Betta Success!

[Liumchen]

A little background on the two: I got the female first (actually two females, the other is highly aggressive and in her own tank), and set up a 3.5 gallon tank just for her. I had her for weeks, if not a couple of months. I read up on Betta behaviour and body language. She was eating and looking healthy, but she had stress stripes that just would not go away. Then I got the male. He had caught my attention immediately, and I couldn't leave the store without him. I wasn't going to put them together originally, but the more I looked at them, the more I thought I had to try. So I did.

After worsening for a few seconds, her stress stripes vanished, and were replaced with vertical breeding stripes right before my eyes. Her colours brightened immediately. She gained vibrant blue streaks on her fins, and even on one of the scales near each eye, something I had never seen on her before. He was flaring, chasing her around a bit, but she had plenty of places to hide, and she always came back out. The male had built a bubble nest and they bred a few days later.

My biggest mistake happens here. I had panicked a little bit about proper filtration, water changes, etc. so decided to get them a filter, and installed it. The smallest one I could find, designed for less than three gallons, on its lowest setting. The male began flaring at it, aggressively, I swear within two seconds of me turning it on. I thought the current would be gentle enough for the nest, but obviously, he was right. It had blown apart much of the nest, and I removed it shortly after. The male struggled to bring the eggs back up to the nest, but most just kept falling. He was unable to fully restore it. Not all was lost, though. There are a few lucky fry still swimming around in the tank, about a week into their free-swimming stage.

Note: I did remove the female after they bred, and the stress stripes returned. I tried to leave her for a little while, they stayed. So I put her back in with the male. Again, breeding stripes and brighter colours immediately. He'd chase her away from the nest if she got too close, but otherwise let her be.

I noticed that the male started building another bubble nest yesterday. Today, I actually got to witness them breeding, him luring her over to the nest and wrapping himself around her multiple times over an extended period that continues until now. She recovers quickly each time, and is actively helping him with collecting and securing the eggs.

I will be moving the fry into an outgrow tank once they get a little bigger, and will separate them accordingly. I intend to keep the parents together unless any problems arise, and will be giving them their own ten gallon tank in approximately a month's time, after moving the fish that are currently in it to a sixty gallon.

Here are some photos of the two, from this morning:
Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Liumchen's Album: Scar and Sarabi

Thank you for letting me share my little piece of excitement!

 

[TheSnailMan]

Congratulations on your success! Hopefully you have some live food cultures like vinegar eels or microworms for your new fry. You've got about 8 weeks until you will need to start jaring the males.

 

[Liumchen]

I'm currently feeding the fry a liquid egg yolk mixture (a little bit of water and hard-boiled egg yolk shaken up together in a tiny jar). I read about this as a nutrient-rich alternative to live foods, and they seem to be taking to it great. Swimming around munching on all the little protein particles floating about around them. I'm not sure where I can get a starter culture for either of those live foods, or I would have been feeding that. I don't think it's available at any pet shops near me.

Since they're taking to it well, is it okay to continue feeding the egg yolk until they're big enough for standard dry fry food (basically fish flakes in powder form with a few added nutrients)? And, of course, bits of frozen bloodworm when they're big enough for that, too.

 

[TheSnailMan]

The egg yolk will work, you just have to be careful about not overfeeding and keeping the tank clean as it can foul the water easily. Once your fry are about a week old they should be large enough for baby brine shrimp. Live ones are best if you can get eggs and hatch them, but frozen ones will also work. As for the other live food cultures, you can order them online. Just do a Google search.

 

[obedey]

Cool fish What's the bubble nest built under???

 

[Andy Sager]

The egg yolk will work, you just have to be careful about not overfeeding and keeping the tank clean as it can foul the water easily. Once your fry are about a week old they should be large enough for baby brine shrimp. Live ones are best if you can get eggs and hatch them, but frozen ones will also work. As for the other live food cultures, you can order them online. Just do a Google search.

You can also start a culture of infusoria in a jar with just a small piece of lettuce ( or dead tree leaves) some tank water and some sunshine or artificial light. When the water turns green, you have a culture you can continue to cultivate by adding some of the green water to a new bottle of water.
In my case, I breed larger Bettas so the fry are larger and able to eat newly hatched brine shrimp immediately. To help the smaller fry that are unable, I use a small piece of lettuce or live plant in with the pair so the male uses it to build his nest around. By the time the eggs hatch and the fry start to swim, the infusoria culture is already in there and so feeding the newly hatched brine will give the larger fry more food and the smaller fry shouldn't starve.