Popsicool

My poor little babies, I have to watch some of them dying and I don't know what to do. It breaks my heart. They lie on the bottom, kind of on an angle/side with their mouths wide open and look like they are trying to breathe really hard. But they're still swimming around. Does that have anything to do with ventrals? Do some fish just produce fry with bad genes? I.e. since this batch seems to be dying off, I shouldn't mate the two parents again? Down to 13 now and another couple are doing the open mouth thing.

Congratulations! Yeah I read that in quite a few places as well. Apparently they fry gorge themselves on it which causes the problems..

Adrienne would you mind pointing me in the right direction for hatched bbs? Thank you!

A lot of mine spent a lot of time on their bellies but I think it's because they are looking for food? They all swim properly though at times. Are belly sliders ALWAYS on their bellies? They haven't learnt to swim?

Already bought it as soon as you said

Thank you Adrienne - any tips on how to stop losing them? I'm religious with water changes and recently did a 95% change when I noticed they started dying. I don't think ammonia is a problem. I also make sure there's always little wriggling worms on the bottom should they get hungry. What about tips on getting them switched onto frozen food instead of live?

Thanks, I love taking photos of them, they are fascinating. Here is a new one, you can see how the fins have developed, it's amazing. I have a huge problem though... they're dying. They are 4 weeks old tomorrow and I wasn't worried when nature was doing its selection in the beginning but is it normal that they are still dying?? I noticed a week ago, every couple of days there would be a decomposing little body on the bottom, a couple had a red dot on their head. I Googled and apparently it's a bacterial infection so I did a 95% water change, added just a touch of Wunder Tonic and the 15 of them seemed happy for a few days. Now a couple of days ago again. This morning another one! I'm down to 13. I noticed sometimes one of them hangs around on the bottom (well, they mostly all do), looking like he's breathing heavily and sometimes swimming around with its mouth wide open, not closing it. It looks weird, is it a hint that something's not right? I clean their tank every day, sometimes just suck up the stuff from the bottom but most days at least 10-20% water change. They seem really active and happy, love hunting their little microworms - until I find them just lying on the bottom of the tank decomposing!! Help - any idea what's happening and what I can do?? I read that possibly the microworms could be introducing harmful bacteria into the water. So since they're 4 weeks tomorrow, this morning I finely grated some frozen bloodworms to see if they'll have those instead. They don't seem interested, a few have even swum through them and didn't have a chomp. Is it too early to try bloodworms and if not, is there a special way to make them interested? Sorry for another novel of a post, I don't want to lose my babies. Thank you in advance.

Thank you Katrina! Mine will be two weeks tomorrow and they are looking great. I've loved watching them grow. Today I observed them "catching" their nematodes, chewing them (their little mouths moving!), and I even got to see a fish yawn and a poo. It probably all sounds very silly but it's amazing to watch them growing up from nothing to almost fish! What about yours? What fish did you breed and how are the babies doing? Here is a photo update of my two-week-old-tomorrow babies..

Thank you for the tips, I think I'm getting the hang of it now!! Managed to snap this little thing this morning so things are looking good!! I'm now no longer worrying, everything seems to be working as it should.

Oh and P.S. what are liquifry for egg layers or green water?

Thank you Adrienne. I went with my gut feeling and removed the father a couple of hours ago. He didn't seem to be looking after them anymore and there were only about 10 or so left in the bubble nest and their tails weren't hanging down. Also, I think he was starting to eat them.... So now my problem is - I've put the microworms in there but the microworms are at the bottom of the tank and the fry are on the surface of the water. How will they catch on that they need to go to the bottom for food? Or am I doing something wrong here. Maybe my fry are actually dying? But they're swimming! Argh, confused!

What a horrible thing to do to want to flush him because his fins are no longer good looking. That makes me mad. :evil: However, gold star to you for taking him and looking after him. Hope the little guy's doing well. x

Update... It's been 48 hours since the eggs hatched but a whole bunch (around 30 or so) of the little guys have left the bubble nest and are "swimming" around the tank! A lot of them are mostly just floating on top of the water (horizontally) and zipping around on the surface every once in a while, a lot are using the tank walls to help them get around but a few are actually SWIMMING! Does this mean they are "free swimming" or are they just stupid ones that will die because they left the bubble nest too early? And if they are actually free swimming already, should I start feeding them? But how does one do that since they are on the surface and microworms will fall and wriggle on the bottom of the tank! All the ones that are still in the bubble nest are no longer hanging with their tails down but are also horizontal. What's going on? They are not following the plan! What do I do?

Thank you Caryl! Their 30l glass aquarium is covered with two pieces of glass with a small gap for heater cable and to attach the lamp. The main things I'm worried about now are: pump and water. Some say you NEED a pump, some say you mustn't introduce one until two weeks of age. Same with water, some say 50% change every day, some say don't touch it for two weeks!! Also, can someone help me with this please - the water changes should be done with aged water. How does one age water?? Is making sure it's the same temperature and adding Stress Coat and Stress Zyme enough??

Thank you brad3d, glad you enjoyed it. NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH!!! This morning I went to check on my babies and at 7:30 there was still nothing. I checked again just now (10:30) and we have wiggly tails and little black body/heads!!! Only about 10 that I can see but I think they're still hatching. The photos turned out atrocious so I won't bother posting - yet! THe panic is kicking in...

Just a few photos as promised... Here's my stud, Bentley. He's a black-ish head blue body, blue fins with peeks of pink - veil tail I think? Nothing fancy but he's my first fish and my little baby. Here is the little miss, a very impulse buy while picking up a Cory from HFF on Saturday. No idea what sort she is, would appreciate some help identifying her. She's has red fins with copper/reddish body. This is the set-up of their LOVE SHACK! The "deed" happened around 11am-12pm yesterday (Monday) morning, and here my darling boy dutifully guarding his little nest: I keep checking for little wriggling tails but nothing yet. You can be sure there will be a continuation in photographs as we progress. Thank you for looking

Thank you Josh!!! I love Betty Splendens, I'm friends with her on Facebook, she has some amazing photos up... PMing you now!

Thank you! It's unbelievably exciting seeing Mother Nature work her magic right in front of my eyes! Now I just don't want to disappoint Mother Nature.

You might remember my from my post about Bentley the potential fin rot victim. Well if you check out that post, he is fine! It was just his curiosity that's getting him in trouble. I'll preface this story by saying I've only had a Betta (or any kind of fish at all!) for 2-3 months. Anyway, on Saturday I was in HFF and I "accidentally" bought a Betta girl. Not sure what I was thinking, not like I had a spare tank for her or anything but you do the strangest things when your relationship is falling apart. So, I popped her into Bentley's tank into a separate plastic breeding trap thing and I couldn't believe the interest they were both showing in each other!! The following morning I woke up to find a massive bubble nest in the corner of his tank so I figured something needs to be done. Back to HFF, picked up a 30l simple glass tank and a heater, set them up (her in her little floating plastic tank, him free to swim around). Even had to go to Foodtown to get a polystyrene cup! Sheesh! :roll: He was very slow blowing bubbles so I figured he was a bit depressed about his first one being destroyed but when I woke up in the morning, woe and behold, bubbles galore!! Was very exciting. I syphoned all the grit from the bottom (mostly her poo, geez that girl poos a lot!) and let them at it. First hour it was just dancing and teasing. Then they started embracing but there were no eggs! I was freaking out that he was too small or she didn't have eggs (even though she was displaying vertical stripes and her little white egg tube was poking out). I was googling the no egg issue when all of a sudden, an egg fell down! It was a slow start, one or two eggs per embrace but I thought they're newbies and would get better. But then I realised there was 10 eggs on the ground, nobody was picking them up!! He wasn't popping them up in the bubble nest and she wasn't either (but nor she was eating them which was nice). So started googling about male not picking up eggs. Half an hour later, he finally caught onto it!!! I was as proud as a mother would be So they went at it for another hour, now getting around 10 eggs with each embrace and all nicely tucked up into the bubble nest. After a while it looked like they had enough. I was waiting for him to attack her but he wouldn't. They were just kind of hanging out! She'd even help him pick up a few eggs. After about half an hour of them not going for it again and not wanting to tear each other's heads of either, I took her out. She was in excellent shape, wasn't ripped or sad looking.. Anyway, final chapter of the story (apologies for the novel), Bentley is now very conscientiously looking after the eggies. The thing is, I'm not toooo certain what to do from here so I have a few questions. 1. Obviously when the fry start free swimming (around day 3) I will need to start feeding them. Is Microworms the best option? Can someone recommend where to get them from? There is a man named Greg from Mangere on Trademe - is that a good option? 2. I currently don't have a filter/pump in the spawning tank. Do I need one and what should I get? 3. I'm planning on changing the water at least twice a day (by carefully syphoning waste from the bottom, making sure I don't catch any of the little guys!). Is that enough/ok/too much? 4. How long do I keep feeding them microworms and what then?? Like I said, this all happened in a 30l tank - will that be enough for the fry to grow and for how long? Help help help please!!! A serious newbie fish keeper here but I just got very very lucky! :bounce: Any advice or tips is appreciated. Once I've downloaded photos from my phone and camera, I'll give you a peak. Thank you all in advance!

Thanks again to everyone for their help, thought I'd post an update. Furan2 treatment sounded too hard out for something that I wasn't even sure was fin rot since Bentley way very active and happy looking! I just gave him one dose of Wunder Tonic and kept observing. I noticed more of the milky-clear growth on the ends and figured phoenix44 was probably right saying the fins are just repairing themselves! I've been observing him a lot more since and he really does keep squeezing himself through the tightest spots! It's like his little hobby. :roll: So it seems the fin damage is purely from having too much fun, which is ok with me! On another topic, I "accidentally" bought him a little girlfriend yesterday so we're playing the mating game. Off to post, with a million questions, in the newly discovered Anabantoids subforum!

Thank you pink_fish. You're right, he seems very healthy going by his behaviour. He is super active and would eat all day long if I was willing to feed him. I fed him a lot this morning just to make sure he's happy and well nourished and then I was checking out some plants through an open top early afternoon and he came over and started jumping out of the water thinking there was more food happening!! Sheesh.. He does also love squeezing himself into tiny spots between driftwood and glass so that could be it. I guess I'll keep him on the Tonic for another week and as long as he doesn't get worse, furan2 will have to wait. Wish us luck and I'll update how we go! As for the pH, I was told the pH needs to be around 7 for the fighters. Will he be ok if it establishes itself around 6 instead?!

It dropped from 7 a week or so ago to 6.6 yesterday, and today it's in between 6.0 and 6.4. Water conditions seem great from what I can see. Water is beautifully clear and there are no algae at all. The only thing I can note is jelly-like white buildup around the rubber top part of my heater - I understand this is non-harmful bacterial as a result of this being quite a new tank? I generally pick it off with my hand when I do water changes. You could definitely be right about the tail just being cut and healing but it that in conjunction with the generally tattiness returning has me worried. Especially after all the ends started evening out so nicely after first treatment.. GAH. I love the little guy and it's stressing me out to think he's unwell!

Moya - thank you for sharing your experience. I always keep his water flow very low to try emulate the natural conditions. I only make it stronger for a short while when adding the medicine so it mixes it around nicely. phoenix - what makes you say so? I'm thinking the milky white ends and disappearance and then reappearance of tattiness confirm it.. Josh - only thing is driftwood which he LOVES playing around. But again the fact that that his fins were regrowing and ends evened out after first treatment and now it's tatty again leads to be believe that's not the cause.. Any ideas on the pH mystery drop?

I set up a new tank which I can hopefully transfer Bentley into tomorrow. BUT, I just tested the pH in his current tank and it's dropped significantly since yesterday! Even yesterday it was lower than a week prior. It's down to 6.0-6.4. What's going on - what does my pH keep dropping so drastically?! Could the Tonic be causing it?

Thank you!! Back to the fish farm it is...