Sarah's Diary

When is the time to remove him is it when they are swimming about,

When they are free-swimming hun, he will be stressed at this point. So loads of tlc.

oki dokey, thanks very much, hes been a good dad so far, hope he dont get peckish and eat them

Any little tails hanging.

cant see any yet

Just been and had another closer look at the nest and i can se some teeny tiny tails sticking out of the nest cant believe how tiny they are, hes working like a trooper keeping them up there, hes going to get pampered when his job is done, im really pleased we even got this far i just didnt expect to,
How many days from now until they will be swimming

Could be as soon as tongiht

It's usually 2-3 days after hatch before they're free swimming, it depends on temperature quite a bit.

by tonight they should start to get active and keep falling to the bottom and they'll spiral in circles as they try to swim

Congrats Sarah, looks like both our spawns have the same birthday! :-) Hope you're little wrigglers are doing well this afternoon.

They seem to be ok, just been watching him for the past hour trying to put a dead fry in the nest it just keeps falling out and he keeps putting it back, he seems to be on auto pilot, noticed one or 2 trying to have a swim.

AWWWWWWWW have you got loads?

Its hard to tell, trying to cound those tiny tails is hard, i dont have the best eye sight even with my glasses on, whats the usual head count on a spawn and do alot of the weaker ones die in the first few days,

How are we doing this morning?

All looks good just got in from work and had a peek one baby was swimming at the surface away from the nest, the male soon scooped it up and put it back, havnt seen any more away from nest, do they leave the nest area when they are able to swim

Yer the will just scoot off lol.

Fantastic cant wait, will be glad when i can remove the male, i worry he may eat them, but so far hes been great

There is loads of debris on the bottom of the tank, when is it safe to remove it, and should i leave the live plants in there for the young, they are what i put in for the female to hide,

Live plants are GOOD. The babies will hang around them.

The plants also provide infusoria for the fry to eat so definately good to have.

you get the most die offs in the first 2-3 weeks

egg count 100-200 average and 30 to adult is a respectable average spawn for breeders although as people find on occasion you can end up with 100+ baby bettas. This is much more common with vt's though but still possible with all types.

I will usually try to do a siphon/turkey baster clean before the babies are free swimming if the male is relaxed with me at the tank.. just because it's easier when the babies are still in the one spot compared to all over the place.

Many people don't clean out for the first 2 weeks but do keep an eye on water stats.. even if you can't get at the crud you can still scoop water out and replace.

Expect to siphon up fry so inspect the water you remove and pippette the fry back into the tank.

Lol and remember.. Spit dont swallow, you dont want to be eating babies now do you!!!!!!

Congratulations again hun

Lol thanks i will be sure to spit lol

Finally managed to get a picture of the fry, hope you can make them out, so hard to focus on something so small

yea you can see the little black 'v's in the middle bubble

looking good hun

Looks like a reasonable size spawn too hun... Well done

They are swimming quite well now, do you think i should remove male tomorrow, they will be 3 days old then, think some have already left the nest and taken cover in the plants, seen a few swi off without him noticing.