My breeding diary.. Pic added

This is going to be one that goes on for months!!! Just so you are forwarned... I will be keeping a day to day one, starting from yesterday, so get ready for a long long wait


8th June..
Set up a 45 litre plastic tank, put in 30 litres of treated water, IAL, heater, plants and a sponge filter that had been in my babies tank for 2 weeks, so has got bacteria already in place.

I have decided with Kel's advice to breed my blue butterfly with my little HM Royal blue girl.. Big boy will be going into the tank later on, I will try and get pics of him before he gets dumped in there lol.. She wont be going in till friday, by then he will be used to his new home and hopefully building a nest by then.. I have the chimney sorted although not cut yet, other halves job tonight...

Not much more to add to that for today.. So more tomorrow but wish my luck guys and girls, I think I am gonna need it.............

Cool can't wait, are you adding female tomorrow hun?

No hun, she wont go in till friday.. So he has a cpl of days to get used to the new home. She will prob be let out on sunday too see what happens... The bit I am dreading lol

well im going to start tomoz to

Goodluck , I have everything crossed including my fingers and toes.

good luck - would love to see some more successful spawns

good luck teri , i love blue butterflys!!

10th june

Ok my little man isnt happy at all, he had a major sulk last night about being put in the plastic tub. No sign of any bubbles yet, fingers crossed that once little girl goes in tomorrow he will show more interest..

Poor little guy! He gone into a grump! haha. Both males I've tried in the tub have been quite happy about it, so hopefully once you add your female he will perk up a little! haha x

Well there was nothing to post yesterday..

Checked this morning and he had been busy with his nest. I have taken her out and popped her into one of my little holding tanks, he went ballistic.. Flaring, swimming around the tank at a 100 miles an hour and back to his nest. He has been like this for the last hour, guess he wants to get his fins over!!!
She however, just looks at him and turns her back.. I am going to get other half to do me a plastic bottle later on, I am useless at cutting things straight lol..
Will let you know how this progresses..

Well the plastic chimney thing aint gonna work in that plastic container lol.. Back to the breeding trap with bits stuck here there and everywhere to keep it in place..
She is starting to show a little bit of interest in him, he flares and she will flare back at him.. Might let her out for a half hour swim around tomorrow and see what goes on then.

good luck

BTW... lol

Well just a quick update....
Little girl went in yesterday, I left her overnight in her holding box... Let her out for a swim around this morning. Big boy chased after her having a go, she just swam as fast as she could away from him... Not interested in the slightest. I put her back in the holding tank and tried again later on. Nope not having it.. It had gotten to the point that she was trying to jump out of the spawning tank to get away from him. I found her on top of the IAL, so I took her out. She has gotten little bit of damage to her fins and is now back in the girls tank.
I have taken hedgehog out and put her with him. She has spawned recently so she should know what to do. She is showing alot of interest in Big boy.. We will see how it goes tomorrow..

Lol sorry Aly, I am useless with pictures and keep forgetting to take them. I will try and get some

go hedgehog! she's a lil trooper!

Poor little hedgehog is taking the brunt of his anger at the moment. I am a little worried that she is taking a fair bit of damage. They have been out together for a cpl of hours, she is getting rather nipped and trying to jump out of the water. However, we did have more signs of her being interested, well more interested than the other little royal blue one. I have put her back in her holding tank for tonight, will try again tomorrow..
Feel kinda guilty using her as she was still a little tatty from her last spawn, bless her little heart..

Aww bless her, Im sure she will be fine. Hoping they behave better for you tomorrow xx

Well good news and bad I think...

The good news..
Let hedgehog out again this morning and she went straight over to his nest, had a look and stayed put.. Started swimming around him, nose to the ground, bum in the air.. They have done it.. I seen the eggs dropping..

The not so good news..
Whilst the eggs where dropping he didnt pick them up, just went back to being busy with the nest. They have wrapped a fair few times now and each time the eggs are on the floor. Well Hedgehog has had a feast and munched most of them up. I havent taken her out as they are still at it. This has been over 2 hours now..

I cant see any eggs in the nest at all, but there again I am as blind as a bat.. How many eggs to they drop at a time and does he catch them or what?? Sorry I know that sounds dumb, but I know he should pick them up from the floor and put them back if they drop down, but dont get do they all drop down when they wrap or just some of them???

In my experience, the male only catches the ones falling. Once they're on the bottom, he'll ignore them. The female is more meticulous and picks them up off the ground. What she does next with them varies. She either eats them or pokes them back in the nest. Perhaps your male caught some that you didn't see? It's hard to tell really. Wait and see if any hatch, if not, try again!

once they are in full spawning approx 15-20 eggs will drop per wrap

is the female definately eating them, they will pick up quite a few before putting them in the nest . The female usually will help to gather them.

it's hard to see the eggs in the nest unless the male has bunched them up together then you will see them as an off white blob amongst the bubbles.

it is rare that the female will eat the eggs during spawning..

UNLESS...

the eggs aren't fertilised properly, then she will readily eat them .. if they get it right after the first lot of wrapping attempts she should start to put the healthy eggs into the nest.

Teri remember I said my girl did that too, I thought she was eating the eggs, then she start going up to the nest. Great news, fingers crossed!

Well poor little hedgehog is back with the girls, she escaped from the holding tank so she is just hiding quietly under a plant out of the way. She doesnt look too bad, but she dont look fantastic either.
He however, has taken very little damage, slight chunk out of his anal fin but other than that fine.. Still dont know if there are eggs in there, but have a batch of bbs on the go just in case


Thanks Mand hun

Well checked on him this morning and the nest has all but gone.. Guess that spawn is a no go then....

Awwwwwwwwwwww sorry hun

The joys of breeding lol.. Will get the new tank set up later on and try with a different pair... At least I now know how violent this fish breeding can be...