Crabby’s Betta Bonanza

[sdlTBfanUK]

Thats most interesting, I didn't think we had midges here in SE England, but maybe just get a small number. We certainly get mosquito here though as there are 2 lakes in the grounds, I have friends coming sunday and they will be sent to get some daphnia and mosquito larvae, they usually take a tub full home for their fish as well! I will pass on the tip about the jelly if they see any in their bucket!

Simon

Edited July 30, 2021 by sdlTBfanUK

[Grubs]

3 hours ago, sdlTBfanUK said:

midges here in SE England

Midges are cosmopolitan.  Bloodworms are commonly of the genus Chironomus.. and fun-fact the red colour is haemoglobin which binds oxygen (as it does in our blood) allowing midge larvae to live in low oxygen environments like the sludge in the bottom of a fish-food bucket.

https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/chironomus-plumosus

[Crabby]

Attempting another spawn. Reintroducing the female to the male over the weekend, I’ll probably release on Monday arvo.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Good luck and I will eep my fingers crossed this time is successful!

Simon

[Crabby]

No success yet unfortunately, my female got a bit beat up actually so it’ll be a few weeks at least until I try again. But that’s okay, because my calico bristlenoses just spawned for the first time, and that’s just crazy to me. I’ve had them for over a year, and while I know bristlenose are meant to be easy to breed, I’ve still just been hanging on for them to spawn. But they figured it out! And it turns out I have 2 male’s and a female - the male’s are named mango and chip (mango is a very little guy, hasn’t hit his growth-spurt yet), and the female is named Jimmy. Of course, I named them well before they were old enough to sex ?

So that’s a project going on while I wait for Tessa to heal up, and I’m also going to grab some CPD while my LFS have them, to put in my iwagumi tank, and maybe I’ll try to breed them later on too. I should be fine with 5-6 CPD in a 5 gallon tank, right? The plan is to add 6-10 tiny little rocket killies later on, and some shrimp. I think if I get some frogbit or red-root floaters on the surface to keep the water extra clean, I should be fine. Sponge filter is well-cycled, and the parameters are good for them. Oh, and I’ll be doing weekly or fortnightly light water changes anyways since I have an active substrate in the tank.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Crabby

[sdlTBfanUK]

Great news that the bristlenose have has babies, I hope everything goes well with the raising of those! I'm sure the betta will follow in their own time, but you probably have enough on your hands with the bristlenose babies for now anyway? You could rename Jimmy to Jinny, I doubt she would mind? Have you noticed the vertical shading on your female betta when she is ready to mate, I noticed that quite clearly when I had female betta! 

You should be ok with half a dozen CPD in a 20L tank but it is a bit small, if it is quite shallow then they will have more swimming room. It sounds like you have plenty on the go at this time....

If you get a chance, would be great to see photos of the babies?

Simon

[Crabby]

When the bristlenoses hatch I’ll definitely get some pics of the babies!

I ended up going with just 5 CPDs, and they’re very small right now so I think they’ll be good in there for a while.

I didn’t see any vertical shading in Tess when I tried to breed them, but I assumed it was just because she has quite light colouration on her body. Were your females light or dark?

 

edit: the bristlenose fry have started hatching! The ‘wrigglers’ are so cute!

Edited August 7, 2021 by Crabby

[jayc]

8 hours ago, Crabby said:

the bristlenose fry have started hatching! The ‘wrigglers’ are so cute!

So cool! Great photo.

You can clearly see their egg sac.

[sdlTBfanUK]

Is there anything you can update on this Crabby, would be great to hear!

Simon

[Crabby]

Not much to update actually Simon. I had to take a break from breeding attempts with the bettas because Tessa got injured and she’s taken a while to recover. In the meantime I bred some CPDs, and now their fry are in the tank I was using to breed the bettas. In terms of the BN spawn, they’re all doing well it seems. I haven’t seen the fry much lately but I think they’re just learning how to hide in the tank now.