The parent are:

Male - Black Red Copper Dragon HMPK
Female - Black Green Lace HMPK

The pair have been pre conditioned for breeding for the last month, with both being fed a mix between dry food, live food and blood worms. The female was sporting a bulging belly full of eggs (she had been resting from the Lace Spawn) and the male was ready to go flaring his days in the aquarium after he had successfully rested himself well enough after the Copper spawn.

The choice to outbreed these two different bettas was carried out for various reasons, such as the promotion of the best genes resident in both of these fish i.e. taking the best of the genes of both and having them meet in the spawn result. The spawn will not only sport both genes, having both gene carriers and phenotypes but it will also improve the best traits of them both. The female green lace is definitely riddled with a good number of genetic backgrounds, making it possible to produce more than one variation of colour (as per the results in the Lace spawn). The male, apart from being a dragon which is a bonus, has shown his capability as a parent, but not only, he is also a robust fish with a very nice example of shortfinned HalfMoon finnage.

It would have been too tempting to wait even for just another day, and infact yesterday the female was introduced in the breeding tank. Female was left in the glass flute for one day, and this evening she was released. The pair exceeded my expectations when just after two minutes they started to spawn. The bubble nest was ready and waiting to be filled even before the female was released. The female was willing to breed as soon as the release took place. This was not a rough breeding after all, female got out a little bit battered but she was much worse after her first spawn..definitely she will regain all her health fortunately enough!

The couple were at it for three hours, after which the female resorted to hiding under a piece of bogwood. She was netted out soon after, and the male seems comfortable enough with taking care of what seems to be a not very numerous spawn but what is expected to be a very health bunch of bettas.

I shall update this thread with photo updates, with hopefully the first set of photos by tomorrow.

Edited by - Tinkerbell on February 27 2010 00:08:13

Edited by - ryan13mt on February 27 2010 09:28:44

@chrischristopher - Don't worry, haven't forgot you.

@ryan13mt - You are very welcome to check out the classified that are coming soon.

I will be having more in the classifieds periodically.
Thanks.

VERA

By tomorrow, it is expected that all eggs will be hatched. Up to now the male is being the exemplary parent he is known to be, picking up the few newly born fry that fall from the nest and putting them back in.

Noticeably, the male has been fed during his caring of this spawn. As stated in previous posts on other threads, I always avoided feeding the male while tending the nest, but this time I decided to test feeding him as he is a very good parent. Infact, the male did eat the food but continued to take care of the nest as if nothing happened. So basically, the trend of not feeding the male while tending the nest boils down to seperate cases when the male is not acceptant of such an intrusion.

A video update will follow.

To say the least, I don't know where to begin really with this spawn. Some amazing results have been noted in growth rate to which I have no answers how they could have happened to be so. In just 15 days, these youngsters have grown up much bigger than expected and than the other previous two spawns. The fry are boasting a bellyful of whatever they are finding infront of them in the tank. Anything that happens to cross their path is gulped down immediately, while these fry are constantly on the hunt foraging.

A different approach was taken as in feeding. This time, instead of starting this spawn with microworms, the tank was filled with infusoria and daphnia. As per last week, the youngsters already had bellyfulls of infusoria meanwhile the daphnia was left to multiply in the tank. From last week to today, the fry have been feasting on both infusoria and the baby daphnias, chasing them incessantly and gobbling them down. Vinegar eels and bbs have also been added to the tank, providing a surplus of food for the smaller ones. The development rate is by far the fastest I have ever experience. Already there are fins, clear eye formation, spine and mouth / head shape to be clearly seen. It's a joy to see tiny caudals scuttering by.

The fact that this spawn is quite a small spawn in number must also be noted so perhaps that does also it's part towards the faster development of the fry. However, it's a definite good result to have started them on infusoria and daphnia rather than microworms.

Details of fins, eyes, full belly and mouth already developed.

The daphnia chase - a definite good meal!

Side profile of a youngster - just adorable.