Failure...again.

OK, so this spawn didn't work out too well, either! Both pairs spawned, or attempted to, but then something happened between the spawn and hatch date. I think that the purple/white pair never actually got any eggs, which is a bummer. Either that or they ate them all, which is a bummer too. The green pair did get eggs....lots and lots of them!! And they took really good care of them together, too, surprisingly. (The female actually was helping) But then lots of the eggs disappeared and now I have about 5 or so fry. Almost not worth the effort! I'm getting so frustrated. I think that I'm going to try switching my bettas to distilled water. I think that the hard water is good enough for them to live in but not good enough for them to spawn and raise babies in. SO, I'll start buying spring (not distilled, on second thought....distilling takes out all the minerals) water and using that for their tanks. After a month or so of acclimation I'll try spawning them again. Hopefully the Ph change won't kill them...our water is so hard that it's no use doing it gradually. I've tried that. Somehow the neutral water takes on the Ph of our very alkaline (I think it's alkaline) water. So, I may have some very stressed, ill bettas for a few wks. They may not ever get over it! I think that this is worth a try though. I don't think I'll ever succeed if I don't do something with our water!! ;)

OK, well, when I have more news it will be on here!
~E

Another spawn

I started another spawn yesterday!! Two, actually. :) So far, nothing but big, fluffy nests and lots of flaring and dancing. hopefully, I'll have eggs sometime tonight or tomorrow! Here are some pics of the pairs.

The greenish male and green crowntail female are together and the purple/white male and female are together.

~E

I apologize for this blog not being up the past day....I deleted it for a time for personal reasons. It's back now!

~E

Failure...

Sorry, it took me awhile to get back with the end. It failed. :-\ I think I've figured out why too....we'll fix that for next time. :) Meanwhile, it's going to be awhile before my delta will be in shape to spawn again! The female really ate him up. :P I don't think I'll be using her anymore. ;)

~E

Day 4

I think that there are eggs in the nest, and mom looks smaller....the only problem is, mom ripped dad up something awful; ate off his dorsal fin, tore up his caudal pretty bad and also ripped up his anal fin. :P This is the second time she's done that. I think it might be time to retire her. ;) I can't have her doing that every time I spawn her! It takes months for the males to recover, not to mention the fact that it pretty much ruins their finnage. :P Ah well...I just hope dad can still care for the eggs!

~E

Day 3 of my betta's spawn

Still nothing major has happened...the male has built a small nest. That's pretty much it!! Things are slow at first, especially when the male has never spawned before. ;)

~E

Day 2 of my betta's spawn.

Nothing has really happened; still just a lot of dancing and flaring. I put a tiny bit of another betta's nest in to encourage the delta to build.

And here is a picture of a fry that is around 2 mo (+/-).

~E