I have a pair of bettas who mated on friday the 28th april. the eggs are now hatched and the parents are in their own tank (with a divider between them), hes hard out making a nest and ive been feeding her up. when can i put her back in to be mated again?

Thanks.

Keep an eye on her egg tube. When it pops out she's ready to go... like a turkey indicator!

I hope this didn't just give me away as a yank and you have the same same things here - you stick it in the turkey/chicken and it pops out when it's cooked...

excellent! thanks heaps!

Keep an eye on her egg tube. When it pops out she's ready to go... like a turkey indicator!

lol.. aint nature grand?

Does this apply to Gourami as well?

B&K, thought for a while there you meant a turkey baster.

MMMMM,

Alan 104

Haven't heard of any of those turkey terms! Not native to NZ as far as I'm aware, have heard of the baster (aka big syringe right?) tho from online reading. Does the female show this tube even if she is not in sight of the male? e.g not floating in a seperate smaller tank within a larger tank that the male would be in.

The turkey thing looks like a nipple once it's popped. Works on the prinicple of the internal pressure of the cooked turkey or something.

My female betta can be in another room and still pop the egg tube, doesn't have to be anywhere near the male.

Yeah, female bettas produce eggs constantly - ie. they create them in cycles, much like female humans :lol:

This is because in the wild, male and female bettas only meet up to spawn, therefore the female must always have a set of eggs ready

So, as BlueandKim said, it does not matter where you keep your female betta - As long as she is being feed a variety of foods she will always pruduce eggs

Joel

Haven't heard of any of those turkey terms! Not native to NZ as far as I'm aware,

Tegel used to do them years ago, with the Christmas turkeys, we don't buy turkeys, horrible and dry if you overcook them, so don't know if they still do the pop up indicator thing.

Her and the male have mated again, but she still have the egg tube, did she not get rid of all her eggs? Is this bad?

Im also too scared to do water changes on the tank the babies are in, in case i suck them up coz they are so damn hard to see.

what do i do?

just leave the water a while?

I just checked my female last night and i saw this spot also, she spawned only a few days ago so I assume she's just filled with eggs again already to replenish the lost ones. How long do they usually spawn for does anyone know? When i took my female out she was hiding so I assume the male was done with her, much like humans too lol

Yeah when mine bred for the first time they did their "thing" for about an hour, then the female went and hid for a long time (approx. 45mins)...So i grabbed the net and fished her out, however, the moment i caught her several more eggs shot out while she struggled.

I have read up on the internet and most sources say it is best to leave the female in for 3 - 4hrs, unless she is being attacked relentlessly by the male.

It seems to work, i find that my female hides for long periods while the male reinforces the bubble nest with the first lot of fertilised eggs - then she re-emerges for a second and even third session. You will know when she is finally depleted of eggs because you can see that the white tube behind her ventral fins has disappeared, and she is significantly thinner than when she started.

And no, it is not bad if she dosent lay all of her eggs (unless you want the maximum yeild of fry), as she will naturally absorb the unused eggs and use their nutrients to produce the next "batch".

Joel

Oh yeah, also it is best to wait a few weeks until you do water changes i believe.

You are supposed to keep a lid on the tank as much as possible to keep the air gap above the water warm. This is to ensure the healthy development of the fighter frys' "labrynth" breathing system (allows them to breath pure air). If the air is too cold they are more likely to develop respiration deformities

Joel

Someone knocked the plug to the heater fot the betta fry (5days old) so they were in 16degree water they seemed ok but will this affect them? the water has been slowly rising up again.

They'll be fine if they survive it. I just had a similar thing happen with some glowlight tetra fry. Some may have perished but the strong ones survive. Have you got the baby brine shrimp going now 2fishy? Are they eating them? I just started to feed mine some yesterday. The fry hung around at the top for ages now there doesn't seem to be as many and they are mostly lower down, not sure if some have perished or just that they've spread out around the bowl.