Some Pics Of My New Arrivals

[JoshH]

Actually we did deliver to Modaz last year up in Bournemouth

Tank 17 and Tank 36 are still available on our stock page and have a couple of pics due to go on. I'll pm them to you if you like?

Or I can just have done with it and send the whole lot up to you

Fair play to you! Hope you had some discount and a cuppa off him

Ok cool, yeah PM me them, those pics of fish not listed yet?

May aswell send the whole lot up tbf, im slowly buying them all

I'm detirmined to get some decent pics tomorrow of the bettas so watch this space!!

 

[Netty]

Just uploading the pics now

We did have a very nice cuppa at Daz's and picked up a load of stuff too after having a good nose at his babies

I did warn you about the addiction

 

[JoshH]

Thinking about spawning these two I have a spawning tank set up ready now, the garage is going to be overhauled this week ready for the millions of jars lol...both bettas have been fed on frozen bloodworm twice a day and hikari betta bio gold once a day for the past 7 days along with regular water changes etc..

The spawning tank looks like I've peed in it drunk but it's actually attisons Betta SPA dosed @ 5ml per 4L of water, been up to my LFS today who has 2 4 footers and a whole bunch of 2.5 footers which I can divide up when they get bigger

My only worry now is if I take Ebony out of the sorority (which is starting to settle now, bit of bickering but not bad) then there's just be 3 left in there for the few days shes out, will that cause a problem??

Already planned the next spawn too the new boy in my avatar and his matching butterfly girl(friend-to be)

Going to put Ivory into the spawning tank tonight I think to get him settled in there!

Let me know if everything sounds ok and if I've forgotten anything or not?

 

[Netty]

You are so hooked now

With any girl group, everytime you remove or add another female they will start their pecking order over again so you'll have to keep an eye on them. Once Ebony has finished in the spawning tank I would keep her somewhere separate for at least a week or two if you can. The females can get quite battered and bruised sometimes and putting them straight back with the other girls could cause problems for them. Once she has recovered fully from spawning you'll need to take all the girls out and rearrange the tank before putting them back in. At this point I would add Ebony back first. This is why we keep our girls separate......we found we were losing girls once they were back in the sorority tank and by keeping separate we can make sure each one is conditioned and in the best of health before spawning.

Good luck and keep us updated on how it all goes and don't forget the pics!!

 

[JoshH]

You are so hooked now

With any girl group, everytime you remove or add another female they will start their pecking order over again so you'll have to keep an eye on them. Once Ebony has finished in the spawning tank I would keep her somewhere separate for at least a week or two if you can. The females can get quite battered and bruised sometimes and putting them straight back with the other girls could cause problems for them. Once she has recovered fully from spawning you'll need to take all the girls out and rearrange the tank before putting them back in. At this point I would add Ebony back first. This is why we keep our girls separate......we found we were losing girls once they were back in the sorority tank and by keeping separate we can make sure each one is conditioned and in the best of health before spawning.

Good luck and keep us updated on how it all goes and don't forget the pics!!

Yeah, and it's all YOUR fault!!

I think you could well be right about seperating the girls, can see trouble with reintroduction all the time too, dont suppose the girls enjoy it much either ! I'll get plenty of pics dont worry will start a new thread tomorrow, is the general rule of a female being ready to come out of the chimney vertical bars (what are they like?) and pointing downwards when the guys near by? Anything else to look out for?

Cheers

 

[Netty]

never mind.....you'll either thank me one day or curse me!!!!

Vertical bars show up normally just behind the gills.....as she's black they may appear as reddish lines. She should also have a very plump eggy belly. Some females when approached by the male will put their heads in a downward position.

We generally leave the female in the chimney for 24hrs. Release for an hour or two usally in the evening and if nothing has happened then put her back in the chimney for another 24hrs. Then release again.......this method seems to make the second release much more successful and I've had spawnings take place from 10mins to an hour doing it this way. Don't forget that while she's in the chimney you still need to feed them. I usally let them have as much as they will eat, 3 times a day.

 

[JoshH]

never mind.....you'll either thank me one day or curse me!!!!

Vertical bars show up normally just behind the gills.....as she's black they may appear as reddish lines. She should also have a very plump eggy belly. Some females when approached by the male will put their heads in a downward position.

We generally leave the female in the chimney for 24hrs. Release for an hour or two usally in the evening and if nothing has happened then put her back in the chimney for another 24hrs. Then release again.......this method seems to make the second release much more successful and I've had spawnings take place from 10mins to an hour doing it this way. Don't forget that while she's in the chimney you still need to feed them. I usally let them have as much as they will eat, 3 times a day.

I hope to thank you that's if all goes well lol

Well I put Ivory in this afternoon shortly after posting and Ebony will go in in the morning..sound about right?

I'll go with your plan of 24hrs then release for few hours then see how it goes when they are released..what do they usually do, I mean how can I tell they are happy and not rejecting each other, is chasing etc normal?

Really don't want to get this wrong and cause excess stress and injury on either!!

Thanks for the help

 

[Netty]

Once you release the female there will be alot of chasing. Somtimes the female may go and check out his nest but will probably be chased away at this stage.

Have a few places in the tank that the female can hide behind...plants etc. She may well find a corner and stay there as long as she can before he searches her out and the chasing starts again. This is all perfectly normal but if you feel she's getting really badly beaten then take her out. One of the biggest mistakes people sometimes make is taking the female out too soon. There will be nipped fins and bruises and it looks awful to us, but is all part of their mating ritual. Really comes down to your judgement of the situation at the time.

We usually aim to do the first release late in the evening so we can chimney her back up for the night and we know she's safe. Then the second release is either in the morning or later in the afternoon.

 

[JoshH]

Thanks very much Netty, just the reply I was after, I should print all these off for reference lol I'll try my very best to not get too worried, will she eventually give in to the chasing etc and come under his nest to wrap?

Really excited now is BBS just hatched ok for when they're free swimming? If so then I got plenty of that!

Cheers

Lol, funny I should say about food, just got your pm

 

[Netty]

You'll have your VE on Thursday so feed that for week one and the BBS from week 2.

She will give in. Usually on the second release it happens fairly quickly and she'll go with him under his nest. They'll start this magical dancing around each other and she'll start nudging him in his side. Don't worry if he struggles to wrap her in the beginning. It took my newbie boy almost an hour before he got the hang of it lol

 

[JoshH]

You'll have your VE on Thursday so feed that for week one and the BBS from week 2.

She will give in. Usually on the second release it happens fairly quickly and she'll go with him under his nest. They'll start this magical dancing around each other and she'll start nudging him in his side. Don't worry if he struggles to wrap her in the beginning. It took my newbie boy almost an hour before he got the hang of it lol

So I'll be all set to go then I can't thank you enough lol!

I'm much less worried now, Daz is getting more of those tubs next week btw, gunna get quite a few

 

[Netty]

Lol....I know. I bought the last of his stock

Good luck with it all....hope it all goes well

 

[JoshH]

Well little ebony is now in her chimney, Ivory has taken to showing off how beautiful he is (noticed his white fins actually have a blue flash across them when caught with light!) and started building his nest...IN THE WRONG BLOODY PLACE!! He's chosen to build it just randomly on the surface of the water where he wants on the other side of the tank lol, maybe he wont be too good @ all this first time will get a picture of it later lol

 

[electric yellow]

Gorgeous fish!

Whats this chimney people talk of when spawning? All ive got is that it is a cut off coke a cola bottle?

 

[JoshH]

Gunna have to put a hold on this until next week, I've got to go off this weekend and wouldn't want to with new babeys etc just being born, will try again on Monday I think