? I've never seen that but then again the eggs turn clear just before hatching. But as soon as they start to swim they need food and dad needs to come out.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

MrVampire181 said:


> They eat they're egg sacks???? I've never seen that but then again the eggs turn clear just before hatching. But as soon as they start to swim they need food and dad needs to come out.


dad needs to come out because he will think of them as food right?


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## angelus2402004 (Jan 5, 2010)

its called egg yolk. it's nutrients stored in their bellies i think.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

bettalover2033 said:


> dad needs to come out because he will think of them as food right?


 Yes or he'll be over protective and kill them trying to keep them in the nest.


angelus2402004 said:


> its called egg yolk. it's nutrients stored in their bellies i think.


 Ya they feed off that after hatching and then they use it up once they become free swimming.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

MrVampire181 said:


> Yes or he'll be over protective and kill them trying to keep them in the nest.
> 
> 
> Ya they feed off that after hatching and then they use it up once they become free swimming.


oh wow everyone but me is having a successful spawn but me i will someday as soon as i do things the right way lol.


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

*Dad isn't eating them*

All the pictures I have seen of newborn fry are much bigger than what I am seeing, these things aren't much bigger than a grain of sand and daddy isn't eating them, all he is doing is blowing more bubbles in the nest and keeping watch, I've been watching him for over an hour now, he shows no sign of eating them. He wasn't big into the live foods either, he wouldn't eat them, only pellets and non-hatching brine shrimp eggs. As I have said any images of babies that I have seen are so much bigger than the practically microscopic babies I have. I wouldn't consider them exactly big enough to eat even vinegar eels at this point, they're really really tiny. They're are some microscopic worms in there already that they are chasing and yes, I do have live plants in both my spawning tanks Anacharis or something like that I think, my memory isn't great right now cause I've got fry on the brain.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

haha cool sounds like you are doing a good job can you take pictures?


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## prettylittlefishy (Aug 12, 2010)

The fry will eat microscopic life on the plants, too.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

A lot of the pictures you'll see are SUPER SUPER ZOOMED!! Have you seen this? http://www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm if you make the line equal an inch long (Ctrl + to zoom, Ctrl - to zoom out) the size should be what you see! They are itty bitty babies!

From what I've seen dads can be ok with their young..but when they start free swimming he'll eat them!  At least most/a lot of them! Eek! Some dads are better than others, but once they are out of the nest there isn't much good he does for them anyway right?


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

*hrm...what I've read...*



purplemuffin said:


> From what I've seen dads can be ok with their young..but when they start free swimming he'll eat them!  At least most/a lot of them! Eek! Some dads are better than others, but once they are out of the nest there isn't much good he does for them anyway right?


I read a post on here, I think it was from OldFishLady but I'm not sure, and I'm sorry if I'm wrong, someone was saying that she found she could keep the males (fry) together as long as a year if you keep the dad in the tank with them...


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

purplemuffin said:


> A lot of the pictures you'll see are SUPER SUPER ZOOMED!! Have you seen this? http://www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm if you make the line equal an inch long (Ctrl + to zoom, Ctrl - to zoom out) the size should be what you see! They are itty bitty babies!


Wow! That is really kewl, thank you!


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

*Flipped out Daddy*

so per some urging I took the dad out and put him in his tank, talk about major flip out! He was going nuts, I thought he was gonna have a heart attack, so since he's not harming the babies, I'm gonna keep him in there for awhile longer. I know he needs recoop time after the ordeal but if it's gonna cause him a bunch of stress being out of the spawn tank, I'd rather wait until it's more necessary for him to have to come out of the spawn tank instead of a maybe.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Pixierella said:


> I read a post on here, I think it was from OldFishLady but I'm not sure, and I'm sorry if I'm wrong, someone was saying that she found she could keep the males (fry) together as long as a year if you keep the dad in the tank with them...


if i were you i wouldnt do it because she is a more experienced breeder. so dont try it:/


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Pixierella said:


> so per some urging *I took the dad out* and put him in his tank, talk about major flip out! He was going nuts, I thought he was gonna have a heart attack, so since he's not harming the babies, *I'm gonna keep him in there for awhile longer*. I know he needs recoop time after the ordeal but if it's gonna cause him a bunch of stress being out of the spawn tank, I'd rather wait until it's more necessary for him to have to come out of the spawn tank instead of a maybe.


Good dads can become very bad dads if you disturb him in this way. If he's not eating his fry, you can keep him in there a while longer. But if he turns nasty..... just be ready.

In all cases you must understand the character of each individual fish. The only way you can know that is by trial and error. Usually (IME) a dad will not eat fry if he doesn't eat them them from the beginning. So in these cases you can leave dad in there as long as he isn't aggressive. To achieve that, NEVER flare him with other adults - specially females. 
If he starts to make a new bubble nest, I suggest you remove him immediately. He won't eat the fry but he may kill them (if fry is bigger) to protect his new nest.IME ...... I leave dad with fry for 1 month.

Btw, congrats and good luck.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

As long as he isn't eating the fry he is fine to be left in there. IMO its BETTER to leave the father in there as long as possible for his sake. Males can get extremely depressed once removed from their fry which can lower their immune systems.

Many breeders leave the male with the fry for very long periods of time. Like I said, as long as he's not eating the fry there is no reason to take him out.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

As the fry hatch they will use/absorb their yolk sac for nutrition, healthy fry should bounce to and fro under the nest and most should be able to get themselves back to the nest without assist from the father, however, the father will assist as needed, he will eat the weak, deformed, unhealthy fry and you want him to do this so only the strong and healthy survive.

Once the fry become free swimming (usually 3-4 days from hatch) they will find microscopic food, if you have live plants and snails all the better, also the bubble nest and light is reported to draw infusoria and other micro critters that the fry will snap at and eat.

You want to leave the male in the tank at least until the fry are free swimming and as posted by indjo-you want to disturb him as little as possible and if you remove him I would not put him back in...that can be risky for the life of the fry
You want to leave a small amount of light on either over the tank or diffused light so he can see until the fry are free swimming as well

They grow fast and even as small as they are now within 7-10 days they should be nearly double in size if not more. 
They will grow at different rates as well- as related to hatch time..so some will be much bigger than others and this is to be expected
A good first added food I like to use is newly hatched brine shrimp that I start feeding at about day 6-7-they should be large enough to eat them by that time
You want just hatched brine shrimp any older and they can be too big and the older the BBS over 24h they too absorb the yolk sac and will have very little nutrition and the fry can starve to death even though they are eating

If you look at their stomach-it should look round-if the stomach has little black dots then they are eating infusoria and other micro critters-round pink/orange stomach is what you want to see when feeding NHBBS

You don"t want to underfeed as you don't want to overfeed either-both can cause problems in the delicate new born fry-best way to tell is by looking at the stomach...

As far as father removal-as 1fish, indjo and others have posted-I would leave the father with the fry at least until most of the fry are free swimming....the longer the better in my experience...the father also teaches them how to eat some foods by the way-not just to protect...

Try your best to not disturb him......

Congrats on your success and good luck rearing the fry.....


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

OFL said it all!!


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

*Can't see any babies ATM*

So, I took daddy out, he was fine this time. I'm not sure where the babies are though. I've been feeding them vinegar eels but haven't seen them in a couple days. I know their really small so I'm thinking they may be hiding in the plants. I figure that in about a week if I still can't see anything then babies have either been 1. eaten by daddy when I wasn't watching or 2. Died for some unknown reason. In other news, I have 2 spawn tanks, the one that had babies was the bottom tank, I now have eggs in the bubble nest in the top tank so I should get babies here in the next few hours or so is when I figure they should start hatching. Mommy is still in there as well as daddy so I'm not sure if they're done or not but I'll probably take her out soon. As I've said before, I'll try to keep you all posted on what's happening.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

isnt breeding excited and unpredictable? i want to have a successful spawn so bad i at least want to see the embracing for my self and enjoy the challenges that come!! keep us posted!!


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## Pixierella (Jul 15, 2010)

*Both Spawns failed...*

ok so spawn number one failed for unknown reasons, I thought maybe the babies were hiding in the plants so I kept feeding them but alas, they mysteriously disappeared. Spawn number 2 got eggs, mommy was chomping at the nest so OUT she came and I waited for the eggs to hatch more than 48 hours and nothing, then the eggs disappeared so I thought maybe daddy ate them after they hatched? Oh well, if at first you don't succeed try try again  Both females got their recoop time and then went into the sorority tank just yesterday and are doing fine, both daddy's are fine as well. Will be trying a different pair after I get the tanks back to where I want them. Ugh...


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

Well maybe this time you will have a successful spawn, who knows


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## betta99 (Aug 16, 2010)

i hope your next spawn is successful!

r.i.p 1st spawn


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

me too!!


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## zelilaa (Jul 31, 2010)

hee hee :3 almost NO ONES spawns are successful the first time.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

besides Mr vamps


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Oldfishlady said:


> Once the fry become free swimming usually 3-4 days from hatch


 Are my fish weird? They start swimming the day after hatching.


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## naturegirl243 (Aug 1, 2010)

Sorry about your spawns hopefully you have better luck next time.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

MrVampire181 said:


> Are my fish weird? They start swimming the day after hatching.


Woah!! that cannot be possible, can it?:-?:-?:|


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

bettalover2033 said:


> Woah!! that cannot be possible, can it?:-?:-?:|


 I have no clue. I thought it was normal because that's what I'd heard. That's why I start my brine shrimp hatchery as soon as the fry hatch.


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## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

wow!! cool didnt know that!!


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