Way before I ever discovered the world of handmade soap and turned into an addict, I fell in love with bettas. I've been keeping and breeding them for several years now, although I'm scaling way back on the breeding side for now.
They're a bit trickier than livebearing fish to spawn, they're bubblenesters and highly aggressive. The courtship and mating process is brutal, sometimes resulting in damage to one or both of the parents, and the female has to be removed from the spawning tank as soon as they're finished, otherwise she'll snack on the eggs. The males construct a nest of bubbles where the eggs stay until they hatch, and he'll tend the eggs until they hatch then care for the fry until they're free-swimming. When they first hatch they're unable to swim on their own, so the male has to keep them up in the nest so that they don't drown. The little fry make his life difficult as they get restless, wriggling and dislodging themselves from the bubblenest and keeping the poor male in perpetual motion to catch the almost constant rain of fry.
Once the young are free-swimming, the male has to come out or he'll start eating them. The fry can live together until they start to reach maturity (typically 6-8 weeks), then they have to be separated to keep them from maiming and killing each other.
Anyway, enough babbling, pics!
One of my favorite males, he's a copper halfmoon,
A pair during the conditioning process prior to being spawned, they can see each other at this point but they're not able to hurt each other through the glass (and that particular female is a vicious little heifer):
Poor tired male getting ready to scoop up one of the fry to return it to the nest:
One of my plakat (short finned) males patrolling under his nest. They're difficult to see, but there are tiny little transparent fry tails hanging down under the nest:
Same male, if you look very closely you'll spot a couple of the fry:
His kiddos:
Poor tired copper/red/black halfmoon male after being removed from the spawning tank. He's thin because he refuses food while he's babysitting, and those unruly kids keep him on the go almost nonstop. A day or so after being moved back into his own tank and being fed some good food, he perks back up and looks like his old self:
His usual perky self. One of the neat things about copper bettas is that their copper shows different with and without a flash. In the right lighting, a copper can look pure purple in pics, it can look greenish, or it can look orange-y:
One of his fry at a couple weeks old:
Growing up fast:
At 6 weeks old:
Some of them outside in the "big kid" growout ponds:
Their first bachelor pad apartments, they eventually grow into the jars being completely filled, then they're moved into their adult homes as they mature:
Copper crowntail male:
Turquoise halfmoon male:
Anyway, that's what I'm doing when I'm not making soap or working on the kiddo's school, those guys all require frequent water changes to stay healthy, so they keep me busy.
They're a bit trickier than livebearing fish to spawn, they're bubblenesters and highly aggressive. The courtship and mating process is brutal, sometimes resulting in damage to one or both of the parents, and the female has to be removed from the spawning tank as soon as they're finished, otherwise she'll snack on the eggs. The males construct a nest of bubbles where the eggs stay until they hatch, and he'll tend the eggs until they hatch then care for the fry until they're free-swimming. When they first hatch they're unable to swim on their own, so the male has to keep them up in the nest so that they don't drown. The little fry make his life difficult as they get restless, wriggling and dislodging themselves from the bubblenest and keeping the poor male in perpetual motion to catch the almost constant rain of fry.
Once the young are free-swimming, the male has to come out or he'll start eating them. The fry can live together until they start to reach maturity (typically 6-8 weeks), then they have to be separated to keep them from maiming and killing each other.
Anyway, enough babbling, pics!
One of my favorite males, he's a copper halfmoon,
A pair during the conditioning process prior to being spawned, they can see each other at this point but they're not able to hurt each other through the glass (and that particular female is a vicious little heifer):
Poor tired male getting ready to scoop up one of the fry to return it to the nest:
One of my plakat (short finned) males patrolling under his nest. They're difficult to see, but there are tiny little transparent fry tails hanging down under the nest:
Same male, if you look very closely you'll spot a couple of the fry:
His kiddos:
Poor tired copper/red/black halfmoon male after being removed from the spawning tank. He's thin because he refuses food while he's babysitting, and those unruly kids keep him on the go almost nonstop. A day or so after being moved back into his own tank and being fed some good food, he perks back up and looks like his old self:
His usual perky self. One of the neat things about copper bettas is that their copper shows different with and without a flash. In the right lighting, a copper can look pure purple in pics, it can look greenish, or it can look orange-y:
One of his fry at a couple weeks old:
Growing up fast:
At 6 weeks old:
Some of them outside in the "big kid" growout ponds:
Their first bachelor pad apartments, they eventually grow into the jars being completely filled, then they're moved into their adult homes as they mature:
Copper crowntail male:
Turquoise halfmoon male:
Anyway, that's what I'm doing when I'm not making soap or working on the kiddo's school, those guys all require frequent water changes to stay healthy, so they keep me busy.
