10 Weeks: Meet the Fry!

It's been a while since the last update! The holiday season snuck up on me, as it tends to do, and I simply didn't give many second thoughts to updating on the development of the fry. It has also been very challenging capturing any pictures of them, and blog updates just aren't as fun without pictures! 

For a while, their growth seemed to be very slow. But within the last 2 weeks they  have really developed nicely! I have 2 fry that are the largest of the batch and are showing some very interesting coloring. I believe 1 to be a female and the other to be a male, but time could prove me wrong. I've been calling the female Gem and the male Froning (10 points if you get that reference!). 

I am estimating I have 30-40 fry. There have been very few losses! I did lose a baby a few days ago due to a tank cleaning accident. It started to get sucked into the tubing as I was cleaning, but it managed to get away. Unfortunately it suffered an injury and I found it dead on the bottom of the tank a few hours later :( 

Most of the babies are still coming into their colors, but a few of them are almost fully colored. There are some 'wild' colored babies, some blue/green babies, some with red fins with black edging (I'm not sure what their full color will be yet) and, most surprising to me, there are some full mustard gas! This came as a complete shock to me, I was not expecting to see any yellow coloring in this batch! I guess that means mommy has some yellow in her line!

While they are very close to being ready for new homes, they are not quite ready yet, so unfortunately will not be Christmas bettas. But within another 2 weeks I expect most of them should be ready to go. I am also waiting until they all develop their colors so I can decide which babies will be used for future breeding. I will probably keep 1 male and 2-3 females. 

There are a few babies that have deformities or minor swim problems. I thought about culling them when I first noticed it, but when I realized they were still eating and interacting with the other fry normally I just couldn't bring myself to do it. And now that they are larger and getting their colors it's REALLY hard to think about doing that! One of the babies with swim problems has very pretty colors, and kind of a funny personality. We call her Tail Dipper, because her tail dips when she's in a neutral position.  

World, meet the fry (well, some of them):

Gem before her colors started showing

Gem, almost fully colored

Gem (left) and Tail Dipper (right). It's blurry, but the only pic I could get of their full colors!

Tail Dipper has a very pretty blue body

Froning hiding out in the plants. He is VERY shy

Froning again. He has a very pretty green coloring

Baby Pictures, At Last!

I can't believe it! Babies will be 4 weeks old this weekend! They are much bigger these days; I am able to sit at the table and see them darting around in their tank! And when I get close, I can even see a bit of iridescence on some of the larger fry! Very exciting times, these are:)

A quick update on Mom and Dad: Rain was finally reunited with the other females today. I rearranged their tank to avoid any territory issues, so the other gals haven't made a big deal about her sudden reappearance. But they are all fighting over the new little cave ornament I added. It's actually quite entertaining to watch! So far Ruby seems to be "Queen Of the Cave".

Rain's fins have healed up nicely, but will never be quite the same. They grew back sheer, so she still looks like she has big gaps in her caudal and anal fins even though she doesn't (anymore).

Neptune is back to building bubble nests and being his happy, curious self. He always swims up to greet me when I check in on him. He's such a nice fish.

As of today the fry tank officially has a fully functioning sponge filter! Because I needed to keep the water level so low, I wasn't able to have the pump going on the filter, but this afternoon I felt that it was time to raise the water level and get the pump going. So far the fry seem perfectly fine with this change. They actually seem to enjoy the new, deeper water level.

And now, without further ado, the baby pictures! Please excuse the tiny, annoying white dots that are everywhere - those are snail eggs from the nerite snail who is supposed to be cleanup crew, but is making more of a mess than the fry! (Don't worry, there won't be any baby snails; nerite snail eggs can only hatch in brackish water)

Baby Betta Swarm!

Week 2!

Made it through the first two weeks! The fry still look like little tadpoles, but some are clearly much larger now. Others are still so small they seem like they've hardly grown since day one! The losses (as far as I can tell) have still been very minimal. I've been trying to get a good picture of them, but  they are too small and fast for my camera to focus on.

They had their first water change today! I don't think they are quite ready for water changes yet, because I sucked up about a dozen babies in the process and had to spend the next hour carefully fishing them out of the bucket with a pipette and returning them to their tank. I will probably spend the next week or two removing waste with the turkey baster like I've been doing, and gradually filling the tank up so that I turn on the sponge filter.

I've been estimating that there are around 50 fry, but after today I'm thinking there could be a lot more! There are bound to be a few more losses over the next several weeks, so only time will tell what we end up with!

1 Week And Counting

So far, the babies seem to be doing very well! They're being fed twice a day right now on powdered fry food. This weekend I will be able to start feeding them from the worm culture, which I'm probably more excited about than a normal human should be ;) They're teeny tiny and very cute! I'm really looking forward to watching them grow and see what kinds of colors and patterns develop from this pairing.

I have only had to remove one dead fry so far. It's reassuring that I'm not seeing multiple dead fry at the bottom of the tank each morning. The fry are always active when I check in on them, darting around and checking out random objects in the tank. They also seem curious about me when I'm watching them. They turn their tiny little bodies and look at me like, "Are you my mommy?" And I reply, "why yes, yes I am."

fry watching.

Day Six: Free Swimming

Day 5: BABIES!

Last night was a late night with a dear friend and a couple bottles of wine, so I didn't have a chance to update. By about 9 pm last night I was starting to see some little tails! Neptune has been taking good care of his tiny fry, keeping them in the nest and gently retrieving them when they fall. It's amazing how dedicated he is! He doesn't sleep or eat while tending to the nest and the fry. He ventured from the nest a few times today and I thought he may have been looking for food. I put a few bites of food in for him, but he refused to eat so I had to remove them. It's been nearly five days since his last meal.

It's easy mode for me right now; daddy is doing all the work taking care of the fry until they are free swimming, and I shouldn't even be touching the tank. I try to be very careful when I am looking at the fry, so as not to disturb anything. If the male feels too threatened, he may decide the best thing to do is eat all the fry and destroy the bubble nest, and we don't want that. In another day or two, once those babies are swimming on their own, daddy will come out and get a much needed rest and I will officially become the sole caregiver and provider for a currently unknown number of fry.

Neptune tending to his fry

Day Three: Spawning Day!

When I checked on the happy couple this morning I could tell that Neptune had gotten serious. His bubble nest was twice the size of the last two and he was working tirelessly on it. Every few minutes he would take a break from blowing bubbles to swim to fetch Rain and escort her under the nest. She would admire it for a moment, then quickly swim away. This went on for a few hours, and I was beginning to despair that Rain just wasn't ready to mate. But then she swam under the nest uninvited and started brushing against Neptune; he was almost able to wrap her, but she darted away. That was when I knew they would eventually spawn. It was the first time for both of them, so they had a lot to figure out; they couldn't just hop on youtube and watch a few videos on spawning. It had to be a long process of trial and error, and boy was it awkward.

There finally came a time (around lunch time) when they were ready to attempt to spawn. They flared their fins and brushed against each other, and then Neptune did the 'embrace'. For those of you who aren't familiar with the betta spawning process (and don't feel like looking it up on youtube), I will have to paint a picture with words because I didn't get any decent video footage of my bettas spawning. Basically, when it's time to spawn they start circling and rubbing against each other - all the typical sexy fish stuff you'd expect. Then the male wraps himself around the female so that he's literally bent in half and squeezes for several seconds. When he slowly releases her, she floats lifelessly to the surface and the eggs fall to the ground. (I think this is when the eggs get fertilized, but I honestly can't remember and it's not something you can actually see, so I'm not sure). The female is in an unconscious state for several seconds, and during this time the male retrieves the eggs and starts putting them in the nest. When the female comes to, she either helps put the eggs in the nest, or eats them (like my fatty did). They do this until the female is either no longer producing eggs, or just tired of the process.

Now that you know what's supposed to happen...here's what went down between my pair the first several dozen attempts. Neptune attempted the embrace, but completely failed. She just slipped out of his grip and he ended up squeezing the air - err, water - with Rain watching him like: "WTF is your problem, dude?"

 He did this probably five more times.

It was awkward.

I laughed.

When he finally figured out how to properly embrace Rain, it took them several more attempts before any eggs were released. At some point between feeding the famished child and putting dishes away I noticed a few eggs on the ground. It was a while before the fish noticed them; Rain was the first to see them and she quickly gobbled them up. Then she had new motivation for spawning: eggs! (Like I said, she's a fatty.)

 In the last hour of their three hour spawning escapade I was seeing a lot more successful embraces and a lot more eggs being dropped. Neptune would pick up as many as he could before Rain started eating them, and he managed to fill up part of the bubble nest. When Rain was done she swam to the other side of the tank and that was that. I removed her and put her back in her own tank to recover (and eat). Neptune is staying with the eggs until the fry are free swimming.

In about 24 hours, if the eggs were actually fertilized, they should start to hatch and I should be able to see minuscule tails hanging down from the bubble nest.

Spawning has been a little stressful and a lot of work, but this was the easy part. If and when those eggs hatch, it will be a whole new level of stress and hard work. I'm excited about the next stage, but at the same time feeling a little daunted by it! If nothing else, this has been a great learning process, and I will definitely feel more confident setting up the next pair for breeding.

Day Two

All of the behavior that Neptune and Rain have been displaying have been consistent with the research I have done on breeding behavior. Neptune is diligently working on his bubble nest, while regularly checking up on Rain. He flares at her, wags his body, and sometimes chases her. Rain will occasionally venture over to glance at the bubble nest, then swim away. I've noticed her flaring back at him and standing her ground several times. I have also seen her assume a more 'submissive' pose with her head angled downward. Both are good signs. But it has been two days now, and still no spawning. They are both young and inexperienced, so I guess it will take a little more time. I feel like the biggest problem right now is the bubble nest, or lack thereof. Neptune hasn't made a very substantial nest yet, and the two he has made have been destroyed. His second nest got messed up when the Indian Almond leaf sank :( I put a fresh leaf in and taped it to the side of the tank, and he's started a third nest. Here was the nest he had made this morning, before the leaf sank:

Both fish seem to be getting tired. Rain's fins have been so torn up she's looking like a crowntail. It looks like the normal kind of damage the females sustain during this process, so I'm not too concerned. She isn't acting like she's overly stressed, and they are definitely not out to kill each other. I know it takes a little longer when it's the first spawn, and going into this I knew that something almost always goes 'wrong', but it's still stressing me out! I keep having to remind myself to leave them alone as much as possible, as long as they aren't killing each other, and let them do their thing. And it will take time! I might give them up to four days, depending on how they are acting towards the end of the day tomorrow. Neptune has been taking more breaks from his bubble nest and just resting. I have fed them a few bites of food. Rain is hungry, but Neptune won't eat. I am hoping they spawn, but if not I'm prepared to move forward either with a different pair or re-conditioning them.

Rain hiding in an Indian Almond leaf, getting some much needed rest

Neptune taking a 'break'. He's really been a champ so far.

Day One

When I checked out Casper this morning, his torn fin looked a little worst with a small red spot by the tear. My gut instinct was telling me not to breed him today, so I went ahead and set up Neptune in the breeding tank instead. I put Neptune in a bag and Rain in a jar and let them adjust to the water temp, then released Neptune so he could check out his mate and start working on his bubble nest.

He was doing everything he was supposed to at first: flare and wag around at the female, then swim over and work on his bubble nest. But after about 5 hours there was very little progress to the bubble nest. Neptune had been working on it the whole time, with short intervals of rushing up to Rain's jar to flare at her, but he had been so excited I noticed he kept popping part of the nest. I wasn't sure if I should leave Rain in her jar until the nest was more 'complete' or release her to see if that would improve anything. By the 6th hour, I decided to release her. She seemed pretty mad. The first thing she did was chase away Neptune and destroy his puny little bubble nest. Then she hid for a little while, but Neptune was in hiding too. I was beginning to worry she was going to be too aggressive for him, but then he came out and chased her around. They did this off and on for a while, but there was no more nest building. At this point I was getting pretty stressed out by the lack of a bubble nest. I think it would have been best if I had introduced them in the evening and given Neptune overnight with the lights off to build his nest. So after an hour or so of them chasing each other I decided to change things up again. I removed some of the water, because it was deeper than it really needed to be (over 4"), I removed the pot that was supposed to serve as a hiding place for Rain (which she never used), and I added fresh Indian Almond leaves. Then I used a hurricane glass to trap Rain again so that Neptune could start thinking about a new bubble nest. Rain had a few tears in her anal fin, but I didn't see any damage on Neptune. I then fed them, but only Rain was interested in the food (she ate quite a bit). After removing the unwanted food, I put the cover back on and shut off the lights for the night. Neptune is now working on a new nest in the back corner of the tank under one of the Indian Almond leaves. I'm hoping by morning he has a nice big nest ready, but I'm a little worried because the leaf is starting to sink :( Hopefully the bubble nest is able to hold it up once it's completed.
Here's a short video clip of some courtship behavior between Neptune and Rain:

Ready...Set....

Some good news! Yesterday morning when I was checking up on Casper I found that he had finally made a new bubble nest! Since his fin got damaged he had stopped making nests for a while. This was the main reason (once I figured out what was wrong) why I didn't think I could breed him this week. But now that he is back to blowing nests I am going to try breeding him first. His dorsal fin is not completely healed yet, but it looks good and I want to go for it. I really feel that Casper and Rain will produce some nice looking fry, so I was pretty excited when I saw his little bubble nest. 

 I got my betta breeding/fry rearing kit in (a shout out to Fishguy_1955 on aquabid) on MONDAY, several days before I was expecting it! Here are the goodies that came in it:

Seen here are the Indian Almond Leaves (a breeding 'inducer' if you will), a variety of fry food, a combined banana, micro, and walterworm starter culture, and a dozen pipettes. Pretty special. I put some IA leaves in all the tanks, it was like betta Christmas. Oh, here's a close up of some fancy nematodes: 

Those white/silver/stringy things you see are the worms. They're fascinating. When I first looked at them, they didn't appear to be moving and I thought, "Oh crap, they're dead!" but the longer I looked, the better I could see them and I was actually able to see them moving and squiggling around. Now I want to get a magnifying glass:) So the nematodes are all set up in 2 separate cultures (in case one crashes) and should be ready to feed in a week. The fry food is here, the pairs are conditioned, and the breeding tank is ready! 

 Finally, here is a somewhat poor quality picture of  Rain displaying some very prominent 'breeding stripes' (please excuse my scary Giant hand):

Since everything is ready to go, the first breeding attempt will be TOMORROW! Fingers crossed!! 

Baby Steps

I finally figured out what happened to Casper's fin. Today I was looking for him and when I didn't see him I realized he was under the filter. He's being housed in a Hagen Marina 360-degree aquarium (2.6 gallons) and the filter it comes with is an all-in-one unit with a built in light fixture. It looks like this:

The filter intake is on the bottom. When it's in the aquarium there's maybe an inch between the bottom of the filter unit and the gravel. I was surprised to discover that he could fit under there! It turns out, that was his favorite hide-out. But a potentially hazardous one...the bottom looks like this:

His fins probably got sucked into the filter a little bit which caused them to tear. I tried blocking the filter off with some rocks but he still managed to get under there. He really likes his 'spot'. I probably should have named him Sheldon. So as I was lying in bed, trying to go to sleep, I had a revelation: I could use the tough netting-like material that came with the 10 gallon tank divider to block off access to the filter from all sides. 

It took me a while to figure out how to wrap it around said filter. Since I was so exhausted I ended up taking the easy way out:

Tiny rubber bands are my go-to product for many of my aquarium needs! This fit perfectly; it blocks off all access to the scary 'under filter spot' while still allowing the water to freely flow to the filter. Of course, only time will tell just how effective it will be. Casper was pretty disappointed that he could no longer hide in his 'spot', so I made him a little rock cave. He wasn't too impressed. I learned an important lesson today: bettas like small, cramped, dark places to hide. At least, most of them seem to. My girls prefer floating plants, though. They were pretty upset today when I took the floating Water Sprite out of their tank to add it to the breeding tank. Yes, I got the breeding tank set up today! (mostly...)

Since the sponge filter is brand new, I'm giving it about a week to 'mature' aka grow nasty-looking, slimy bacteria on it. To jump start this process a bit (because a week isn't much time at all) I'm adding some of the matured water from the other tanks' filters. Hopefully that is enough for now! When it comes time for breeding I'll change 100% of the water, fill it back up to about 4", add the Indian Almond leaves, cross my fingers, and hope for the best!

An Upsetting Discovery

I went to feed Casper yesterday and noticed a tiny hole in his dorsal fin. There are a number of things that could cause this - fin rot, ammonia poisoning, sharp decorations in the tank, over flaring. I tested the water parameters and everything looked good, so I don't think it's fin rot or ammonia poisoning. To play it safe, I treated the water with some betta spa (contains Indian Almond Leaf). This morning when I checked on him he had a tear in addition to the hole!

Here you can see the tear and the hole (kinda...he doesn't like stay still). I'm suspecting that there is something in the tank he's catching his fin on, so today I will remove him and thoroughly inspect everything and do the "pantyhose test" (run pantyhose over the objects in the tank, and if they snag the object is unsafe for betta fins).

He is eating and acting normal, but I don't think I should breed him until after his fins are completely healed. Betta breeding is no joke - both parties typically get very beat up during the process - so they need to be in good shape before they go into it. Fortunately, Neptune Nebula has been making some beautiful bubble nests and looks to be in great shape, so I should still be able to go forward with next week's breeding with him and Rain.

In the meantime, Casper will get some extra special treatment until his fin is healed: water changes every 3 days, and extra dose of stress coat, and 3 feedings per day.

The Beginning

I am about 2 weeks out from breeding my first pair of bettas! It's taken me several months and a few headaches to get my breeding stock to the remote island of Kodiak, but I am quite pleased with what I ended up with. My tank set ups:

2.6 gallon planted tank with male platinum halfmoon (Casper)

2.6 gallon planted tank with male mustard gas halfmoon (Neptune Nebula)

10 gallon planted tank with 6 females: 1 red cambodian (Ruby), 1 platinum red (Rosie), 1 mustard gas (Esmeralda), 1 platinum (Pearl), 1 yellow (Honeydew), and 1 blue-green female (Rain). 

I also have a 2 gallon heated bowl with live plants where one of the males stays temporarily during the conditioning period, so the chosen female can be given special treatment :)

I love the blues, so the pair I have chosen for my first spawning is the white platinum male and the blue-green female. 

Since (from what I have been reading up on) platinum is a mutation of steel blue, I am expecting to get various shades of blues and greens from this pairing. I wouldn't be surprised to see some red wash as well. Depending on the unknown genetic backgrounds of these particular fish I could also see some marbled or grizzled fish from this combination. I'm excited to see what I get! 

Just because I've decided these two are perfect for each other doesn't mean they will agree. In case they don't get along as well as I hope, my back up plan is to try breeding Sunny (yellow female) to Casper. If Casper just isn't a breeder, I'll move on to Neptune, my mustard gas. Both of my males have made some pretty impressive bubble nests, so I have high hopes! 

I can't believe it's finally happening! I'll be setting up my breeding tank this weekend; my fry food comes in the mail next week, and by next weekend I should be able to introduce the pair in the breeding tank and let nature take care of the rest! This is a first for me so I'm expecting some bumps along the way, but I am really looking forward to the experience!