Baby Betta Progress Log

Short video

 

Alright so I counted the 2 spawns and got some statistics.

Older spawn from the Copper HM female: 10 total
4 males: 3 delta long fin, 1 plakat, 1 delta long finned marbled (so far)
6 females: 2 white, 1 blue, 2 "natrual" and 1 piebald (colored body, flesh colored head)

Younger spawn from the blue grizzled HM female: ~37 total
19 males: 7 plakats (1 blue double tail, 2 marbled, 3 blue grizzled, 1 cellophane)
12 long finned (3 blue grizzled delta, 5 marbled delta, 4 blue delta)
16 Females: I cannot tell between plakats or not, they're all still young
7 double tails (3 marbled, 1 cellophane grizzled, 1 blue grizzled, 1 white w/ pink fins, 1 lavender)
2 white w/ pink fins
3 "natural"
3 lavender
1 marbled

Then there's a could "duds". Their insides appear to be male (no ovaries/eggs) but they have a funky body shape. I really should of culled these two but they're healthy atm.
1 white w/ pink fins and 1 cellophane with a few grizzled spots.

I culled maybe a dozen or so from the blue grizzled spawn when they were quite young, then accidentally killed a marbled delta tail during a water change.

100% sure the copper female had much better genetics. The body and fin form of all her young are better than the other female's spawn. But the grizzled spawn had a wider range of colors. I will be much more strict when culling for form next time. I don't mind if there are a bunch of natural colored fish, so long as they have good form I will raise them up.

 

I really love following this thread. It’s so interesting to me. I wish I could do something similar

 

It’s really not that hard so long as you’ve got the time. Time is basically the most important thing. You need to be home to feed them 3-4 times and do at least one water change a day. Then you need the time to keep your live cultures going.

Once you’ve got the equipment you’ll have it forever till it breaks. I have lots of spare stuff. Improvising works too, mason jars, storage totes, large plastic dishes etc.

 

It’s really not that hard so long as you’ve got the time. Time is basically the most important thing. You need to be home to feed them 3-4 times and do at least one water change a day. Then you need the time to keep your live cultures going.

Once you’ve got the equipment you’ll have it forever till it breaks. I have lots of spare stuff. Improvising works too, mason jars, storage totes, large plastic dishes etc.

Yeah, time is something I definitely don’t have. Maybe in the future though! Until then, I’ll just follow yours haha

 

Took these last night





One plakat that I might keep.



This is the fellow who got tore up a while ago. All fins grew back, except the non-existent pelvic fins.

 

Traded in 6 females along with a plethora of other fish and plan on calling back Wednesday morning to make sure they don't order any more so I can give them all the ones I don't plan on keeping. I'm hoping to pick out 1 more male to keep by then. Thinking I'll keep one of the marbled or grizzled plakats. So far I plan on keeping 8 females. I need to do a head count and then start planning on how to transport all the males.

Funny story, when I talked to the employee in charge of the fish about trading in my males he asked how mine looked. Me being the sassy woman I am said the first thing that came to mind, "better than yours!". All they had were some CT, lots of VT, and a couple "premium" halfmoons that clearly had been damaged during shipping. I showed him pictures and he was extremely interested in the long finned white/blue grizzled male and my lovely black and turquoise delta tail (which I will be keeping but he doesn't know that).

I'll snap some pictures in a few. Been trying to get a decent angle on the marbled double tail girls but it's not easy.

 

Some of the better males







That ugly male from a few posts ago turned all white. I shuffled some fish around so now he and another male are in baskets. The tank they’re in also has a big male OB peacock. I think he bit this boy through the net, not sure if he’ll recover but he’s been acting off for a few days. Note the red spot on his head.


No one holds still so here’s the sorority/young females.

 

Even after asking the store employee not to order more male bettas, when I called back as they asked me to I learn that they did order more males. So I still have all my boys... I worry that the ones in half gallon jars are started to be effected by cramped conditions.

Luckily I found something that should help the stress on the boys during water changes. Each chamber holds around 10 cups of water, so alittle over half a gallon. Quart jar for size comparison.



Melted some holes in one side and the bottom.


Added some blinders for between the section.



Little extra barrier on top to prevent jumping into the neighboring sections. Used a hot glue gun for this. Not pretty but functional.






I have another of the same thing but 2 won’t fit in the tote. Only 2 bettas are left in half gallon jars, all the others are either in baskets, divided tanks, or ~1gal jars.

 

I still haven’t been able to sell off the young bettas, funny enough VIPets is more interested in the females than the males. I’ll see what I can do in the next week or so. Some of the males are having fin issues. I’m treating 2 for severe fin issues after extra water changes and M. Blue didn’t work. Sadly I decided to euthanize 3 males and 1 female. The 3 males were just not getting on well, one had swim bladder problems for a while now and 2 were the poorer quality fish. The female was incredibly runty from the get-go and was getting thin.

Little white boy recovered from getting mauled by a peacock cichlid through the net, he’s back to normal. Took a long while.

Favorite female, future breeder.





Prime breeder candidate, love this boy.

 

that female and male are stunning! Can't wait to see what they produce.

Have you considered trying to sell here? Bettas can sometimes go quick here if shipped.

 

I’m not confident in shipping, I’ve never shipped anything before. I’ve considered it but I don’t want to have them die before they get where they need to go. I feel it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just say “free to good homes, just pay shipping!” for a practice run on some of the lesser quality bettas.

 

I think that would be a great idea to try it out! There's a lot of people who regularly ship fish out here and would be more than happy to lend you a helping hand. I remember Mcasella helped me when I shipped out two cories a year or two ago and they both arrived alive!

 

I decided to get the bettas spawning again. I didn't do the usual half filled tank bare bottom but instead just put the female on his side of the divider. I figured he'd eat the eggs his first time but so far so good. The process took ~1 day (last night and this morning), for him chasing and building his nest. I removed the female last night then added her back in 10:50am. They started spawning right away and I removed her around 1:30pm. Not a ton of eggs (they're still small) but towards the end she wasn't releasing any the last few embraces.

Before spawning,



After, a little thinner but not too beat up at all.



The spawning pictures aren't that great. There was a terrible glare from the nearby window.







The male did not know what he was doing at first. She was nudging his side and he was having problems understanding what that meant. He figured it out eventually. I'd guess there's under 100 eggs which is fine for their first time. I have a fresh micro worm culture going and a new box of kosher salt for brine shrimp eggs. Hopefully in a week they will be free swimming.

 

A not so great video of them spawning. Please ignore the TV sounds, this tank is in the living room.

The eggs started hatching last night and dad seems to be doing just fine. Still not seeing very many fry but that's ok. He moved the nest to the back corner of the tank so I can't see too well but several fry are sticking to duckweed roots.

 

Babies have been free swimming for about a week. They can eat the small/medium micro worms but the adult worms are too big. I’ll be starting up the brine shrimp hatchery pretty soon. Right now I’m doing their first water change of 25%

 

Babies are happily eating BBS. I still mix a bit of micro worms in for the smaller fry. With the naked eye and all the plants in the way, I’ve counted up to about 30 fry. They are starting to look different now, some lighter colored and some with longer/shorter bodies. Their tail fins are growing but I don’t see dorsal or pelvic fins yet. They are 21 days old since being eggs.

 

I think this one may be a double tail. I can also see the little dorsal fins growing on the larger fry.

 

They are so cute and tiny I love it

 

this is great! how did I just see this thread!.

 

this is great! how did I just see this thread!.

You tell me, I update this thread pretty often

 

do you ship? I would totally love one of the females for my next breeding project.

 

do you ship? I would totally love one of the females for my next breeding project.

Want To Sell - Male And Female Bettas

 

I'm working on my shipping game. Have yet to ship anything though.

 

Tiny bettas have most of their fins now. The largest ones have their pelvic fins and are starting to get their juvenile markings. ~30-40 fry





Some of their shrimp friends

 

More blurry fry pics.





I noticed that this one seems to have a rectal prolapse. Still eats so we’ll see if it corrects itself.

 

Moved the fry to the tote that has several BN fry and cherry shrimp. They’re getting daily water changes and are eating the smallest bug bite granules along with daphnia and BBS.



I counted 32 but there are obvious size differences. I culled 3 of the tiniest ones with funky tails and body shapes.

 

Moved the fry to the tote that has several BN fry and cherry shrimp. They’re getting daily water changes and are eating the smallest bug bite granules along with daphnia and BBS.
View attachment 535236

I counted 32 but there are obvious size differences. I culled 3 of the tiniest ones with funky tails and body shapes.

Awesone!!! and they are already eating bug bites??? mine didnt start eating them until a month an a half! that's awesome

 

They started eating them around 7 weeks of age, but only the larger ones eat them. There seem to be several tiny fry left and I'll probably go through another culling or two in the next couple months. I'm shooting for better quality juveniles this time around and will cull accordingly, may end up with less than 20 but that's okay. Curious to see how many will be long finned this time around, hopefully not too many.

Not seeing much color but I expect some blues and natural coloration out of most the non white fry.

 

So far not much color. They all look like natural colored bettas except the white fry. There’s only a handful of them and the largest has a little kink at the end of it’s tail.




This one is being aggressive, must be a male. He’s the largest too.



I took 6 of the runts that look fine form wise and will be giving them some TLC in a breeder basket.

I’m working on batch #2 from the same male. The new female I bought will not be spawned, there is definitely something wrong with her eyes and she can’t see too well. So I’m trying out the free female, they seem interested and she has breeding stripes.

 

It looks like everything is going good so far, they look great to me!

 

Took all day yesterday for the 2 to spawn and there are probably a couple hundred eggs. She is so slI'm now but won’t hold still for a photo, plus she’s back in the sorority.

Fat belly before laying eggs.

 

Some how or other the last spawning attempt was a bust. Dad did a good job until they hatched but I think he stopped picking them back up and tending the nest after a day after hatching. I saw lots of cherry shrimp with suspiciously white stomachs...

Fry are growing but growing slow. Looks like 3 are starting to marble. They a little stressed because I had to catch them for pictures, the down side of using a tote as a growout.





Also some new pics of their grandma and aunts.





Grandma is the bottom white one, she’s got a scaly thing going on.

 

Its so cool to see the grandparent! Particularly that you can see where some of the fry get genes from her.

Does she have a tumour? Dalisay has a tumour on his head that looks similar to that.

I love the white fry in the first few photos! I’m curious, are you going to be selling these guys on here too? How did shipping go for you?

 

Its so cool to see the grandparent! Particularly that you can see where some of the fry get genes from her.

Does she have a tumour? Dalisay has a tumour on his head that looks similar to that.

I love the white fry in the first few photos! I’m curious, are you going to be selling these guys on here too? How did shipping go for you?

Grandma probably has some sort of tumor, it’s been slow growing and doesn’t seem to bother her. It apparated shortly after I spawned her, so about 9 or so months ago.

I do plan on offering these babies on here but from the last batch I shipped exactly one betta and it seems to of gone smoothly according to Sean Garland. Most the other went to VIPets but I still have 6 males I’m trying to sell.

 

Grandma probably has some sort of tumor, it’s been slow growing and doesn’t seem to bother her. It apparated shortly after I spawned her, so about 9 or so months ago.

I do plan on offering these babies on here but from the last batch I shipped exactly one betta and it seems to of gone smoothly according to Sean Garland. Most the other went to VIPets but I still have 6 males I’m trying to sell.

Yup, the betta and the Albino BN pleco are both happy and healthy.

Well, the betta will be... currently in a breeder box. I almost have the carpet grown for his new tank...

 

Grandma probably has some sort of tumor, it’s been slow growing and doesn’t seem to bother her. It apparated shortly after I spawned her, so about 9 or so months ago.

I do plan on offering these babies on here but from the last batch I shipped exactly one betta and it seems to of gone smoothly according to Sean Garland. Most the other went to VIPets but I still have 6 males I’m trying to sell.

I hope it keeps not affecting her. Dalisay’s appeared probably around that time as well and thankfully it doesn’t effect him either.

I’m glad it went well! Shipping can be an experience the first few times, so it’s great it went well for you. I’ll have to keep an eye out for when you start offering them because I really like that white one (if you offer him/her for sale)...

 

that's a group of chunky ladies! they almost look like platys lol its great to see all the generations!

 

that's a group of chunky ladies! they almost look like platys lol its great to see all the generations!

Hey, they’ve had kids. They’re allowed to get chunky.

 

Hey, they’ve had kids. They’re allowed to get chunky.

true! some are grandmas too, grandmas' hugs are always better when they are chunkier lol