I have Imbellis fry!

[Bettabelieveit]

So last week I got myself a pair of imbellis, and I noticed the dad had built a huge bubble nest.. and I've been watching the nest just in case yknow... and today... I find.. TAILS! and the dad's sitting there guarding the nest and and tending to it.. and.. mom.. is off watching oprah or something. I was REALLY hoping they'd wait until I got the 10 gallon set up, they're in a 3 right now.

So.. for those of you who have imbellis and.. have had fry, is there anything special to do? I'm looking for tips and advice, I'm off to get food 'cuz I think they'll need to eat in a day or two

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Ahem.. so yeah... I looked in again, and daddy has moved the fry around.. and.. there are more eggs! they must have done the fishy squeeze again while I was gone! Maayybbbeee I should take the girl out, 'ey?

 

[wuvmybetta]

Some may just be hatching earlier than others. If they spawn for a period of six hours some will hatch six hours sooner etc. They may have spawned again as well, perhaps they're just taking it slow


Taking her out may be the best bet. Especially in a tank that size. You won't be able to do water changes for about a week so removing her will ease the bio-load.

 

[slamster17]

i agree with kelly.
and be really careful with the water you add after WC i once lost all my imbellis fry after a WC and wondered why, read later that they are extra sensitive to water quality and such.

 

[Bettabelieveit]

Thanks for the tips.. I'm setting up their 10 gallon, I'll stick her in there for now... if I can manage to get her out without disrupting the nest and the babies they're so cute, look like little gnats!

 

[Synirr]

Congrats on the babies!!! My original pair spawned twice but I only saved 10 babies from the second spawn before they were eaten by the father (I'm guessing because the pair was wild-caught.) Two died overnight, and now I only have 4 left because they cannibalized one-another
That's the only difference I noticed... they grew at drastically different rates in comparison to my splendens fry, so it might be a good idea to split them into groups by size pretty early unless you don't mind a few missing runts

 

[slamster17]

synirr the eating of the fry could have been because the tank was too open meaning he could see everything that happened outside the tank. i know that mouthbrooders are like that. my simplex had to be covered and away from hightraffic areas. they still wouldnt hold a spawn tho.

 

[GSD]

congrats on the fry!hope they live.can we have pics when they get bigger please id love to see them

 

[Synirr]

synirr the eating of the fry could have been because the tank was too open meaning he could see everything that happened outside the tank. i know that mouthbrooders are like that. my simplex had to be covered and away from hightraffic areas. they still wouldnt hold a spawn tho.

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That's kinda what I figured. He's skittish as it is, but I figured it would be fine since their tank is in my bedroom, a room which I basically only enter to sleep
At the time they spawned I already had my splendens fry to take care of, so I honestly didn't put a whole lot of effort into making sure the imbellis didn't eat their eggs. At first I thought there were no survivors from the second spawn (there weren't from the first,) but then I noticed a couple of tails before I went to bed one night

 

[slamster17]

yea i thougt the same thing with my simplex and they werent even wild caught. what you can do is tape some kind of paper all around the tank except the front and just use like a piece of wood or sometihng to put there so you can look in. if you dont cover it then i think you will end up always pulling dad early or he will always eat them. iono, sorry for hijacking.