# Little Help Please - Trying to Breed - Nest Problems



## resser (Mar 7, 2005)

I have been doing lots of research, but I haven't seen anything about the need for any special conditions other then Temp for setting up a breeding tank.

I have the soft plants and a place for hidding, 10gal tank 3-4 inchs of water, clear chimney, 1/2 styro cup, underwater heater at 80 degrees, fat femaile full of eggs will the vertical stripes, a male very very intrested. 

The only problem is the male keeps attempting to build his next, but the bubbles keep popping when they get to the surface, is there anything that I need to do as far as a water conditioning, that can help my stud loose his virginity?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

release the female. The male will build the nest as they spawn.


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

The female will probably destroy a few of his nests before she decides he's made an acceptable one. She will only be ready to release her eggs when she's happy with his nest, so it isn't anything that needs to be done ASAP. Good luck and remember you could end up with up to 300 fry and eventually adults, of which the males will need their own individual enclosures. If half of them are male that's alot of little tanks around the place and then you've got to find homes for them unless your gonna keep them all even still that's alot of fish. Breeding seems like a great idea, but not everyone realises just what it takes and what to expect. good luck


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Do you have the tank covered? High humidity above the water line helps to keep the nest in place.


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## resser (Mar 7, 2005)

is it better to release the female and leave her loose for a while or to keep her loose until they spawn?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I release the female and give them 3 days to spawn.


RC


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## resser (Mar 7, 2005)

Thanks, what should I look for as a sign that it is or isn't going to work? How do I know that the spawn is successful?


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I released my females (i put 2 in there to ensure a spawn) soon as he'd started to make a nest and went to give up after 4 days when I noticed eggs. I totally missed the spawning all together! But atleast I noticed the eggs before i went about cleaning out the tank


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

I don't consider a spawn successful until I have a bunch of strong fry swimming around after about 4 weeks.

Signs that is's not working out: could be in different ways. 

One, too much aggression -- one of them is getting beat up so bad that you have to fear for its life. 
Two, the opposite -- they don't bother each other at all and live unnoticed side-by-side.
Three, they do spawn, but one of them eats the eggs. 
Four, they try, but cannot get a good wrap and the eggs stay unfertilized.
Five ... whatever, there's always more possiblities of something else going wrong.

Good luck.


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## resser (Mar 7, 2005)

thanks again for the help. one last follow up question thoooo...... what does the eggs in the nest look like? 

I have breed Cory cats and Angels, but I am assuming the eggs are going to be smaller and harder to find in the nest. Right?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

they look like little white dots in the bubbles. As they develop they turn dark with the fry inside.


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

My eggs didn't turn dark at all, I just looked in on them and noticed there were tails hanging out the back ends of them. My male had a hard time keeping all the eggs and hatched fry in the nest, i'd say atleast 20% of them stayed on the floor of the tank unhatched, then when they did hatch and started wiggling free of the nest another 20% feel to the floor and died. But i've got atleast 100 if not more healthy and fast growing fry at the moment. I've been noticing lately though that they vary in colour..like how dark or light they are. The majority are a darkish brown, but there are quite a few which just look like 2 blck dots for eyes coz they are so white u can't see their bodies. I was wondering if maybe these ones just aren't getting enough to eat? I was feeding them BBS twice a day, but i've upped it to 3-4. i'm having to add more BBS eggs daily to keep up the hatching for the fry to eat. I'm thinking of getting some liquid fry to feed them till they are big enough to eat frozen blood worms. I am gonna ask if they sell frozen BBS too, coz that'd be easier than trying to hatch enough to feed the fry. Good luck with your spawn, hope it all works for you.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

liquid fry is not for growing bettas. It's way to small. They do sell frozen BBS, but it costs much more than hatching your own. Watch out with overfeeding BBS as some breeders will tell you it causes swim bladder problems.


RC


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## resser (Mar 7, 2005)

Thanks to everyone..... I have babies and they are starting to swim! !!!!!!!

When do I take daddy out. So far he has been catching and blowing the babies back in to the nest.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Take him out after they are swimming and not just hanging with their tails down. It takes between 30-48 hours.


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

How long can my fry survive without food? I've been trying to hatch some more brine shrimp for them but i accidently short circuited my air pump so I can get the eggs to circulate constantly (been jsut stirring them around everytime i pass the tank) and so far the fry have gone for 2 1/2 days without food...tomorrow will be day 3. i'm starting to panic


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Fry this young can't go without food for even a few days. If your lucky the bigger fry will eat the smaller ones. Most tanks have tiny animals living in them that the fry may be able to eat to stay alive for a short time. BBS only take 18-24 hrs to hatch so why have the fry been without food for 3 days ?


RC


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Because I tried to hatch a fresh batch of BBS but for some reason they wouldn't hatch, I mixed the salt and water as I have many times before but still no luck. So i decided to try agian with new water and more eegs. I'm just waiting so see if these ones actually hatch (plus we've kinda had a few days of cooler weather so they'll take longer to hatch anyway).. in the mean time I've crushed some betta pellets into powder, fine as i can get it and sprinkled a bit of that into the tank, they seem to be atleast attempting to eat it. I noticed some of my fry dead and decaying on the floor of the tank so i removed the live fry and put them into some fresh treated water. Maybe they died from lack of food or from the others trying to eat them, who knows. I was out all night last night at a mates place so I've got no clue what went on. I've looked around locally for a stockist that sells live BBS or even frozen and no-one does. So looks like i'll just have to wait to see if my BBS hatch this time and if not keep trying till i get some to hatch, or watch my fry eat each other :-S. If this lot of fry die \i'll jsut take more time to make sure i have a good supply of BBS happening and try again, next time with one of my Veil's as the father. Anyhoo... wish me luck....are they too old for the egg yolk food now? they hatched on the 26th Feb...coz I've got eggs...............just a thought


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

The BBS will not hatch if they are not getting tumbled all the time. They need to be tumbled in the water to hatch. You might get a tiny hatch if they are just sitting in the water, but not enough to feed fry. I'm sure most of the dead fry are from lack of food. Crushed pellets would be better then egg yoke IMHO at this point.


RC


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## CTFish guy (Mar 13, 2005)

Take a clean styrofoam cup and cut it in half, then put it in the tank with the male so he would be able to build a good nest, or you could lower the water level and take a clean clay pot and put it in the tank. That way the nest's bubbles won't get popped and will be stronger.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

He's already using the 1/2 stryo cup.


RC


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