My Betta Spawning Diary - new fry pics 11/4/09

[Lnd]

Well this one idk, he moved like 40 eggs from his nest and started another nest, and ate the rest. Weird

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by Lnd

Well this one idk, he moved like 40 eggs from his nest and started another nest, and ate the rest. Weird

Just keep an eye on him. Once the babies hatch, he may be tempted to eat them all.

Did you feed him well before the spawning process? I like to fatten the couple up as they are courting each other. This way, they're full to start out with and helps guarantee more uneaten eggs/fry. Because once they've spawned, you can not feed them until you take them out. For the male, this is roughly 4 days without food. If you try to feed them during the time they are watching the eggs, it'll light up that hunger fuse and it's pretty much game over for that spawn. However if you have a really dedicated male, he will just ignore any food offered to him durring this time.

Good luck with your spawn! Just keep at it.

[Tex Gal]

So neat. Love seeing all those babies. Hope you have a good survival rate!

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by Tex Gal

So neat. Love seeing all those babies. Hope you have a good survival rate!

I'm sure I will. *fingers crossed* I just gotta keep the BBS hatchery on overdrive. These little guys are surprisingly strong compared to some other batches I've raised in the past. When they hatched they hardly fell from the bubble nest. Usually it'd be a rainstorm for daddy. Not these guys.

[mistergreen]

What are you going to do with all the babies?

I've done the 'let the dad raise the fry method' until the babies are full grown. I hear that makes the males better parents.

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by mistergreen

What are you going to do with all the babies?

I've done the 'let the dad raise the fry method' until the babies are full grown. I hear that makes the males better parents.

I'll most likely just give them away to anyone who wants them from our local plant club, then I'll sell the rest to anyone else or a lfs.

I've never tried that method. I'm always too cautious of the father eating the young so I take him out after the kids start to free swim. You could be right though. Once a good dad, always a good dad.

[speedie408]

So I've got microworms now but, how do I feed them to the fry? I've read that you just kinda scrape the muck they're living in and mix it with a little bit of water... this still leaves all the muck in with the water mixture to get sucked up. I'm worried I may foul the tank water and kill the babies . Anyone dealt with microworms before? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Other then that, the babies are getting bigger already and eat 24/7. Since I haven't mastered feeding MW yet, I've been hatching BBS once a day. Talk about chores.

Here they are:

[Tex Gal]

That's a lot of spicy meatballs! What will you do with the all!!

I would just do daily water changes. That's what I did with my danio babies. Or you could put a filter on it with a sponge guard. That works too.

[lauraleellbp]

Leave something in the culture for a few minutes for the MW to climb up on, or scrape them off the sides of the container. Makes it a bit easier.

I kept my fry on BBS for weeks. I rotated through 2-3 BBS hatcheries, would harvest out of each one for 2 days.

Keep in mind that if you try to harvest longer from the same BBS culture, you should feed the BBS, otherwise they're so starved that the fry won't get as much nutrition from them.

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Leave something in the culture for a few minutes for the MW to climb up on, or scrape them off the sides of the container. Makes it a bit easier.

I kept my fry on BBS for weeks. I rotated through 2-3 BBS hatcheries, would harvest out of each one for 2 days.

Keep in mind that if you try to harvest longer from the same BBS culture, you should feed the BBS, otherwise they're so starved that the fry won't get as much nutrition from them.

Laura,

thanks for the bit of info. I will try putting something in for the worms to climb. I've been using 2 hatcheries for bbs. I didn't know you can feed them. The ones that are left over after the second day usually die and gets tossed. What can I feed them with?

[lauraleellbp]

Spirulina powder or really really finely crushed flake food will work.

If you start down that road, you'll also want to do water changes so uneaten food doesn't pollute the hatcheries (which can be a pain, since you don't want to suck up the BBS...)

[mistergreen]

a little bit of hard boil egg yolk dissolved in a little water is often used when you don't have anything else. Don't add too much unless you plan to do daily water changes. You can throw what you don't use in the freezer for next time.

let the microworm culture grow big enough so they climb up the walls of the container. A q-tip to swipe them up is handy.

[speedie408]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Spirulina powder or really really finely crushed flake food will work.

If you start down that road, you'll also want to do water changes so uneaten food doesn't pollute the hatcheries (which can be a pain, since you don't want to suck up the BBS...)

Wow, that's a lot of work. I think I'll stick to running 3-4 BBS hatcheries. Thanks for your help, it's greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by mistergreen

a little bit of hard boil egg yolk dissolved in a little water is often used when you don't have anything else. Don't add too much unless you plan to do daily water changes. You can throw what you don't use in the freezer for next time.

let the microworm culture grow big enough so they climb up the walls of the container. A q-tip to swipe them up is handy.

Are you talking about feeding egg yolk to the bbs or the fry? I've never used egg yolk in the past but it just sounds soo messy.

I like the idea of scraping the sides... I may have to wait a little longer for my culture to get bigger. BTW, how long does a MW culture last before you have to mix up another batch of oatmeal/mashed potatoes?

[mistergreen]

the egg yolk isn't so bad.. A few drops of the hard boil yolk mixture to feed the bettas.

Oh, and use corn FLOUR for the MW medium next time. The smell from the oatmeal/mash is going to knock you out of your socks. A batch should last a month or 2. You'll notice the MW population stop climbing the walls.

[whickerda]

update?