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It was upsetting to go from him being a terrific Daddy fish to eating the fry. Once I realized the fry were dead, I put him back into his tank, and he immediately started building another bubble nest. I just wish I'd captured that one cutie developing fins before Pinky did. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Wow Nan

Sorry to hear about those little babies ! What a disappointment ! Don't let that discourage you...I am sure anyone who tries this has a few letdowns before getting it right. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Welcome back Jilly ! We missed you here. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
I am sorry to hear about that black you
found...dang ! What a disappointment. I'm still hunting down a green...no luck yet.

Emg

Nan, I wish I'd been back and up to date to tell you to take out Pinky as soon as the fry start swimming. That's when they look like food instead of babies to an adult male.

This is actually an okay thing that happened. Please don't take offense here, since the babies basically went back to nature, which is part of the cycle. But you would have had to deal with infusoria, and then brine shrimp, and eventually culling and a grow-out tank, more culling, then a tank for females and many jars all over your house for young males, who get aggressive pretty quickly as a rule. Culling is very hard to do, but necessary. And the babies in their fry tank need very very specific conditions so their growing labyrinth organ forms correctly - that's a very crucial time and very easy to kill them if the slightest cool air reaches their little noggins.

Anyway, as I said, I am sure you would have managed this, but it's a very demanding experience and would have been more traumatic if you lost them at a later time, after they were older and you got attached to each one.

I hope I have not horrified you here, or anyone else reading this. My goal is to help everyone keep their fish as you would a housepet - given the best conditions, to live the longest possible lives, and interact with them joyfully. With the technology we have now, aquarium fish can live decades! That's so amazing. And bettas can live well for three years with good care - some even longer.

Ok, so I found 2 babies swimming in the tank with daddy - Pinky. I guess the fact that they mated for so many hours has something to do with that. I managed to fish out one of them into a small jar, but now I'm stymied. I can get some algae water from our dog's bowl (he hasn't been drinking from it!). It was out in the rain and now is growing green stuff -- is that the stuff I need? It's pretty stagnant.

Pinky's bubble nest extends across the whole top of the tank now. I'm thinking I may find a few more babies in the next day or two. Yikes.

Nann

I think I would keep the little tykes in that tank and fish Daddy out...put him in a smaller bowl. If there are live plants in your tank there most likely will be that infusoria that the fry need to eat. Infusoria are tiny little living things that generally are found on plants. We can't see them but the fry can.

But I would wait and see what Jilly says first..she knows for certain...I have never bred bettas..yet..I only read about it !

Emg <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

well, I am very happy to hear you have some babies left! Try the algae stuff, since you didn't have time to prepare infusoria.

Do this:
Shine an intense beam of light, like from a flashlight, into the algae water, away from the green part. If you see cloudiness after about a half hour or hour, you've got micro-organisms. Use a dropper to put them in with the babies (did you get both of them?). Then shine that same light in their fry tank(use the bigger tank), which needs to be kept very warm (at least 82 F). The light will keep the protozoans in one spot, since they are phototropic, and hopefully the babies will also be atracted.

If you don't have protozoans, please run to your petstore ASAP and buy pre-made infusoria. Don't get brine shrimp just yet, that's for older fry or when you are sleecting the strongest specimens frmo a group of hundreds of spawn.

I hope I am making sense here.

keep the tank warm and cover the top well to prevent drafts. We will take it further as we go, okay? It shoudl go fine - if these fry made it so far, they will probably go far. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

this is wild, Emg, we both posted at the same time!

I only got one fry out, Pinky is still in the bigger tank, he's guarding the huge bubble nest he's got. I can't tell now if there are any eggs/fry in there, but he and Sweetie are sure doing the flirtation dance. When I took Pinky out before, he got really agitated, and so I put him back, and he calmed down, and went back to his nest. Sweetie is in her own tank getting BettaFix Remedy daily -- Pinky chomped her tail, there's a perfect fish mouth hole there.

But her white spot is back -- I can't remember what you called it Jilly. oviposture?? <img src="/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> And her colors are getting darker again. She seems to like the spider plant baby I put in her tank.

And baby is still hanging in there, swimming in his cup. I put a little bit of the stagnant water in there this morning, and he/she seemed very happy.

<img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I just spotted the other baby in Pinky's tank. Pinky is ignoring it. Woo Hoo! They are like specks, so it's hard to tell if it's a baby or a spot on the tank at times. But they both are moving!!

JIlly...I noticed that ...about posting at the same time...but, I got in first ! <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Emg <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I've named the babies. The one in the cup is Speck, the one in the big tank with Pinky is Spot. I suspect the names will change as they get bigger, but I have to call them something besides baby. :love: <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />