I live in Moscow and i recently bought two betta's-a female and a male. Once the male accidently got a view of the female and both seemed very excited with each other.I kept them apart however and my male started building the bubble nests almost every day without fail though it got destroyed each time we opened the cover to feed him.So i thought of trying to spawn the two soon.However my female betta had stopped eating for 3 days now and I realised her belly had swelled up...and so i decided probably its time...After nearly about 50 attempts..finally the female started expelling eggs...and the process repeated another 30-40times. I removed the female as the male started to attack her after some time. Now i have a big problem..i cant seem to find the food for the betta fry anywhere. I m afraid in two days time after they hatch they would not survive. Pl advise on how to keep them alive. What are my options? what should I do in these two days before the eggs hatch? Should I put any plants in? Should I clean the water? I do realize its my mistake for not being prepared but I'm helpless now. I m in desperate need for your help.
You should look into getting a bbs hatchery set up asap, I'm pretty sure thats what martinsmommy feeds her fry.
I'm not sure about this with Bettas, but I know African Dwarf frogs feed off their egg sac for the first couple of days after hatching.
I have this one: Brine Shrimp Hatchery Information!
Good luck
Last edited by Lucy; February 22nd, 2009 at 05:22 PM.
I don't know if they eat Infusoria or not.....this is how I made it.
I tore peiced of lettuce in a plastic container with tank water. Put the lid on and let it sit on a sunny window sill.
In about 3 days, the water was green. I filtered the water through a coffee filter into a separate container to get the nasty stuff out. I added small amount of that in with my tadpoles.
Another option is to feed egg yolk (which is messy) but you'd have to google up on how exactly that works. I think that BBS are to big initially for the fry to eat. Something like micro-worms might be better for the first little while.
Good Luck andhope everyone pulls through.
Boy, it seems you have a real problem on your hands...I'm sorry I wasn't able to get to you sooner....
I'll start by suggesting you go out and buy a live moss ball and get it in that tank asap.....This will help in feeding the fry until you can locate live foods....Another thing people use is boiled egg yolk....All you do is hard boil an egg and break off a very tiny peice and rub your fingers in the water with the eggs yolk to distribute it.....The only problem with the egg yolk is it pollutes the water...Get a mysetry snal right away so he will eat up and old food and keep the water cleaner....BBS are way too large for newborn fry....Don't even bother with that until they are at least 2 weeks old....You can order microworm cultures from Aquabid.com....Hopefully they will arrive on time!
Does your tank have gravel in it? If so, your chances of survival are slim to none...Baby fry need a bare bottom tank to find their food....
Let me know how it is going today please so I can be of further help to you....I'd leave the male in there with them until you figure out what you are going to do for food....This way he will eat any dead deformed fry and keep the tank cleaner...
hi martinismommy..thank u so much for replying... Well..let me explain to u fr the beginning. the spawning took place just yest at about 5pm-8.30pm. I witnessed the spawning process after many failed attempts...i saw the wrap myself...during each wrap there were very few eggs released iniatially..i would say about 3-5eggs..so they continued for another hour..more n more eggs started to fall... till one point he started to get very aggressive towards d female..so i took her out... The male then started guarding the nest as itsemms...after about 2 hrs.. he started to destroy and eat the eggs...many of the eggs dropped to the bottom..And btw..the tank is bare bottom... After some time, he came to his senses, he stopped eating and started picking up his eggs placing only some of them back to the partially destroyed nest..leaving behind a large portion of eggs at the bottom.. There is enough lighting for him to see these eggs. This morning i saw him swimming around frantically without attending to his nests... that maybe due to my irresponsibility as i misunderstood when ppl say that the tank top shud be covered with a plastic wrap..however i immediately removed the wrap..I ve been watchinghim and i realised he never repaired or attended to his nest...he's still swimming back and forth... I checked on the nest not long ago..and found some eggs in the nest. I was wondering what are the chances of these eggs surviving? Is it normal for the male fish to be detached from his fatherly duties since it is his first time?
As im typing now..i still see him swimming around not bothered about his partially surviving nest...
Thank u so much for ur time...pls advise, ur reply is much appreciated..
1st time Dads sometimes get overwhelmed....Just leave him in there and keep an eye on him....Have you noticed eggs falling down from the nest? This should start happening today sometime...He will go into a frenzy trying to keep up with this....It is at this point when some males get anxious and eat the eggs....
If the eggs are fertilized they will appear white almost milky in color...After 24-36 hours you should see tails hanging from the eggs...What you described as far as the spawning sounds completely normal so it's all good there.....
I'd get working on foods ASAP because chances are you'll end up with fry in a day or 2.....Can you post pics of the parents please?
lucy and red1313..thank u for the suggestion...i went over to another pet store again today and i bought some powdered baby formula...supposingly for the fry...i m going to prepare the egg yolk also..martinismommy..if the fry survives can i feed them with these powdered formula?
glad to hear that martinismommy...i ve not seen eggs falling yet..i ll update u from time to time..i ll put up pics soon...btw is it advisable to put in a live plant now or i shud not disturb him at this point?
Last edited by Lucy; February 23rd, 2009 at 12:14 PM.
Reason: merged back to back posts
Hi there..im afraid i ve bad news...i just took a look at the nest..n this time...the bubbles have been scattered around under the plate that he made it..i still see eggs but there are very few of them now..i see more eggs have fallen to the bottom of the tank..he has yet to pick them up..i m very confused and sad that it didnt work out...im still crossing my fingers though..maybe..there will be some survivals..i'll update if there s gud news..
Just leave him in there....The eggs are fine...He'll pick them up eventually.....Don't do ANYTHING at this point......In a day or 2 they should hatch...
martinismommy...i took ur advice and i did not disturb him yest... This morning..i took a look at him..the bubbles are barely visible now..i dun see any tails hanging from anywhere...it has been almost 2days now..what shud i do? shud i still give him some time? or shud i get a pict for u of his nest? my cam is not too clear but i can try...pl advise..
I'd still leave him in there for another day or two....Check in the corners of the tank and on the sides of the walls....This is where fry hang out.....Are you aware of how tiny Betta fry are? You can't really see them with the naked eye.....Get a magnifying glass and look for them.....The nest does fall apart after the fry hatch so that's not abnormal.....
Yes, a photo would help....Did you get a live plant in there yet? They may be in the plant as well......
no...i didnt put in the plant coz i was afraid to open the cover...n i m sorry i cant seem to get a gud pict....im trying to get a magnifier to look...i'll update u..thanks a lot...
hi everyone...u wont believe wat i saw today...i saw 1(ONE) little fry...he was falling and all of a sudden he started to swim up back very fast...it repeated a couple of times...i tried to look for other fries but i there was no sign of them...unfortunately i couldnt stay long..i had to leave after that..when i came home today..i went to the same spot that i saw the little fella earlier...he wasnt there anymore...:-(
dad is still swimming back n forth..it looks like he's guarding something..but i just cant spot any wif my eyes...i believe there r a few more..i really hope so...pls let me know when i can remove the dad?thanks...
If you saw 1 then there are probably more....Go ahead and remove the Dad and put him in a warm safe place so he can recover....Feed him and let him rest now.....I hope you have microworms ready for the baby fry....If so, use a cotton swab and swipe the sides of the microworm container and spread it around the fry tank...
i dun have microworms...but i have infusoria...n some other powdered fry food that i got fr d shop..n i thought of preparing d egg yolk also..is it okay? i ve removed dad...i still cant see the fry...mayb they r hiding somewhre..i'll let u know soon..thanks...
martinismommy..i dun see any baby fry...not a single one..i see quite a number of fungoid eggs in the tank... i guess the baby fry didnt make it..i ve checked thoroughly many times..n im very sure theres none.. its just unfortunate... i m planning to wait 1 more day n if tomoro i dun see any..i thought of cleaning the tank up already... sorry bout the bad news... thanks every1 for all ur advice & help...especially martinismommy..really appreciate it....
You're welcome Anton...Sorry it didn't work out for you....Maybe you can try using some methayne blue in the spawn tank next time to prevent fungus...Usually if the Father rotates the eggs enough they don't fungus..
Similar Aquarium Fish Forum Threads 
