# Betta bubble nest breeding problem



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I put my male CT betta in the breeding tank yesterday with a half foam cup in there, placed the female in her tank next to him and this morning noticed he's made a bubble nest, but not under the cup like he's sposed to, it's just taking up half the tank surface and spreading out.

I've never had this problem before, all the males I've ever had in a breeding tank with a half foam cup have gone straight to making a nest under it.

Does anyone have any idea how I can encourage him to make a nest under the cup?


Or maybe I should try putting the female in there? Maybe she'll make the nest?


----------



## Phantom_Cichlid (Jul 3, 2006)

I say let him build it where he finds it suitable, maybe he does not want to make one under the cup. If I remember right the only makes the nest not the female, but you might want another members opinion on this.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

thanks, I've heard of the females making the nests. He's made a decent nest now that seems to be sticking together all in the one place. I placed the half cup over the nest carefully so not to disturb it to try and give him the idea to build it under the cup so hopefully he gets the hint.

Thanks for your help


----------



## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

you don't have worry about if he make the nest under the cup. he will find a way to build a good one.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

After moving the cup over his nest he's continued to build it under there and make it stronger and more elaberate. I think he just needed a little hint as to what to do with the cup lol. Probably swimming around it and thinking 'now what on earth does she expect me to do with this strange floating white thing?'

Female went in today so fingers crossed. He went straight to flaring and trying to impress her and working on his nest so I think I have a real shot here. (that is aslong as the female is really a female, had some bad luck with getting short finned males that the stupid pet shop people mistook for females) They're not fighting each other so I think that's a good sign that it is a female. She's just hiding in an orniment 
I have in the tank and it looks like it's going to storm tonight so I might have some eggs by morning yipee. Wish me luck!

Crap that means i'll need some BBS to feed them with...eeek I hope I don't have eggs by morning then.

Ahh, i'll just crush up some flake food till Thurs when I get paid and get some frozen BBS.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Good news, Everything with this pair is going text book! She distroyed his first bubble nest and he went and made an even better one(under the cup thankgod!) and even better and more encouraging is that today she is displaying vertical banding (which I've never seen on a female betta before) he's flaring at her and waving his tail to show off and she's been hanging around under his nest until he trys to flare at her and chases her off!

I've got a feeling I'll have some fry within the next 24-48 hours (they've been in together for 24 so far)

Wish me luck all!


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Never mess with a bubblenest. He will build it where he wants to. The cup is just to help him but isn't necessary. If he builds one let him be.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

YAY I HAVE EGGS!!!! I checked this morning and there are eggs in the nest, not many though. I think the female got to them but I'm not too upset about that, at least this way there won't be like 300 fish for me to find homes for! 

Question, the nest he made seems to have been either distroyed or deteriorating, will he fix it to keep the fry alive? Will they be ok? I can't see any eggs on the bottom of the tank so I'm assuming he has them all in the nest somewhere and they're ok for now.


Looking forward to some advice


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

UPDATE!!! I now have about 30 free swimming fry. Took Daddy out today and lowered the water level so it's easier for them to reach the surface. I can't seem to remember for the life of me though how many days I can wait until I need to start feeding them BBS. From my sketchy memories (it was over a year ago that I last had a spawn) it's about 2 days until they eat all their yolk sac??

I have some frozen bbs ready and waiting so I'm prepared.


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

If they are truely free swimming, you need to be feeding them.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I tried feeding them today (there's about 10 that no longer have any white egg casing attached to them at all) and they didn't seem at all interested in the food. I tried to drop it as close to them as i possibly could but still no takers. There was alot of the bbs floating on the surface to I can only hope that they'll find it in their own time and eat. 

They're due for another feeding in 2 hours so I'll sit and observe them more this time and see if there is anything eaten.

Wish me luck!


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

bbs floating on the surface? you did hatch it right?


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

Oh nm I see frozen.... that could take longer. Live is preferred becuase they chase it. Natural inclination to eat it.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I sat and watched them for about 20 mins at the second feeding and they were swimming through the cloud of bbs so I'm assuming they are eating it. Spose if they're that hungry they'll go in search of it.


----------



## gemjunkie (Jan 20, 2005)

Betta fry aren't your typical guppy fry. They have a rough time realizing dry/dead/frozen food are what they are supposed to eat. Using live plants in the tank and newly hatched bbs is the best way to do it along with some micorworms. Micro worms are good since sometimes some fry are too small to take bbs right away. Once they are big enough for BBS you can starts on the frozen bbs and finely crushed flakes to get them used to the idea of dead food but that takes a while. I've had limitted success with decapsulated BS eggs as well. 

I'd suggest trying to find someone with a culture of micro worms that you could borrow from for a quick fix. Also, have a culture of micros on hand and a bbs hatchery next time you decide to spawn them WELL before spawning!


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I tried hatching the bbs last time I had a spawn and I couldn't keep enough of them hatching, then my pump got back flowed and shorted out so all my fry died. They've been free swimming for 3 days now and while some have died there are still quite a few alive that seem to be eating (they look slightly bloated and they're bellies look lighter in colour) So I think the few that I have there will be ok. i'm thinking of just crushing up some either tropical fish flakes or betta pellets for their next feeding and see if they go for that.

Even if this lot die I've learnt that my breeding pair are successful and can look into getting some microworms before spawning them again. 

Every failure is just a learning experiance.  thanks for your advice.


----------



## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

anasfire23 said:


> I tried hatching the bbs last time I had a spawn and I couldn't keep enough of them hatching, then my pump got back flowed and shorted out so all my fry died. They've been free swimming for 3 days now and while some have died there are still quite a few alive that seem to be eating (they look slightly bloated and they're bellies look lighter in colour) So I think the few that I have there will be ok. i'm thinking of just crushing up some either tropical fish flakes or betta pellets for their next feeding and see if they go for that.
> 
> Even if this lot die I've learnt that my breeding pair are successful and can look into getting some microworms before spawning them again.
> 
> Every failure is just a learning experiance.  thanks for your advice.


the bbs should be easy to hatch, just follow the instruction on the package. next time you can put some live plants in the tank.


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

Babies that eat bbs should have an orange stomach.


----------



## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Ok they've been hatched and free swimming without their yolk sacs for about 5 days now and I'm assuming there are a few that are eating coz they're getting a tiny bit bigger and most importantly aren't dead! One would assume that after 5 days of not eating at all they'd be dead! Looks like I'll have about 15 fry if all these survive (well that's the ones the I've managed to count, could be some hiding around the heater)

I watched them at their last feeding 30mins ago and I'm pretty sure I actually saw some of them eat the bbs and they do have a slightly orange tinge to their bellies (they've lightened in colour in general).


----------

