They Are Spawning!

[girl4God81]

I wanna cry! Well, i won't lie, I did tear up a lot! Blueberry Fishkins and Zoe are FINALLY spawning! They are the ones whose tanks are side by side and are always making "eyes". She's been loaded with eggs for some time now, and he's been actively building his bubble nest since first meeting her. I've tried them a few times, but she was a little too scared and he was too busy making the nest, after a day or so I seperated them again! but TONIGHT! I came home, put Zoe in Blueberry Fishkins tank, and sat there watching them while eating a bowl of cereal. I knew tonight had to be different because she was approaching him (which is rare) and despite his open jaw at biting her, she didn't flinch, and was determined. She kept bumping him as he kept making his little nest. Finally I saw it! I've never seem any bettas spawn, and I have to say it was VERY exciting! He squeezed her, and they sank to the bottom together, WOW! I screamed for my husband to come see and HE even thought it was cool! Since I am a newbie, a few questions...

1) She's been full of eggs for almost 3 months now, is there a huge chance the eggs won't hatch because of this? Are they too old?

2) While it has only been about 15 minutes, they keep spawning, but it doesn't seem like any eggs have come out yet. I know it can take awhile, but shouldn't SOME come out?

3) How often is this successful once they spawn? I mean what are my chances for having little baby bettas?

4) I was planning on going to bed before too long, but don't want to leave her in there since I know he will be too aggressive when they are done. How long does this normall take?

 

[girl4God81]

Ok

Update!

Right after I just typed that she wasn't yet releasing eggs, I ran in there only to catch them spawning and little eggs coming out, SO cute! The problem is that he's not catching them and she's turning around and eating them! Maybe i won't get any babies after all. Any suggestions?

 

[jess6905]

I wanna cry! Well, i won't lie, I did tear up a lot! Blueberry Fishkins and Zoe are FINALLY spawning! They are the ones whose tanks are side by side and are always making "eyes". She's been loaded with eggs for some time now, and he's been actively building his bubble nest since first meeting her. I've tried them a few times, but she was a little too scared and he was too busy making the nest, after a day or so I seperated them again! but TONIGHT! I came home, put Zoe in Blueberry Fishkins tank, and sat there watching them while eating a bowl of cereal. I knew tonight had to be different because she was approaching him (which is rare) and despite his open jaw at biting her, she didn't flinch, and was determined. She kept bumping him as he kept making his little nest. Finally I saw it! I've never seem any bettas spawn, and I have to say it was VERY exciting! He squeezed her, and they sank to the bottom together, WOW! I screamed for my husband to come see and HE even thought it was cool! Since I am a newbie, a few questions...

1) She's been full of eggs for almost 3 months now, is there a huge chance the eggs won't hatch because of this? Are they too old?

2) While it has only been about 15 minutes, they keep spawning, but it doesn't seem like any eggs have come out yet. I know it can take awhile, but shouldn't SOME come out?

3) How often is this successful once they spawn? I mean what are my chances for having little baby bettas?

4) I was planning on going to bed before too long, but don't want to leave her in there since I know he will be too aggressive when they are done. How long does this normall take?

1) I doubt that will be a major problem
2)The eggs will come out when the pair get the squeeze right. sometimes they take a long time and then sometimes they get it within afew minutes
3)As long as they dont eat all of the eggs, and they were properly fertalized you should most definetly get some baby bettas
4)They can take several hours to finish spawning or only 1 or 2. i had one take just afew hours and another take well over 6 or 7 hours, and it was the first spawn for both pairs.

Ok

Update!

Right after I just typed that she wasn't yet releasing eggs, I ran in there only to catch them spawning and little eggs coming out, SO cute! The problem is that he's not catching them and she's turning around and eating them! Maybe i won't get any babies after all. Any suggestions?

are you positive she is eating them?? idk what to tell ypu on this one. i hope everything works out for them, and if it doesn't this time then you could lways try to recondition then in afew more weeks and try again. out side of that idk what to recomend. good luck though i hope it workd out for you.

 

[girl4God81]

Thanks for the responce!

Pretty sure she's eating them. He seems to not even understand that eggs are coming out, and I don't even think he's seen them fall, he jsut squeezes her then rushes back to the top to make more bubbles. She scarfs them (and chews) and I haven't seen her bring any back to the top. I even dropped some food in the tank to feed her, and after the last spawn, he rushed over to eat, while she ate the eggs It's a first for all 3 of us, they are such amateurs!

What should I do tonight? It's getting late, and because of work tomorrow, I can't be up till 5am (although I am very tempted). Should I remove her after awhile? I don't want him to attack her while I'm sleeping.

 

[girl4God81]

Now he's being a good daddy! He's learning..

He's finally getting the idea that eggs come out, and when he saw them for the first time, he did sort of a double take and was rushing to get them all in his mouth, this is so cute!!!! I didn't see any eggs in the bubble nest for awhile though, but I realized that I just had the wrong angle. There is a pretty large clump of eggs up there! The funny thing is that momma has discovered the "clump" and keeps taking little bites here and there. Of COURSE my camera battery keeps dying, despite my effort to replace it several times (hub has a bad habit of keeping mostly dead batteries, and I'm sure it's me too). I have had so many great photo ops, but noooo, of course the camera doesn't work now. I think I'll try again. rrr

 

[K.J.]

Good luck, I'm 100% sure you'll get at least 3 babies!

 

[15761718]

ok i know this might sound hard... but the secret to breeding bettas is to not get too excited... timing is everything

its hard to not change things in the tank and u wanna keep looking at the fry and wonder when to take the female out and start feeding the fry and a million other things, but this can stress out the fish, make them feel in danger and may cause major damage to the spawn

first of all u need to remember this is nature taking its course, you've set up the tank and the temperature and the plants and whatever else now its time to let them do what their instincts tell them to do...

leave the female in there and only take her out once the male is agressive and chases her away, even then id let him do that 3 times before id take her out coz u dont know whether theres any more eggs to be laid or not, lets be realistic here the male isnt going to kill the female within a day, in fact even if u left her in there for the whole spawn he probably still wouldnt kill her since he would have a hard time catching her not to mention that he is totally preoccupied on the bubblenest at this stage... its only recommended to take the female out because theres a good chance she may start eating the fry...

after that the eggs will hatch within 24 - 48 hours then leave them for 3 days, if you still have any fry then u can feed them they wont eat anything before then and ul just pollute the water.. just keep us updated on here and people will give you a helping hand

good luck

 

[girl4God81]

15~

Thanks for the reply! I do admit that I have gotten a little too excited in the past and have gotten my hopes up, but this is my first spawn, and I am VERY excited! It's such an amazing thing to be able to watch nature take it's course. I went ahead and left them overnight and this morning, I thought they were done because he was starting to chase her off, (and I won't be home until late and didn't want him to harm her), but on the way to work I realized it was a dumb decision. She doesn't look too fat anymore, but her ovipostular thing is still out, and she is maybe still a LITTLE fat. He was most likely just protecting the eggs, and she wasn't any more torn up over night, so I'm sure she would have been fine all day with him.

Because I stopped them in the middle of their spawn, do you think it would be wise to add her back to the tank this evening in hopes that they will continue? I'm pretty sure she still has some eggs left in her.

 

[15761718]

no most defenetly not, leave it be you will only interfere... you can always recondition the pair and chances are if they mated once they will mate again

that is one of those things i was talking about in my last post where we get too excited and interfere with nature, the best thing we can do is not do a thing, they will eventually get it right.

put it this way for example you got married and on ur first night together, how would you feel if a hotel assistant kept coming into your room to make sure everything was ok or just to make sure you hadnt run out of "accesories" or if you had enough pillows, its an invasion of privacy and you wouldnt feel comfortable i would imagine =)

now that uv taken the female out theres nothing really for you to do for the next 3 days except check temperature of water (80 F) and make a mental note to urself of approximately when the fry hatched.

 

[girl4God81]

"how would you feel if a hotel assistant kept coming into your room to make sure everything was ok or just to make sure you hadnt run out of "accesories" or if you had enough pillows, its an invasion of privacy and you wouldnt feel comfortable i would imagine =)"

--Yes, OK, good point! HAHA, that's hilarious. I'll leave them be, thanks