Adrienne

congratulations again!! they looked great the time I saw them, fascinating the way they seemed to hover.

When are you going away? If they don't have to be fed every day I could probably come do it.

Thanks again for your help - its this sort of advice that can not be obtained from the lfs and from websites thats so valuable to people belonging to this site.

Thanks for your help Warren. I am hoping to set this tank up in the house where we live so really don't want the tank letting go. How thick would the poly for this need to be? I have one more question for you - I already have 3 120cm X 30cm X 30cm tanks in my back shed set up on a wooden stand and the only thing under them is poly - they have water only in them and fish (of course). Am I lucky that these haven't been damaged or leaked?

I have 120cmX45cmX45cm braced tank. If I want to use it for cichlids and all the rocks/slate that they need do I need to have a stand that has a solid top to it or can I have a metal or wooden stand that it sits into with poly underneath so that just the edges are supported.

Yep , Dixons right, definately snail eggs and they won't be the only ones, just the ones you've seen so far.

I have 10 betta tanks and everyone of them has bristlenose in them - never a problem and they keep the algae off the glass.

As the female becomes closer to being ready for breeding she will flare at the male, it may be time to put her in with him. Put her in the tank inside a container for a little bit. When she is flaring at him release her - she will either follow him straight to the bubble nest or she may just swim around a bit. As long as neither fish is being torn to shreds just leave them be. The female may get a few bits out of her fins but nothing major. If you pop her in now and release her later this evening you may find they spawn early morning - leave a low powered light on so they can just see each other. Once they have spawned remove her and about 24-36 hours after the eggs hatch (use a magnifying glass) remove the male as well. If you don't have a ready supply of bbs I'd put it on now. Microworms are good as well for the first few days and also liquifry for egg laying fish. You will find that once the female has bred she will never go back to being as light in colour as she was before. Good luck

Both male and female bettas are peaceful fish, just not two males together - then theres trouble. However guppies are known to be a pain in the neck and if they wind the bettas up they will retaliate. Are we talking a male guppy or female.

would say thats shes definately a female

yep, thats me

whoops I meant are you goldbird5 on tm. if so the site you need is www.bcbetta.com this is the site I used when I first started over 2 years ago. breeding these fish is like a lottery, you can end up with none or hundreds. I had 300 eggs plus last week, 5 hatched and are still swimming around. not all eggs are always fertile, fry can die for no apparent reason. not all spawning attempts are successful - if nothing happens within about 24-36 hours after releasing the female, remove her and try again in about a week - 11 days. fighters can breed again successfully after 3 days but 11 days gives them time to regain condition and the female to heal if she has been knocked around a bit which can happen, depending on the nature of the male.

hey - are you goldfish on tm? Some males don't build a bubble nest until spawning begins. If you have more than one male scoop some of the other males bubble nest into the cup and it may encourage the male to blow one. Or you can try dropping the temp of the tank and then raising it again. If a cold weather front is coming it will help but I know from experience that that is a rare experience in Timaru (having lived there for 11 years).

next time you try put her inside a container within the tank with the male for at least 24 hours, it will give her time to egg up properly while hes building his nest. when she starts flaring back at the male after this time release her. if you wait long enough (you need to be patient) she won't get badly knocked around although he will still nip at her a bit most likely. In saying this I have been breeding for over two years now and a couple of weeks ago came home to a dead female - killed by the male. www.bcbetta.com - excellent site, good clear precise instructions. www.bettatalk.com? I think thats it.

She has released all her eggs without them being fertilised because you removed her and she must have been ready for the male to spawn with her. Wait about 11 days, feeding her and the male well during this time, and while you are waiting look for information on breeding betta splendens on the web site. There is a huge amount of info on the web, then you will know how to go about it properly and understand why she was being knocked about by the male. When breeding any fish it is important that you research first and understand the consequences of breeding, particularly with fighters where I have had over 300 eggs hatch from a single spawn. It is hard work and very time consuming to raise these fish properly.

Thats all right steve, don't feel bad, I left school 31 years ago!!!! Didn't realise how young most of those on this forum were until I saw this a few days ago.

We've just had a major leak at the house we rent out. not fish related though. The insurance company has said that because it wasn't caused by an accident (the pipe let go), just like a tank lets go, it is not covered by insurance as its classed as wear and tear and that is not covered. The wet carpet would normally be covered under the owners contents insurance not the tenants. Definately check but your landlords should have house and contents insurance and should tell the insurance company that it is rented out.

The female will just release any surplus eggs into the tank. It won't hurt her in any way. They carry eggs all the time as in the wild they have to be ready to breed whenever they come across a male. I have had females full of eggs drop all of them when they see a male without any being fertilised with no ill effects.

If you can't get another couple of tanks (at least) I'd just leave them alone. You need lots of tanks if they spawn anyway so leave it to luck.

if you have carbon in your filters remove it while treating the tank

might it be a genetic thing? I know I am really struggling with my ct male and ct female to have a successful spawn - he dumps the eggs on the ground or eats them so I am assuming they are not fertile.

How long can they live in a tank that size for?

Looking better than ever - how big are they now and do you have a 50/50 split as to males/females?

At least you have one nice red male to replace the father. Is the second one a copper or red and I'm assuming from the look of it its female?

can't help you but I had the same problem until about two weeks ago and it all died! Heres hoping the same thing happens to your duckweed.