Really a super small spawn... was his 1st successful attempt... he has been in with them since they hatched out (I am guessing when they hatched... I saw them spawn for several hours in the morning of the 18th)

Fry are doing amazing considering. He is obviously bored. The whole time he has been eating bloodworms, daphnia, and microfex. He is in great shape.

He is bored to the point of making a new nest and trying to put his kids in it. They scurry away... not really wanting dear old Dad's attention.

The male is in better shape now than he was before spawning. He is a gentle spawner... but fiercely protective of his nest & babies.

You mentioned that you have taken the male from the fry tank and placed him back into the spawning tank... How long was he in the fry tank?

Soon it will be the 2 week mark... his waistline sure didn't shrink any. If anything he is getting fat. He knows the difference between his fry and live food.

So proud of him..... such a good father!!! He is a copper& black bf hm male ... has extended dorsal ( I sooooo love a huge dorsal on a hm!)

I wonder what crossing him to a gold dt female would bring about....

i agree with you n2mb, i love the extended dorsal on hm's. the extended dorsal is a trait of dt's. means he carries the dt gene. you might get some really nice ones by breeding him to a gold dt. i never leave dad in with fry. i take him out when the first ones start to hatch. sounds like you could probably spawn him again right away.

got any pics of dad? he sounds really nice.

Ohhh... don't let Yeevia hear you take out the dad! He's going to lecture you on the advantages of leaving him in!!!

Hey Semp! did you see someone put a bid on our betta??? That :dickhead: !!! I hope you have the money to outbid him!!!

i always take out the dad. i have less weakies and less culls when i started doing that. as soon as the fry start hatching, out he comes. also, it seems that he is ready to turn around and do it all over again.

i did see that! hmmmpf! just wait and see. :laugh: i know when my import license is finalized it is going to be harder to resist buying the overseas bettas!

I left my male in last time. Well.... it was more like I tried to take him out after 2 weeks and he managed to shove 28 fry in his mouth. He stayed with those fry till they were about a month old. He just wasn't ready to give up his kids. Not 1 of the fry have any spinal deformities. No swim bladder disease either. So the only thing determining who is gonna go live with someone else is whether or not they have the extended dorsal. (Both parents are hm w/ extended dorsals... so a bit more than have are showing it too. )

The males will naturally do some culling. Snacking on the malformed & weak. Kinda the natural way of things. It does mean a smaller spawn.... but most definately a healthier spawn.

He is definately ready to have at it again.

LOL Yeevia (Frankie) has already lectured me and several others. He cracks me up. Right now some other people from another forum are doing an experiment. They have several batches of fry.... 1/2 the fry were left with the male.... the other 1/2 are without. Should find out the results in a few weeks.

My copper black male is the only one putting out right now. My fishroom is like a game of round robin where no one wants to play. So I guess for now.... lol... the copper is gonna be paired up with about every female small enough.

Anyone else have HUGE females?? All my females are a month or more younger than the males.... yet they are massive. Like colorful finned volvos.

oooh coppers! now you MUST post pics! i got a soft spot for coppers.

victoria parnell is also doing an experiment with females. she has a spawn going that she has left the female in to see if she can raise the spawn as well as a male. so far she has had success with it.

Yes, my females are huge! I tried to breed one of them with my best male last weekend.

They actually spawned... I saw them embracing and even saw eggs in the tank. BUT none of them hatched!

Frankie (alias YeeviaBettas) said the male couldn't get the sperm to the eggs because she was too big.

I have a very small female in the tank right now - on the other side of the divider. She's eating big, and I suspect they'll be ready soon. I hope it works out this time.

It's funny because the male LOOKS big, but he's all fins! there's no body to him, and he's only going to be able to spawn with the tiny girls. The larger males I have don't have the fin development he does - but I might have to use one of them if I want anything out of the big girls.

BUT the question is: will I produce small bodied males with huge fins if all I can breed them to is small girls???

Hahaha :laugh:
I let the father and the babies together from 2 weeks to one month plus. :) Yes, I transferred them all after one week or 10 days from the tupperware spawning to 10 gallon tank. I using a plastic cup and catch the babies and the father to the 10 gallon raising tank. :)
Well, here is my thought. Females do know how to takecare of the babies for sure. :) I have done two experiments and female is very gentle to their babies too. :)
As for to leave the father into the tank, we all have to change the history now. LOL I am always let the males to takecare the babies until he get fedup with the babies and wants to breed again. :) I can tells that if the parent been breed like this, they are more success in breedings like this. Dongs do let the male takingcare of the babies and as what my observation on siamcrowntail superred hm plakat pair, he do know how to takecare the babies very good. If I am right, siamcrowntail might let the parent takingcare of the babies.
Yes, the father or the mother knows what is babies and what is food. :) I do that to my betta too because I put like live mosquito larvea or daphnia too and he do catched those and eat it. :)
One thing is that the father do using his saliva to feed the babies too and even clean the babies body to prevent bacteria infection.
I just breed my platinum doubletail pair again today. Wou! The female tummy is so big and hardly the male can clam her. I can tells the first half attempt won't get fetilize because the male anal area is not close to the female. In the second half, they are much better because the tummy of the female are smaller so they should fertile. :) Cross my fingers. This is their second batch. :) :lol:
OK. I got to get busy cleaning.:)

Yep.... I caught that with V's site. coughIamSnailstreakscough If I remember right... the female tried... but the results were not as good as with the male. Still a novel concept.

I need to put lids on my jars. I just wandered home last night with 2 more females and 1 more male. Put them in their new homes.... went to bed. Woke up...the pastel male (aka the Great Chicken) was in with the copper girl. 1/2g jars are NOT big enough for this kind of shannanigans.

:off: I am going through bloodworms like crazy here. I have several people together from the club...

So... for all of you in a club..... check out aquaticfoods.com 10 packs at 1 pound each is just under $100 including shipping. $10 a pound.... SWEET!!! Even less with bigger orders. They also have blackworms.

I am hoping that maybe I can coordinate something for an order later on and combine intrests between the clubs.... bigger order... saves us all $. I have a big 13+ sq ft freezer that is empty... so what the heck... I will be a worm pusher.

The copper blacks are from Duen originally. I got him for a steal cause he blew his tail. I wonder if their stock photos are still available.....


I am hoping you are right about the fry growing up with Dad turning out to better breeders.... I HOPE I HOPE I HOPE!!!! He gets live foods.... an assortment... he definately looks before he eats. He really is a good boy!!!