Crowntail Egg-eater

[leec]

Hi Folks

I finally finally got my male steel-blue 2 ray crowntail Shard (the only one I have ever managed to get here in Rep. of Ireland) to breed with my female gold/copper 2 ray crowntail Goldilocks that I had to import from KGBettas (she never liked Shards crappy nests before). Its the first spawn in my new breeding shed too. Shard, however, has decided to be an egg-eater. I have never seen this in all the spawns I have set-up with loads of different Bettas. So thats it, Shard the fool shall not be bred again. I have no other crowntail male to blend with Goldilocks superior genetics now, I guess its time to make some Combtails. If more suppliers would ship quality Bettas to the Rep. of Ireland Goldilocks would have her choice of quality Daddys (nudge)! Ha ha

Lee

 

[LauraFrog]

You can still try again. Give the pair a week or so then start conditioning again. If you can convince them, respawn them. When they start wrapping, fill another small tank and put a heater in it. Remove the eggs and place them in a shallow container with about an inch of treated water. Float this in the heated tank. Even if the eggs fall out of the nest (or if you destroy the nest moving them) this distance won't matter. The hatchlings can swim this far to gulp down air. The survival rate will not be as high as if you had a perfect father caring for them but six or eight fry that make it to three months has to be better than the whole lot getting scoffed by dad as eggs.

 

[dusky]

Alot of the males do first time as they don't really know what they are doing. One of mine did, next time he ate the babies and 3rd time he was fine. Some dads are better than others. Give it another go , good luck

 

[newfishy]

stealing the nest does work sometimes, but not nearly as well as a decent father. give them a good while to recover and condition and then try again, I syphon a few eggs away from the pair as they are wrapping, and float those in a container with very shallow water. I leave the rest to the father to atempt to get him to learn to care for eggs.

while it is extreamly frustrating to loose a spawn to gettting eaten...and yes I have lost MANY that way, you have to think of the possible reasons for it.

eggs are infertil...one parent could be shooting blanks or a pair new to spawning could just not been wrapping quite right and no eggs got fertilized, in that case the father will eat the eggs to recondition himself for the next spawn.

something spooked the father while he was careing for the nest...I lost a few spawns this way when I dident realise that the spare room next to my todlers room carried over so much noise, and believe me todlers make a lot of noise.

the eggs are killed by a bacteria or fungus, the father knows they wont hatch so he saves his time and energy for the next spawn.


I am very sorry you lost a spawn, but I would condition very well and try again.