# getting a female ready



## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I cant seem to get any of my females ready to breed. Any suggestions. i feed freeze dried blood worms, shrimp pellets, brine shrimp and betta pellets. Also does anyone have an extra daphnia culture?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

I'm not sure I understand the question. With proper waterchanges and lots of protein and fat rich foods they should be ready.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

The problem i have is i cant condition my females. none of them seem to want to carry eggs. they are all 4-8 months old


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Freeze-dried and dry foods aren't the greatest to condition any fish. Try some live and frozen foods, if you can get your hands on them. 

Blackworms do wonders, but as I just stated in another thread, they do have the potential to cause internal parasites. beefheart is good too and high in fat as Simpte suggested, but wc's are a must after feeding, it's messy as hell. 

Also, let them see the male until a few days before you want to spawn. Anticipation helps too.


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I fed all my females and males bloodworms once a day regardless of breeding or not. I put a frozen block of blood worms in a stainless steel cup and wait for it to defrost, drain off the excess liquid then feed them to my betta's using tweezers, this way there is very little waste and I don't need to do water changes that often to get rid of the decaying, uneaten food. My newer betta's wouldn't eat from the tip of the tweezers at first but it dind't take them long to realize that it wasn't a threat and there was food to be had. I'm not an expert in breeding, only having had one successful spawn so dar, but the females don't need to be full of eggs before you put them with them, most of the time they'll plump up from seeing the male and being in close proximity to him and I'm pretty sure that females always have some eggs inside them for release. But I suppose if you want a large spawn you'll be wanted them to plump up a little.

Good luck.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

And remember, all females have eggs. Not the amount you may want, but she has some.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Then must be they wont spawn any good ideas? i leave he in a see thru jar for 2 days then (male has a bubble nest built ALL the time for me) i release her and even 3 days later i have no luck. I have tried with 6 female and 5 males all mixed....


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

What setup are you using? Can you describe it? (Type of tank, water conditions, temperature, cover, etc.)


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Ok i am using a 7 1/2 gallon tank half full, i have a few live palnts in it. it has oly a very small amount of gravel right under the plants. The Ph is 7.6. The Dh is soft. I leave the female in a square container inside the tank for about two days. I try and do this before a storm they say the lower pressure helps them. and after i release her for about 3 days then i pull her out. the temp if 81


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

other the the gravel the system sounds great. Gravel is going to make the tank hard to clean after you get fry.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

yeah thats why its a fine fine gravel at the very base. but why wont they spawn???


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

It just happens like that sometime. Trying adding a couple teaspoons of salt water mix and some Black Water extract to the water. 

RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I have salt in there. where do i find some Black Water extract?


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Most LFS carry it. Walmart carries it also.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

how much is it? lets just say i went a littleover board shopping the other day


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

also would it make THAT much of a diffrence?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

It can make enough of a difference to get them to spawn. You might want to try almond leaves also. I just bought 50 almond leaf tea bags from wasan betta on aquabid.


RC


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## thatsfishy (Jan 18, 2005)

Mhhhh ... there's nothing like a fresh cup of "Almond fish poop tea" .... :lol: 

I use the whole leafs (and break off pieces if needed) from Majestic Bettas. http://www.majesticbettas.com/supplyshop/almondleaf.htm, but if you want something now ....Black Water Extract is the next best thing.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Thanks alot ill go to wal mart tonight and the black water extract. I hope it works!!! Also what size tank would be best?


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I just went to walmart and couldnt find it. is it in the fish dpt.? is it under a dif name?


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

walmart don't have it. petsmart or petco don't have it either. go to loca fish store you might able to get it. if not, get some almond leave.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

ill try mine they stink


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

then get almond leave. they mail it to your door


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Yeah but are they expensive? and how long can they last. I wouldnt be able to use them up super quick


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Buy the almond leaves tea bags from Wasan Betta on Aquabid. They will last also most forever if you keep them dry.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

OK I'll see how much they are. Thanks and wish me luck on my spawn. I found a pair or orange spade tails and a pair or HM malanos


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I'd love to see a picture of the HM melanos.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

This is one of the males- attachment


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Oh wow RC you are from a town where my cousin was married! its a few hours away from me


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

frogyetta, the melano generally is not a bad fish, but the black color didn't go all the way to the tip of the fin. if you want BF, there is too much black. the finnage is slightly imperfect. the anal fin look like of long or is the caudal is short? anyway, don't take it as a offense. i just want to point out something about it. it is a good fish in general and if the color have more black and the body have less iridscent, the finnage improve a bit, it is a very very good fish.


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

plus go meet RC if you have a chance. he is one of the best betta guy out there.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Nice fish. He might grow into his lack of Black on the fins. The body does look to have a lot of iridescents , but that's very common with Melanos. Where did you get him ? 

Why would someone get married in Gloversville ? I didn't even get married here  Normally people only end up in G'ville if they got lost trying to go north. 


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

There was a church there that she went to when she was younger and then we took a half hour ride to the food


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

This is my second male


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Where did you get the males ?


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I went to one of the betta shows and i got them cheep from there. This is a few spawn later. I only keep the best ones. I am trying to make a good line


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

They are out of your spawns ?


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Yeah those are two spawns later, i got out the little bit of red wash they had and got them more black, less bluish


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Looks like your doing a good job.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Yeah its not too too bad. You just have to be very carefull of wich ones you spawn in order to take out the not so like traits. i had an off branch that didnt work out at all. RC what types of bettas do you work on?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I work Blacks, and greens. I'm working Double Blacks after years of working Melano blacks becuase I see better blacks coming from the double Black line.My greens are coming from iridescent/metallic crosses because I feel that is the way to produce the best true greens. I'm also playing around with some imbellis/splenden crosses.


RC


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

RC, i am messing with the imbellis gene too. can you tell me your experience of that? thanks.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Wow, RC do you have any double tail blacks for sale?


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Currently all My Blacks are St or Plakat. I do need to work some DT's into my lines because I don't think anyone has DT "double Blacks" yet. I did just upate my web site with what will be available soon.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I'll have to check out your web site. And my almond leaves should come in on wednesday.the male i want to have one of my female spawn with is makeing a huge bubble nest.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Almond leaves are in!! Im puting some in tonight... spawn tommarow? Wish me luck


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

good luck. hope to hear some good news soon


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

The Imbellis crosses set the finnage way back. I haven't seen anything special for color yet, but I haven't crossed them into splendens long. 

Frogyetta,

Do you know who was the breeder of the melano's you bought ?What show was it at ?


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Ummmm, I will try and look it up. I THINK I still have the papers, just finding them is another mater, I am not very organized


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

About when was the show ?


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

summer of '03


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Do you remember where the show was ? Was it before of after the June Convention in Richmond ?


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

After it was july or Augest


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I'll look up what shows fall into that range.


RC


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

Thanks, AND I have a successfull spawn last night, only about 50 eggs. but what can I say, both of them were kind of small


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Try placing another male close to the tank so that he can see him. A little competition never hurt anyone. I got mine to spawn with another male in the tank :-o and it was only a 5ga ( I did think that it was another female, turned out to be an immature male) and I'd leave them a lil longer than 3 days. I ended up leaving mine for about a week+2 days  with a total tank clean out after 5 days.




Sorry, didn't realize there was 4 pages of posts, only read the first and replied. Congrats on ur spawn. Hope it all goes well. Out of my spawn I only have one fry left  and i originally had close to 200. Had problems hatching BBS and keepiong them alive for feeding as it is now I have 2 tanks of BBs and in one tank they've all died and in the other most have also died but there are still about a dozen alive, I' ve been feeding my fry the dead ones aswel as live. And to make matters worse I think my son threw out my brine shrimp eggs, and I got them for free and can't afford to buy any more. So i'm pretty well stuffed. Good Luck to you though.


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

I always do that during breeding, hope you try spawning again and have better luck. I think im blind b/c I have about 100 fry floating around


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## frogyetta (Mar 15, 2005)

*spawn update* A group of about 75 lived. All seem healthy and I didnt have to cull any for a curveds spine. I am hopeing To have some nice HM. I have some nice pure black ones. They have a nice solid black and look to not be 'lacey'


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