Bringing up Betta :
My first attempt
( What a failure )
Day 1 ( 20th Dec 2000 Wed ) :
Fry hatched after being nothing but a white ball of eggs . I have been peeping at the tub frequently and didn’t at all notice when it first started becoming more than just a ball of eggs . The first thing I noticed was a pair of eyes . Hundreds of pairs of eyes . The Fry are still clinging on to the plastic plant or their nest . Some have fallen to the bottom of the tub .
Day 2 ( 21st Dec 2000 Thurs ):
Free swimming or clinging to the sides of the tub / plastic plant . Some were on the bottom . I thought they were dead so I siphoned them out into a cup YIKES they started swimming about . So I emptied these into a small 3L tank or is it 4L and there they stay with a piece of plastic plant floating on which some java moss is hanging . The plastic plant has some dark algae on it and they seem to be hanging about those spots . The fry have been fed Liquifry #1 . They are so tiny all I see are a pair of eyes swimming about .
Day 3 ( 22nd Dec 2000 Fri ):
Fry spend most of their time hanging about . ( Literally ) Once in awhile they sink to the bottom . I am finding it hard to clean their tub as they are littered all over . Or they hang on the plastic plant in the tub and scatter when I shake the tub . They are still tiny but At least I can see a definite fish ‘form’ now . It is hard to avoid sucking them up the tube when I siphon their tub . Light aeration has been provided . ( Afew bubbles per sec . ) .
Day 4 ( 23rd Dec 2000 Sat ):
I woke up in the middle of the night and was not able to get back to sleep . I went to peep at the tub . The fry were actually NOT on the plant ! Most were scattered about the tub and this is the 4th night in a row I have noticed that they leave the security of the plastic plant or tub walls only after the lights in my flat have been turned off . I feed them 3 or 4 times a day on Liquifry .
This is my first experience with egg laying fish multiplying . The bulk of the stock are still in the tub with aeration and those that have been siphoned off accidentally are in a tiny tank without . I am going to watch and see which group does better . Obviously as a novice I can’t expect that all will survive . Neither do I have the inclination to keep afew hundred bettas should they ALL survive ! I intend to try and keep them until they are the size of new born Molly fry then feed most of them to Mr. And Mrs. Betta ( who usually get live food in the form of Molly fry ) . Then with whatever stock is left after they become recognisable as Bettas I HOPE to raise about 10 to 15 of the lot . When they reach adulthood I want to keep afew females and a male or two . The rest can be given to my husband’s students .
Day 9 ( 28th Dec 2000 Thurs ) :
Fry are noticeably bigger but nothing more than a pair of eyes and a tail . I can’t tell if they are eating anything of the Liquifry but so far so good . The majority of them are still alive . The ones that have died are those that have defects or were too weak at birth to survive . Some were killed accidentally because they got sucked up when I siphoned the water for a change . Even with a panty hose bit draped over one end of the tube they still get thorough somehow . They are getting by in treated tap water and Black Water Extract . I wish I had the guts to feed the daphnia or something but I dare not risk feeding them live food for fear of infection so they are getting by on Liquifry .
Activity is minimal as compared to Molly Fry of the same age . I have noticed brown spots on the bottom of the tub and I am not sure if it is algae , bacteria or whatever . For all I know it could even be their droppings . Whatever it is it doesn’t seem to be bothering the fry . A wild estimate if at all is that they are about 0.4 cm ? Actually I think I am being abit too generous ! No sign of colouring yet at this stage .
Day 10 ( 29th Dec 2000 Fri ) :
The fry are split into 2 camps . The floaters who seem to stay near the surface of the water most of the time , and the sinkers who stay near the bottom . I saw some fry peck gingerly at the walls but that was all I have been able to observe of them eating . I guess for them to have made it this far means that some food must have gone in . I think molly fry are more fun to observe . These are not as active as my mollies . From a couple of hundred fry I am down to less than that now , which was what I expected .
Day 13 ( 1st Dec 2001 Mon ) :
Just a day short of two weeks and I am down to about ten or eleven fry . I did a water change yesterday and found lots of fry dead this morning . Funny how those remaining dozen or so in the small tiny tank without an airtube are SO FAR Ok . Than again there wasn’t much aeration . Just afew tiny bubbles per second . I suspect that my lack of knowledge about breeding bettas may have done them in .
Possible causes of the loss :
a) Too large a water change ? and
b) Overcrowding .
My husband thinks it is likely to be the first . But how often should one change the water ? Afterall I find myself having to attend to my molly fry more often than these so I assumed that they needed the same type of attention . Guess I may be wrong here . I will have to keep on trying until I hit the right formula for ‘bringing up betta’ . I made a lot of mistakes when my mollies first started breeding and I am at this moment doing alright with them . Today I put my female in a jar and the male into the tub with the jar in it .
Ut Oh . Mr. Betta wasn’t in the mood to eyeball her and seems totally uninterested . Mr. Betta #2 didn’t fare any better altho Mrs. Betta seemed keen to do alittle loving . So after one or two transfers Mr. Betta #1 was popped back into the breeding tub and there he remains . Let’s hope he gets into the mood for nest building . In the meanwhile I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed that at least one of the remaining lot will survive .
Day 14 ( 1st Jan 2001 Tues ) :
The remaining fry are in the tiny tank with no aeration . I am crossing my fingers and toes that they will be my first raise-from-eggs fish . It is now obviously a fish in shape . Some swimming has been noted although it is rather the slow moving type of action like my adult bettas .
Day 16 ( 3rd Jan 2001 Wed ) :
No further development . At the moment growth of the remaining fry seems to be at a stand still . Yet they are still alive so they must have been eating something . I read somewhere that fry something called Infusora which can be stimulated to grow by Liquifry as it is already present in tank water . I don’t know what it looks like so can’t tell if I have any .
Day 17 ( 4th Jan 2001 Thurs ) :
I finally gave in to my innate curiosity and bought a bottle of brine shrimp eggs . Sea Monkeys they call them . I attempted half the solution mentioned ( 1 L = 4 teaspoons of aquarium salt ) and halved the amount of eggs mentioned as a first try . I don’t even know what I am trying to hatch will look like ( haha ) . I have up till now held out on feeding live food because of a fear of infection . But as fry after fry died off I have nothing left to lose . I do have Mr Betta watching over a nest of eggs so I am trying to save the remaining few fry from a previous batch ( previous attempt ) .
here are some betta pictures
Bringing up Betta
( 2nd attempt )
Mating : 2nd attempt :
Mr. Betta wasn’t in the mood to eyeball her and seemed totally uninterested . Mr. Betta #2 didn’t fare any better although Mrs. Betta seemed keen to do alittle loving . So after one or two transfers Mr. Betta #1 was popped back into the breeding tub and there he remains . Let’s hope he gets into the mood for nest building .
Upon introducing the two , they fought for what seemed like a whole night . I started getting abit worried when Mrs. Betta’s fins and tail showed signs of wear . Finally I let her get back into the jar and turned to the Internet for help . When I got back to the breeding tank , I couldn’t see Mrs. Betta in the jar , and realised that she had jumped out of the jar and the couple were mating under the bubble nest . Go figure !!!
The new nest had been built under a halved plastic cup supported by a plastic plant and a clay cave . All the gravel in that tank ( it used to be a molly tank ) had been shoved to one side into a sort of bank and the other plastic plants were anchored there in case they needed to take a break from each other .
The clay cave in at the ‘deep’ end and the breeding area is bare bottomed .
Day 1 ( 4th Jan 2001 Thurs ) :
Fry started hatching . Eyes have been observed in the mass of bubbles . This is my 2nd attempt at Raising Betta Fry . The first attempt was a total failure .
Day 2 ( 5th Jan 2001 Fri ) :
More fry have hatched . I started trying to hatch brine shrimp only to find that I had problems transferring them into the breeding tank without too much of the salty brine shrimp culture being sucked over . Rinsing them was difficult as I lost about everything I rinsed into the sink . Back to the drawing board . I managed to log on and got several suggestions from the aquaria-freshwater email list and from a fish expert at Alamak Chat .
A chatter who goes by the nick trooper said that it didn’t matter if abit of salt water into the fry tank because Bettas in the wild live in fairly polluted / muddy waters . The added salt he said would be diluted at the next water change which should be done ( at this stage about twice a week ) . Come to think of it that may have been the reason why I lost so many fry in the first attempt as I changed part of the water everyday . I scooped the remaining fry from the previous hatching and dumped them into the breeding tank along with Mr. Betta thinking that they would have a better change of survival there . I held my breath as Mr. Betta eyed them and promptly took them into his mouth and spat them into the nest ! I let loose afew Baby Brine Shrimp ( BBS ) just in case .
Day 3 ( 6th Jan 2001 Sat ) :
I see a lot of tails hanging out of the mass of bubbles . Once in awhile a fry would out and Mr. Betta christened : Fighty ~~~ by my daughter , would spit it back into the nest .
This time about I didn’t just squirt Liquifry into the general swimming area . I placed it near the nest and used my fingers to mix it into the water . On another occasion I put a drop onto a medicine spoon and dripped it near the nest . Using a thin tube , I dipped one end into the BBS solution and tapped the other end for abit of suction . I managed to get some BBS into the tube which was emptied near the nest .
I had to clear out some fungused eggs using a medicine spoon . The nest broke slightly but Fighty set about repairing it . I contributed some bubbles from another nest stolen from a Blue Male Betta named Gerald .
More fry are breaking out of the nest today . I guess it won’t be long before Fighty goes back into solitary bachelor-hood . Fighty has been given light feedings of his favourite food . I put my face to the tank to try and peep at the nest and had Fighty flaring at me . Chauvinist !!! The look on his face said it all . Get your face off my tank and mind the steamed panel .
Day 4 ( 7th Jan 2001 Sun ) :
Feeding BBS isn’t at all that easy . Growing them is easy but getting them into the fry tank is another matter altogether . I have come to realise that even the finest net that I have lets through a substantial amount of BBS and cysts . There are a lot of cysts / shells in the fry tank . So much for web advice of rinsing them The fry are all over the tank now and I cant tell if they are eating or not .
Since they are scattered a new problem has surfaced . There isn’t a particular spot where I can leave the fry their food . All I can do is to drop in some Liquifry and stir it into the tank water with my finger and hope for the best . Likewise for the BBS .
The cup under which Fighty built his nest was removed yesterday .
Day 8 (11th Jan 2001 Thurs ) :
I notice that I have not many fry left . Those that remain seem abit more active than the last batch I tried . However because I am getting the brine shrimp into the betta fry tank with a tube ( tapped to create suction ) I get abit of brine in as well . I hope they get by because I really want a fry to reach adulthood . I dare not get my hopes up too high . The last lot I had spent all their time hanging about . This time about I see some swimming short distances and I mean SHORT . Today I fed the fry Infusoria ( I am not sure if the spelling is correct ) for the first time . Web advice and a fellow list member suggested leaving an old lettuce leaf ( I used cabbage because we don’t eat lettuce ) in some old tank water . After afew days I noticed that the cabbage had thinned out and there was some sort of hairy growth on the cabbage leaf . There was also some obvious mould and some brown stuff floating in the water . I used a disposable tablespoon to scoop out some of that nasty stuff and ewww !!! I am not sure if I am doing the right thing . I cant imagine any fish eating that muck although common sense tells me that that is probably what they do in the wild .
Day 11 (14th Jan 2001 Sun ) :
I managed to get a good harvest of BBS this time about . It helps when you make a higher concentration of BS eggs in the culture . Each tap of the tube brings up a higher concentration of BBS and that means less salt in the fry tank ( from repeated suctions and deposits ) . I actually saw a fry ‘stalk’ and eat a BBS . I thought I was down to about a dozen fry but yesterday I counted near 20 . It could be that they are in hiding over the gravel that has been pushed to one side of the former Molly tank . The fry get this yellowish off orange spot on them after I load on the BBS . So I assume that it is the colour of the BBS in their bellies .
Day 12 ( 15th Jan 2001 Mon ) :
I made it past ten days and I have fry still alive . MY HOPES are rising . My BBS hatchery turned cloudy after just two days and I had to redo it … This morning after I siphoned what I could out f the cloudy water , I emptied the half coke bottle of the 2 day old solution and started another batch . It is encouraging that I have some fry that have obviously grown . Mrs. Betta’s tail is healing . The torn bits are showing signs of growing back together . I have more than what I counted ! It seems that they were hiding over the gravel pushed against one end of the tank . ( This used to be a molly tank ) . I don’t know for certain how many I have because my eyesight isn’t that good . Some fry have a dark V stripe on their head/back . If there be a next time *HAHA* I would like Gerald my short finned to mate Mrs. Betta but I have tried twice and he isn’t interested in girls . The nerve of him !!! He only builds beautiful nests in his own 4L tank . I had to steal part of his nest when Fighty’s nest broke during the recent breeding attempt . Introduce a female to him he turns his snout up and I can almost see him say : HRRMP … You aren’t worthy of my attention . Then retreats to his corner . I do wonder how long it will be before I can tell the male bettas from the females .
Day 13 ( 16th Jan 2001 Tues ) :
Fed the fry some more BBS just now . One was again observed stalking before snapping that dancing thing infront of its eyes . The fry looked better filled out today . Some have obviously surpassed their siblings in size and aggressiveness . Even at this tiny size they have a fiercer look on their faces than molly fry . My molly fry have this open , duhhh look whereas the betta fry have a DON’T-mess-with-me stare . Tomorrow will be the two week mark . I think we are doing better this time about because of the BBS and infusoria . What amazes me is that I actually see fry moving compared to the first try some weeks back when all they ever did was hang on the walls or float about the tub . I think the BBS has really helped , that and I do have some Java Moss in the breeding tank .
Day14 ( 17th Jan 2001 Wed ) :
This time about I have no aeration , just a slightly larger surface area . My previous attempt had an airtube in and light aeration . ( Afew bubbles every second ) . This may not be the rule I feel as it depends a lot on the number of fry you have and the shape of the tub your fry are in .
I believe that having the water slightly acidic helps too . Rice paddy fields are by large dirty muddy places . My guess is that with all that vegetation it is acidic , although the adults are more adaptable . There is probably a lot of waste matter too . I have seen buffaloes so there must be some manure as well . In other words lots of micro-organisms for fry to eat .
I have seen fry attack those tiny worms , thread like wiggly worms that are in my tank’s gravel . This is despite the fact that the worm is longer than the fry !!!
I just fed them some BBS . I estimated that there could be about 50 fry +/- in there . I am not sure if they will all survive but at this point in my last attempt I had lost almost all my fry . Some are looking good and I am hopeful . Should they all survive I doubt I will keep all of them . I want a male and 4 females . Hopefully the 4 females can live in a BETTA community setting . This I think may work as they would have grown up together and established their own pecking order . Estimated length : 0.5cm .
Day 15 : ( 18th Jan 2001 Thurs ) :
Fry are noticeably bigger . More activity has been noticed although the general scene is still rather calm . Brine is still getting into the water during feeding time because I used a siphon . I managed to get a syringe yesterday and tried that . Less brine and I get a good harvest if I manage to dip the syringe in at the most concentrated portion of the BBS culture . This means some brine gets in at the other end of the syringe but that is OK . All I have to do is turn it over and tip it out back into the culture and the BBS stays in the other end . This seems a better method but the BBS must be thick . I let the culture settle for about ten minutes after turning the aeration off and the unhatched BBS eggs sink , while the empty cysts float to the surface . I still have a lot of cysts or eggs floating on the surface of the fry tank but it doesn’t seem to bother the fry . Sometimes in an effort to dilute the amount of brine getting in I do a tiny water change and that seems to help . I could for eg syringe out some fry tank water and add fresh treated water . I use afew drops of Black Water Extract per Litre .
Day 16 : ( 19th Jan 2001 Fri ) :
I gave the fry TetraMin Powered food for Egg layers yesterday for the first time . It is hard to tell if they are eating it because unlike BBS , it doesn’t show up as a colour in the Fry’s tummies .
Day 17 : ( 20th Jan 2001 Sat ) :
Day 17 and I actually have a number of fry still alive ! I don’t believe this . I know we are not out of the difficult period but after a dismal first try this is great . Some fry seem to have got spots about their belly region . I am pretty sure it isn’t Ick . BUT WHAT IS IT ? To my untrained eye it looks like the affected betta fry may have ingested the empty shells of the BBS I squirt into the tank . One seems to have cleared its system out now and I hope the others who are affected do so too . I put the most obviously affected fry into another tiny tank to observe . They have a small tuft of java moss in there with them . It looks like only the bigger fry are affected so it may be something they have eaten and can’t or haven’t as yet passed out . I siphoned the water out to two small tubs yesterday , kept about 60 or so percent of the old water and rescued whatever fry I could . I don’t supposed it is wise but I gave the tank a thorough rinse ( to get rid of some BBS shells ) and then after 2 weeks with one section bare bottomed , I put the gravel back across the bottom . The fry and old water went back into the tank . They seem to be ok so far .
Day 18 : ( 21st Jan 2001 Sun ) :
We are now crawling towards the 3 week mark . At this stage it is still hard to tell if I will have fry that will eventually become recognisable as Betta Splendens ! Some of the fry are significantly larger than their siblings even though they are smaller than new born guppy fry . Confirmed : The observation that the larger fry are the ones affected by the strange spots about the tummy syndrome . AND I am quite sure that they are spots INSIDE the fry. I guess the betta-fry-has-swallowed the BBS shells theory still stands . However , my molly / guppy fry are larger , they probably have less problems passing out the shells . BUT what about the theory what goes in must come out ? I mean if it is ICK it would be pretty obvious and all over the fish not just on the belly area . I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed . He he … maybe I will sell them for 50 Cents if they all reach adulthood , but that would be undercutting the market rate LOL .
Day 21 : ( 24st Jan 2001 Wed ) :
The fry’s last feed was on Tuesday 23rd Jan . They seemed to have survived the 24 hr fast . I was away because of Chinese New Year . Most of them seem to have the Spots IN the belly syndrome . BUT whooooa some are still alive . I keep saying again and again I don’t think it is Ick . Whether it is the BBS eggs/shells in the fry thingy or whatever , I hope they survive . What worries me is that it may not be the case of what goes in must come out . It could be that the fry and too small to pass the shells out ?
BBS both a curse and boon . What it is in the end remains to be seen . They are now slightly smaller than new born guppy fry . AND DARN IT haha they won’t keep still long enough for me to count them .
Day 23 : ( 26th Jan 2001 Fri ) :
One day at a time ... I am obsessed . Each time I pass the Betta fry tank I find myself stopping to see if I have fry still alive LOL . And so far I am still holding on . Just started another batch of BBS last night … The water in the culture turns murky after 2 days despite everything so I end up doing it again . I still don’t know if it is OK to recycle murky cultures and dare not risk it . They are being fed almost solely on BBS although inbetween cultures I drop in some powdered food , but I am not sure if they are eating it or not . With BBS it is easier to judge when they have eaten because the frys’ tummies change colour . ( NOW IF ONLY I could figure out a way to get all the BBS shells/cysts out so that they don’t ingest it . ) .
Day 25 : ( 28th Jan 2001 Sun ) :
I don’t attend to the water as frequently as I do my Molly Fry . Some days I just use a syringe to suck out afew tubes of water ( not much ) and then top it up with fresh treated water . Today I did rather a bigger water change about 20% . However the BBS eggs / shells are still floating on top of the water . Back to the drawing board . I observed the fry having a good feed last night when I dropped in the BBS . Their bellies turned orange within minutes . I never know how much BBS to drip in .
Day 27 : ( 30th Jan 2001 Tue ) :
I think I was right about the spot in the belly thingy . I was staring at the fry tank last night and actually observed a fry in the process of pooping and the darted white dot being passed out along with the poop . It was attached to the end of the poop .
I hope they get big enough to pass it out otherwise the thing will remain trapped in their bellies and then it won’t look good . Some of the fry are staring to show signs of developing fins at this stage and are actively chasing down the BBS I squirt in . IN between BBS cultures , they get a meal of powdered fry food as I have to start a new culture after two days .
I can’t have two cultures running to fill in the gap because of the lack of airtubes . The fry are looking more like fish now not just a backbone and eyes . Some have a black stripe along their sides which makes them look formidable . I can’t tell how many I have but a close estimate give or take is about 30 fry . The fry are currently fed BBS twice a day and on occasion Powered Fry Food .
Day 29 : ( 1st Feb 2001 Thurs ) :
One of the fry is starting to show signs of fins developing . I can’t tell colour potential as yet . I guess it will be a LONGGGGGGGGG while before they are not fry anymore but fish . They do grow so slowly as compared to Mollies and Guppies . I find myself wondering how many will make it and when I should move them to their own tanks .
Day 30 : ( 2nd Feb 2001 Fri ) :
We made it to a month !!! The fry seem to know when they are going to be fed . The moment the lid comes off and the syringe approaches they look up expectantly and some start swimming towards to source of the squirt . In drips Brine and the BBS . Some start swarming about the mass and soon I see fry stalking and pecking at the BBS darting about . Their hunter instincts are evident even now . Within afew minutes , their bellies turn an orangy colour . Many still have that white spot IN the belly . I hope they get big enough to pass it out . Some have . An average meal sees about 3mls of Brine being squirted in .
Day 31 : ( 3rd Feb 2001 Sat ) :
The fry don’t seem too fond of powered food . I see one that is about a cm long now and is probably going to be a short finned Betta . No sign of colour development yet except for the occasional stripe down to side of afew . They are still transparent at this stage and what goes in or out of them can be seen .
Day 33 : ( 5th Feb 2001 Mon ) :
About 4.5 Weeks along now .
This is an experiment . I netted out two of the bigger fry and put them into another unit ( about just over half a litre ) with gravel and water from their birthtank and some Java Moss . I will leave these two fry there and see how they cope with the change in surroundings . If they do alright after a week or so , I intend to transfer them to a 4L tank for the both of them . I am not sure what sex they are yet .
Day 34 : ( 6th Feb 2001 Tues ) :
I saw a fry ( one of my larger ones yesterday ) passing out a WHOLE string of those dratted round things . Yet as it passes each one out more is ingested because I still have problems getting all the shells of the BBS out . A webmaster wrote back saying that BBS eggs are brown but I have noticed that once they are eaten and in the belly of the fry it looks white . And that is what comes out . I figure that stuff is indigestible . I try netting them but more comes in at each feeding . It is a never ending battle .
I have given up trying to get rid of them and just syringe the BBS in . YUP along with the Brine . The I do a small water change to dilute the brine . Some of the BBS don’t seem to move by the end of the 2nd day .. Dead ??? Or Just in suspension ? I fed them anyway and the betta fry just lapped it up . Tomorrow we would have made it to 5 weeks .
Day 35 : ( 7th Feb 2001 Wed ) :
The two fry in a small container are still Okie , alive and feeding . They spend their days swimming about the tiny bit of Java Moss I dumped in there . See the entry on
Day 36 : ( 8th Feb 2001 Thurs ) :
They swarmed around the BBS this morning because they had been without BBS for 24 hrs while the next batch hatched . The fry didn’t like powered fry food very much ( finicky things !!! ) and only one was observed pecking at the crushed Freeze Dried Blood Worms . So much for web advice on they can be weaned slowly onto this and that by now .
Day 37 : ( 9th Feb 2001 Fri ) :
I moved about 6 or 7 Betta fry to a small 4L tank with a tiny tuft of Java moss . The current birth tank is going to get crowded soon . I hope the babies survive the change of home . To fill the ‘new’ tank I used about 10% fresh treated water and the rest old tank water from the birth tank and some gravel plus new gravel . Two others have been given a small jar with old gravel and the same percentage of water . They too have a small tuft of Java Moss .
Can you believe that the LFS is out of BBS eggs and the stock isn’t likely to come in for abit ??? I tried daphnia in sachets . I am not sure what the medium is but they come in this paste form . The fry aren’t terribly interested in anything that doesn’t move . I had to create a current with my hand so that they would at least peck at some food . The things I do for my fish !!!
I have at the most 4 portions of 2 day’s worth of BBS eggs then I will be down to zero . Live daphnia is apparently hard to get because the local company has gone bankrupt . This morning I fed them some crushed BettaMin . They ate some but not with the relish they have when I serve live BBS .
Day 38 : ( 10th Feb 2001 Sat ) :
Five and a half weeks along now . I was thrilled to discover the beginnings of colour on the fry . I shone a torch at them and saw the start of red tints on the fins and tails of some . More fry pecked at BettaMin yesterday but I needed to make it look alive meaning to blow it about or swirl it with my fingers . One or two more pecked gingerly at crushed Freeze Dried Blood Worms . The biggest are just over a cm now . The smallest about half of that .
Papa is a red long finned chauvinist who won’t tolerate even a face to the tank . Mama is a dull bluey grey short finned fish with red tints on the fins . It would be interesting to see what develops . I am beginning to have hopes that some will make it to adulthood . Funny how websites say that at eight weeks some should make it to marketable size . They look so tiny now that it doesn’t look as though they will ever grow to the size that my adult bettas are !!!
I lost one of the bigger fry that I had transferred to the 4L tank today . It might have been moved too early . Let’s hope that the rest stay alive .
Day 39 : ( 11th Feb 2001 Sun ) :
One discovery after another . I held my breath when I saw a half inch fry race to the surface and take a gulp of air just like the adults do . An almost developed labyrinth organ ? Some fry are on their way to the first tints of colour now and they also have this dark brown stripe along their middle . They are swimming abit more strongly now the bigger fry that is .
I worry though about the brine getting in so I sometimes suck out an equal amount of water using a syringe , after they have had a feed and replace it with fresh treated water . Say if I squirted in 3mls of brine with BBS I remove 3mls of water later . I feel that will at least dilute the brine somewhat . A major water change is done anywhere between once to twice a week . Each time anywhere about 30% to 50% of the water is removed and replaced with fresh treated water .
Opsy I reread my web notes and I misread something !!! The fry I thought were supposed to be of marketable size by 8 weeks but actually it isn’t so until 3 or 4 months ! Haha . Even so I can’t help wondering how it is possible that something so tiny could become a monster like Gerald my dark blue short finned male .
Day 39 : ( 11th Feb 2001 Sun ) :
continued … We are now approaching week 6 .
After making the post to the aquaria-freshwater email list just now , I saw evidence of their temperament for the first time . One of the fry I housed in a 4L tank gave his tank mates a long hard stare ( in particular a fry similar to it in size ) and then gave chase . After afew hours of observing this first time behaviour , I ended up soaking a plastic jar on some light bleach solution and giving it its own home . I had along with some gravel a small tuft of Java Moss that I pinched from my molly’s retirement home tank .
I want to keep some adults and my sister has booked a betta already . The rest I hope to find homes for .
Day 40 : ( 12th Feb 2001 Mon ) :
I am in deep trouble if the BBS eggs don’t arrive in time . I never expected that the LFS would run out of supply and they can’t guarantee that they will get stock of the eggs . My fry are not interested in eating anything that doesn’t move . I can’t help feeling that should I not get the BBS eggs in on time , I will probably end up feeding them crushed Freeze Dried Blood Worms or crushed BettaMin , With these two foods , I have observed some of the bigger fry PECKING at it but NOT gobbling and stalking with the relish that live BBS provides . What’s more my kids are smack in the middle of term time and I may not have the time to travel all the way to the Pet Safari inbetween their school runs to get some from there . That would mean way over an hour’s travelling time JUST GETTING THERE .
I guess this is where I will be facing the weeding out of the tiny and the bigger I-can-eat-this-because-my-mouth-is-big-enough Fry . *sigh* .
Day 41 : ( 13th Feb 2001 Tues ) :
I am still having problems getting the majority of fry in the brithtank to eat EX living things . The ones that I have removed from the birth tank and placed in jars / cups and a 4L tank are taking Freeze Dried Blood Worms and crushed BettaMin with no problems now .
There are fry of similar size in the birthtank but somehow they won’t take to food that won’t move on its own . Mr Chase Everything Fry is eating well .
Day 44 : ( 16th Feb 2001 Fri ) :
6.2 weeks along .
I have lost some fry . I am not sure if it is due to any disease because for the moment the rest remain well . Some of the fry are just over half an inch ( about 1.5cm ) as compared to the others who are half that size . Their fins are starting to show tints that can now be seen without the aid of a torch light . For the first time I dare say that some should survive until adulthood unless something drastic happens . The isolated ones are starting to accept Freeze Dried food now . Preferences however remain for live BBS which they eat up fast .
One of the fry who has been living in a tiny jar by himself / herself ??? now has his own bigger plastic container . He is at this moment swimming about exploring his new home .. it should take him into adulthood then on to his own tank later .
Day 45 : ( 17th Feb 2001 Sat ) :
More fry have been given their own quarters . One in the main birthtank was seen chasing some smaller ones about but by the time I got a home ready for it I couldn’t distinguish it from the rest of the victims . Never have I been so desperate for jars and containers before . The larger ones are slowly accepting Freeze Dried Blood Worms and BettaMin now .
Day 47 : ( 19th Feb 2001 Mon ) :
Morning : The new brand of BBS eggs hasn’t hatched yet . This brand is cheaper than the other brand I tried but I am staring to lose hope that they will give me a good harvest . The previous brand Nova Temia ( is that how you spell it ? ) gave me BBS after just 24 hours . It has been about 34 or 36 hours and it still doesn’t show signs of hatching . If this is so I may end up losing some fry if I can’t convince that smaller ones to eat the powered food or crashed freeze dried blood worms .
Evening : I turned off the airtube again only to find JUST one BBS swimming about in the syringe . Geesh so much for you get what you pay for … but what was I to do ? The LFS had run out of BBS eggs and stock wasn’t due in immediately .
I guess the bigger fry will start eating what I offer once they get hungry enough but for the smaller ones if they won’t take Powdered Fry food … tough ! There isn’t anything else I can offer . I will try looking again tonight just before I go to sleep but I don’t expect to see significantly more BBS in the hatchery . I will not go on swirling my hand about in the birthtank indefinitely just to get the tiny ones to peck at the powder .
More of the larger fry are showing tints of red now with a dotty darkish brown stripe down their middle . At this stage I can’t tell what their permanent colour is going to be yet .
Day 48 : ( 20th Feb 2001 Tues ) :
I really am in deep trouble !!! The new brand of BBS eggs I bought has a very low hatch rate . REALLY LOW . It has been more than 2 days and I see only afew BBS swimming about . I guess this is it . The remaining fry either eat what I offer them or be weeded out . I see more of the fry pecking at what I am offering now so maybe hunger is starting to take hold of them . Hopefully I will save afew . They refuse to eat the daphania in a paste and even if they do , one peck is all they take . Some will take BettaMin when it is crushed or even Freeze Dried Blood Worms . The rest just give me that ‘COMEON-WHERE-IS-THE-REAL-STUFF’ look . I have 10 or 11 larger ones in individual or shared jars/containers now . The rest are still in the birth tank . The largest fry is thereabout half an inch or slightly over that . Colour development is just erratic tints of red and a stripe down the middle .
Day 50 : ( 22th Feb 2001 Thurs ) :
I finally added in an airtube which became available after I gave up on BBS . The current brand that I tried was no good at all . After almost a week many eggs were still dormant . The fry must now eat what I offer or go to the big auqarium in the sky . Those in the individual jars and tanks are eating alright . So far so good . The airtube has seen that the scum on the water’s surface is cleared . Most of the empty shells that were floating on the surface have been pushed to the side by the slight current . The fry are adapting slowly to the new conditions . I will be watching to see what develops over the next few days .
Day 53 ( 25th Feb 2001 Sun ) :
I had a betta fry JUMP out of the water to eat from my hand today . Actually I didn’t ever expect that it could do so . I was having trouble crushing some BettaMin with my fingers so my hand sort of hovered about 6 inches over the tank with a lone fry in it . I struggled with the BettaMin and suddenly felt and heard a light ripple and splash . The tiny less than 1 inch thing had leaped out 6 inches and pecked at my hand . After it landed back into the water it looked impatient and didn’t seem satisfied until the food fell onto the water for it to eat .
Day 55 : ( 27th Feb 2001 Tues ) :
Opsy I mislabelled the dates . Had to do abit of editing to the journal . I lost a fry yesterday . A pity because it was one of the bigger fry with red fins . It jumped when I tipped the jar to get the scum of the top . Having landed amongst the rice and oil I didn’t know how to salvage it . I let it go down the drain and am now regretting that action . I am probably going to lose the smaller fry ( tough! ) because they are not eating actively the dried foods I offer . Just too bad that the BBS harvest has been so bad I gave up the hatchery . It was a pity that the LFS ran out of Nova Temia BBS eggs . Those were good . The cheaper Ocean Free brand gave me only afew BBS even after 1 week of bubbling . I can only hope that they get hungry enough to eat the crushed foods on offer .
Day 57 : ( 1st Mar 2001 Thurs ) :
I gave some more fry their own big plastic jar to live in yesterday . There are some still in the birth tank but I will probably feed them to the adults by the end of today . They look as though they will not make it past another week because they won’t eat anything that doesn’t move on its own . I will probably salvage another 3 to 5 from the birth tank . At the moment I have about 16 fry in jars or a tiny tank each to his own cell . The final total will be about 20 . I am pretty certain that unless something drastic happens about 10 to 15 should make it to adulthood . Most of the fry have red tints on their fins and my husband thinks that they will probably end up showing the father’s colouring but having the mother’s body and finnage .
Day 61 : ( 5th Mar 2001 Mon ) :
I lost a fry today . Haven’t the faintest idea why but another has taken its place in that jar after a water change . I have about 19 betta fry left . My sister has booked one . Most of the body is still nude but for a light tint of
brown or a line down its middle . Fins are either nude or mostly red .
Day 63 : ( 7th Mar 2001 Wed ) :
Lost another fry in the same jar yesterday . I suspect that there may be a toxin in that jar . It could also be that I may not have rinsed it well enough after sterilising it with bleach . In the end I threw it out . The rest are so far doing well . One is especially jumpy and threatens to jump at my hand everytime I hover my hand above it too long at feeding time . But heyyyy what can I do if I am having trouble crushing the food ? Picky thing ! I see a red area through the skin about the gills , and I assume that it is the labyrinth organ .
Day 66 : ( 10th Mar 2001 Sat ) :
Nothing more I can actively do for the fry ( some of which are now juvenile fish ) until they reach adulthood . Just regular maintenance , water changes and feedings . Colour is still developing but they are mostly nudes or reds at this time . I will have to wait until they get bigger to see what their full potential is like … keeping in mind that these are not show grade fighters .
Day 68 : ( 12th Mar 2001 Mon ) :
One fry that was upgraded from a jar to a small 4L tank seems lost in all that space . It kept nosing about as though unsure about where to go . A pair that was sharing a container has been separated too because they have started fighting . Don’t these fish ever learn to share !?! At this point in time I am trying to make them become unfussy eaters ( for the lack of a better word LOL ) . I have tried both flake and Freeze Dried Blood Worms and they like the FDBWs best . I have seen them swallow the whole worm whole . No mean feat when you consider that the worm is about a third of the length of the fry and its mouth is still tiny .
Day 73 : ( 17th mar 2001 Sat ) :
I lost another two the other day … two who were sharing a biggish jar . I guess although I have no proof that they must have fought each other to death ? I didn’t notice that one was missing all I saw was scum on the water’s surface . My fault . I should have checked . ( The fry are almost the same colour as the gravel in that container ) . The rest so far are doing OK although I am abit worried about one . Once I saw it swim rather awkwardly after a water change . As if it’s tail was too heavy for it to carry . Nothing further ahs developed so I am just watching and observing . One fry has developed blood red fins . Its body colouring is rather slow in coming though .
Day 77 : ( 21st Mar 2001 Wed ) :
Fry seem stable .. Can’t call them fry by now .. Juveniles ??? I gather that most of them will turn out to be female although it is too early to tell as yet . It is hard to try and peek at the underside of a fish that won’t flash and won’t stay still . They have real personality . It looks as though most have inherited the father’s aggressive nature .
Day 78 : ( 22nd 2001 Mar Thurs ) :
*GRUMBLE* and they don’t stay still long enough to be measures either ! I end up waving the ruler trying to estimate how long the fish is LOL . Their all time favourite food is Freeze Dried Blood Worms .
Day 81 : ( 25th Mar 2001 Sun ) :
A juvenile who couldn’t wait for his food jumped at my hand I suspect , missed and landed on the floor . Had to get the nearest flat piece of anything to scoop it back into its continer .
LOL am I addicted or what ? I visited a friend’s first birthday for her child cum housewarming party and had a tour of her flat … *sheepish* found myself subconsciously looking for suitable places for fish tanks . One is now a beautiful deep red … I can’t as yet tell if it is going to be a short finned or a longfinned fish . It has a personality of its own that is unique .
Day 84 : ( 28th Mar 2001 Wed ) :
In the last few days I have lost two juveniles . One jumped to its death no doubt stressed out by the water change and the siphon chasing the dirt about , the other a mysterious death . Funny as both appeared in good health until I discovered the bodies . The Mysterious death was even stranger . The fish was lying on its side on the bottom of the jar/container . Thinking it was dead I poured out the water and was about to wash the container and gravel when it moved . I hastily topped it up with fresh water ( unfortunately this amounted to a 100% water change ) and it stayed at the surface for awhile . I tried adding some salt . This fish died later that day .
Day 89 : ( 2nd April 2001 Mon ) :
We are officially one day short of 3 months . Just afew days back one of the juveniles made a big step forward . It ate a molly fry that I popped accidentally into the wrong tank . One gulp and it was gone . The fry must have been slightly less than 1/3 of its length . A red male is starting to build bubble nests .
Day 100 : ( 13th April 2001 Fri ) :
Cool we made it to day 100 . Just a day or two back , my 5YO son emptied a lot of Liquifry into a juvenile’s tank . I discovered the mess only later when I noticed that the water was cloudy . Something just didn’t seem right . There wasn’t any reason for an ammonia bloom . I did a HUGE water change for that small tank with 1 juvenile betta in and just awhile later the water was worse . This time about it was a milky white and I realised its cause only when I picked up the bottle of Liquifry to feed some fry and found it extremely light . KIDS!!!!
So Betta Junior survived what amounted to a 100% water change as I had no choice but to fish it out and house it temporarily in another Betta Junior’s tank . They didn’t like each other and the visitor flares and ranted at the host . The new tank water comprised of water borrowed from another betta and fresh treated water .
One junior disappeared totally without a trace . No sign of a dried up fish in my house and certainly no sign of a disturbance . I have been eyeballing my son suspiciously ever since . The juveniles that remain are well and their favourite food is Freeze Dried Blood Worms . They will eat almost anything but what they don’t like they take less of .
Day 112 : ( 25th April 2001 Wed ) :
Yesterday we hit another milestone . ALL the juveniles still with me were able to eat molly fry that were not new born , for the first time . That made a live meal for them .
Day 121 : ( 4rd May 2001 Fri ) :
Officially 4 months old now . The males appear to have inherited dad’s beautiful colouring . All but one are almost like dad . The tail is edged with a bit of an electric blue . Their fins are long . One looks set to attack me each time I bring it lunch .
23rd dec 2004
I have since given up breeding bettas as further attempts resulted in
widows
widowers
and torn fins
mei
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