First attempt....

I find it doesn't make any difference if left on or off

Tonight daddy will have peace to sleep, tomorrow night is gonna be hectic!!! lol

Ohh looks like a nice full nest there too hun, good luck

Oh wow there are a lot of eggs in the bubble nest, cant wait to see how these babies grow up...excited for you

Well checked this morning and the eggs appear to be there still, doesnt look like hes had a midnight snack lol

Just as well my uncle lives in the local glasswork factory, if things go smoothly I might need a hell of a lot of jars

Ive heard arguments for and against feeding them doing this phase, got any advice here ? I'd hate to see him scoff all those eggs

And thnx Nat and Teri Im gonna need all the luck help and advice you guys can provide

Wow...lot's of eggs. Goodluck with them.

Awww congrats! Aint it amazing watching them wrapping, then collecting the eggs. I couldn't stop looking!

Well done for getting this far, hope everything goes smoothly for you!

ye I spent at least an hour an a half watching them lol. Ive been out and bought a 2 ft tank whish Im planning to split between my current male and the new one Ive bought from Kel. Ive also been offered a fluval edge from my uncle so not sure if I should keep the 2 ft tank for growing out the fry or go ahead and spit it. I suppose if I get a huge number of fry I could always move the males. Decisions decisions lol

Oh the fluval edge is a nice little tank, would be nice for grow out tank

hmm not so sure about the fluval edge i tried it, problem is you have to keep water level alot lower than the surface glass bettas panic if you fill it to max top glass and some struggle to remember where the access hole is,
also when you do this you seem to get filter problems also they can be hard to prime with lower water level ,
catching fish in them is another story hence i moved mine on to my daughter lol.

Yes I wasnt sure about the fluval myself since it only has that little gap for access. If I did use it I would use it for one of the males its a bit small for a grow out tank I think. I'd have to try it out and see as long as theres a gap of about an inch to let air circulate I'd imagine it'd be fine but as you say would need to see how that effects the filter.

I think those fluval edge tanks are really pretty but yea they got to be a nightmare to get into..

@mike, i can see what you mean about the filling to full being a problem.. it would be more trouble than its worth for bettas. Be nice as a mini community tank with neons etc.

Right they have started hatching ....omg Im in a state lol

Ive been shining a torch on the nest every few hours to have a look and I noticed one of the eggs start to fall to the floor, then it wriggled and shot back up to the nest on its own ....kept watching this time a bit more closely and I can see the tails as they swim back up lol

They just look like little white eggs with a clear tail atm, daddy is being very good collecting anything that gets to the floor and putting it back in the nest.

Great news magzmoir. Daddy seems to be working hard for you.

He'll deserve a big treat when you remove him

yep some feeding up on blood worms and a break from the chores

My poor male he must feel like he is ice skating up hill, the babies really are giving him the run around now lol

Just as hes gathered 4 - 5 from the floor and returned them more are passing him on the way down again lol

yea you can't help feeling sorry for them, they just can't keep up!

the fry are soo tiny though aren't they!

yes so small I think Im going to have to find a magnifying glass somewhere lol.

I hope I manage to look after them as well as he is atm, getting a bit nervous about when it comes time to take him out.

Ive got about 5 inches of water in the tank atm, its a 20 ltr tank. Its starting to look a bit grotty Im worried about water quality. When would it be safe to do a water change and how the heck am I gonna do that without disturbing the babies

turkey basters are a wonderful thing!

if its the bottom crud you could siphon with a bit of airline, you will have to inspect the water cupful by cupful for fry before dumping it though.

If its just to freshen the tank then I'd just take cupful at a time from the surface well away from the nest. Keep an eye on water level though with the nest moving up and down sometimes the bubbles and fry can get stuck on the tank side.

Thnx Kel gonna see if I can source a turkey baster somewhere, its mostly the crud at the bottom Im gonna do some water tests later today (its tank maintainance day so water changes for 5 tanks) it the water stats arent good I'll try changing some of the water out using the air line.

Yeah I got a lot of muck on the bottom of mine, I just syphoned off the main, then did a water change from the top - But it's so frightening those first few days I only did little bits at a time I worried about disturbing the nest! Soon as they were big enough I moved them over to a new tank with clean fresh water and they are doing much much better now!

Dus to the nature of the tank (triangular) its a pain to get anything in without disturbing the nest, hes placed it smack bang in the middle, I guess thats one point in my learning curve to take note of I might have to wait till they are free swimming before I do anything.

Also once they are free swimming is that when I can raise the water lvl again ?

Aaaaaand (last question for now I promise) when can I turn the sponge filter on ?

If you can adjust the bubble flow you can turn it on anytime very very low (i usually keep mine on the whole time) and gradually increase the rate as the fry get bigger and stronger

If not then I'd wait until they're free swimming and yes you could also raise the water level a bit then too

Thanks Kel I bought some Air line clamps but I think I will still wait till they are free swimming before I try turning the filter on

Ok removed Daddy today and put the filter on with the line clamped so theres very few bubbles. tried to syphon some of the crud off the bottom of the tank, ended up sucking up about 6 babies got the pipette out and put them back into the tank. Just hope I didnt dmg them

Only 6?

You did well and hopefully they'll be fine lol

Not easy is it :S