The babies are now about 2.5 weeks old. They are still so stinking small, so it's hard to get any good pics or video of them. I was lucky enough to get the video below of two of my larger fry meeting in the middle of the tank and having a stare down
The following is a detailed account of the last 7 days since breeding my male HM Hotaru with my female HMPK Kaosu.
Kaosu is one of my first bettas. I received her in February 2014 as a Thai bred import, the username Phusit on aqua bid.com stated he had bred her from HMPK Marble siblings. She was approximately 4 months in when I got her, making her 14 months now at the time of this spawn. She is definitely on the older side for breeding bettas, so this is her last time I will ever bred her. This was my final attempt with her due to age and having tried 3 times before with little success. I have never been able to raise any of her fry to maturity.
Below is her picture at 4 months of age and then at 14 months of age.
Her mate is my store bought HM male Hotaru. He was found at a local Petco when I was buying two bettas for my children as their first pets. I spotted Hotaru and was immediately drawn by his steel metallic body and bright red/grey fins. He was slightly larger than my female, but I chose him hoping her shorter finnage will help balance out his longer anal fin but still maintain the 180 degree tail spread.
His pictures are below, current at age unknown and parents unknown.
To set up my breeding tub I chose to reuse the one I alrady had. It is a 10 gallon clear storage tote with lid. I have in it a 15 w heater, live Water Sprite and Java Moss along with two plastic plants, a ceramic mug for hiding behind, a waterproof led light taped to the lid, a canister filed filled with aquarium gravel and filter floss, one and a half 6in Capatta leaves, and at the time of spawning a small square of packing foam taped to the side of the tub. This was used by Hotaru to build his bubble nest on. You can see the set up below.
I let the tub sit for a month without the filter, then seeded the filter with some aged media and let that run for a week before the spawn so my water parameters would be suitable. You can see my water testing results using the API master kit on the chart below.
After meeting satisfactory water parameters I was ready to introduce Kaosu and Hotaru. They were placed in the tub with Kaosu in a glass and Hotaru free to swim in the tub. I left them like this for a night then released Kaosu in to the tub in the morning. You can see video of them chasing each other in typical betta courting behavior
It took 24 hours of chasing and nipping before I saw wrapping. I kept the tub covered with a blanket and the light on the whole time. I got one blurry picture of them wrapping.
I left them alone for another 24 hours then check on them the next afternoon. There were eggs in the nest and a protective Hotaru chasing Kaosu away, so I removed her and placed her back in her home tank. I left Hotaru in the tank for another 3 days until I could see the majority of fry swimming freely. One interesting note, unlike in my past spawn attempts, I did feed Hotaru a couple blood worms while he was taking care of the fry. I know this is not generally done by most breeders, but it seemed to keep him satisfied enough not to eat the eggs or fry.
Below you will see video of day 3-6 of fry growth. They are currently being fed vinegar eels, microworms, detritus worms, and insuforia. In another week I will introduce baby grind shrimp in small doses so as to avoid over feeding and fouling the water.
Hotaru tending eggs
Fry day 1
Fry day 4
Fry day 5
Fry day 6
I am adding a gallon of water every few days in addition to the 2 gallons I already had in there, as well as running the canister filter on low to maintain beneficial bacteria growth. I keep the tank between 80-84 degrees F. So far the fry are showing great leaps in growth from day to day and eating well. I am uncertain about how many their are but I have counted at least 20.
Thanks for reading. I am planning on updating on their progress weekly.
Peace, Love, and Süßwasser---April R
I bred a new male HM named Hotaru with my female HMPK Kaosu. So far so good. The fry are now 4 days old. See the videos below for clips on the spawn and progress of the fry so far!
Rinse all decorations and inside of
tank with clean tap water. Place tank on surface you wish it to sit on. Do not
plug the tank in yet.
Fill tank with water leaving 1-2 inches of space between the top of the water
and the top of the tank. Bettas breathe air and need this space to get a
breath.
Before adding fish, put half a cap full of water conditioner in the tank water.
Place fish in the tank still in his closed bag and let the bag float for 30
minutes to get it to the same temperature as your water. Tank water should be
room temperature if not using a heater. Make sure if you are not using a heater
that the room the tank will be in stays between 69°F and 85°F.
Take the fish out of the bag with your net, making sure to place your hand over
the net to keep him from flipping out. Gently place the fish in the tank. Plug
the tank in. Enjoy your new fishy companion!
How to change your small betta tank.
(1.5 gallons to 3 gallons)
1. Gather all your supplies. This
includes the fish in the tank, new water, water conditioner, fish net and an
extra cup or container to put the fish in, while you clean the tank. (Make sure
you are near a sink)
2. If your tank has a lid, take the
lid off the tank.
3. Take the fish out of the tank and
put it in the cup or container with a couple inches old tank water in it. Unplug
the tank and all plugged in accessories and remove heater and filter. Place
heater and filter in a large container or bucket to prevent water spilling.
4. Take the tank to the sink and
take out all the rocks and plants on the bottom of the tank (if you have rocks)
and put them in the bucket.
5. Rinse the rocks and plants off in
the bucket with conditioned water and then put them on a towel or in a
container. Lightly swish the filter pad in the rinse water. You only replace
the filter pad once a month.
6. Pour the old water from the tank
into the sink.
7. Rinse out the tank in the sink.
8. Take the rocks and
plants/decorations from off the towel or out of the container and put them back
into the tank.
9. Pour the new conditioned water
into the tank filling the tank until it is 2/3 full. Remember to feel the water
and try to get it at the same temperature as the old tank water. Put the heater
and filter back on the tank and plug them back in.
10. Once the tank is 2/3 full, take
the cup or container with the fish in it and pour the water and the fish into
the tank. Top off tank with tap water leaving 1-2 inches of space between the
top of the water and the top of the tank.
Betta
Care Tips: If feeding betta pellets, only feed 3-4 small pellets a day to avoid
over feeding and polluting the water. Make sure any decorations in the tank
have smooth edges to prevent your fish from tearing his fins. Turn off the lights at night, bettas sleep
just like we do! Make sure your water is staying between 69°F and 85°F. Provide
your betta with a mirror to look at to give him something to play with. Bettas
are intelligent and curious fish and like to play. They will also explore any
holes or caves in your tank, so make sure all holes and caves are bigger than
your thumb or your betta could get stuck.
Here is a before and after of my 20 gallon. The plants in this tank are just exploding with growth. When I set it up in January:
Now:
I have emerald corys. Super cute and very social. They breed like crazy too. I have had two spawns since I started with 5 of them, have only lost one female, and have 5 babies from the spawns, so from 5 corys I now have 9! I will be selling 3 of them as soon as the get big enough. The key is to cover the eggs with mesh or move them to a breeder net as soon as you see them, or the guppies will make a quick snack of them.
Here are closeups of my guppies and corys, plus 2 of the most recent baby corys!!
If you have any questions about my tank, plants, or livestock please comment below!!
I am breeding betta fish and have video and pictures of my male betta tending to his newly hatched fry. Bettas form a nest out of bubbles, which the male betta makes by inhaling air and exhaling the bubbles onto a secure object like a leaf or other floating object. The eggs are laid during spawning, during which the male wraps his body around the female expelling her eggs and fertilizing them at the same time. The male then picks up the eggs in his mouth and spits them into the bubble nest. Afterwards the female is chased off and the male does all the care and protecting of the nest. When the fry (baby fish) hatch the male betta keeps up his routine of putting the fry into his mouth and spitting them back into the nest. He does this until they are able to swim in their own, usually 48-72 hours after hatching. In the wild the fry would swim off and hide and the male betta would eventually move on, but in the breeding tank I have to remove the male betta so he can focus on himself and get some much needed rest and food. Check out the videos and pictures below to see how the male betta cares for the newly hatched fry. !!!
Day one video of Sekihan and Bubbles in the breeding tank. Bubbles is in her jar. Lots of flirting and dancing going on.
Day 2 video of my releasing Bubbles into the tank. Immediately she goes after him. She definitely was not playing hard to get! Less than 12hrs later they had already spawned and I missed the embrace. Next update will be the videos I got of Sekihan tending his nest and taking care of the fry.
Here is Seki with his nest the day they spawned
Updates soon,
Peace, Love, and Süßwasser---April R
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
