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):
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| Gem before her colors started showing |
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| Gem, almost fully colored |
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| Gem (left) and Tail Dipper (right). It's blurry, but the only pic I could get of their full colors! |
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| Tail Dipper has a very pretty blue body |
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| Froning hiding out in the plants. He is VERY shy |
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| Froning again. He has a very pretty green coloring |
