Spawning behavior?

[Becca]

Sam kindly bestowed upon me a group of Betta Patoti - what appears to be 3 males and 1 female. They are being temporarily held in my 29 gallon while I work on the whiskey barrel pond that will be their eventual home.

Tonight I was watching them and noticed what I first took for aggression. I crept closer to the tank and noticed that one of the males was flashing his colored bands brightly at the female, both of them flaring gills. The two of them are pursuing each other around the tank now, with occasional interest from the other males. I've seen the male swim vertically next to the female a few times (head up, tail down), which is certainly an interesting behavior to watch.

At present they seem to be trying to curl up in the corner together. They've been with me less than a week - is this spawning behavior or wishful thinking?

 

[zackcrack00]

Very nice. Maybe just territorial behaviour. Congratulations, either way.

 

[Tony]

Awesome! Congrats.

Were they doing this? (not my fish, just a Youtube video I found)

[YT]zomYHDlLbI0[/YT]

 

[Becca]

They aren't doing that just yet - it looks more like they're getting warmed up for that. This morning I came downstairs and the largest male seemed to have joined the party. The middle-sized male is less-than interested. My take is that the female (who has a HUGE belly) is interested and the males are competing for her affections.

The smallest male is making the biggest show of it and she seems most interested in him. The big male is a little less of a Cassanova and shows considerably less effort in his dance moves. The little guy is darting all over around her, fanning his fins out and flaring his gills, twirling around, etc. He's giving it the ol' college-try. I was almost late to work this morning because I couldn't take my eyes off them. SO interesting to watch.

 

[Becca]

Um, yeah, came home tonight and saw some eggs flying around the tank. LOL. At least they tried. The female seems to have picked the smaller male with the moves like Jagger, but the other males won't leave them be.

I wish I had someplace else to put the other males for the time being, but my quarantine tank is occupied and I'm still working on sealing the whiskey barrel and soaking the liner for it.

I guess I could put the big boys in 5-gallon buckets, though the interference might stop the lovebirds in their tracks anyway.

 

[zackcrack00]

Congratulations, and oh well, better luck next time! I really want to breed Halfmoon bettas, but I dont even know what to do it in! I guess I could use my 5 gallon, but.... Is that large enough?

 

[Becca]

Awesome! Congrats.

Were they doing this? (not my fish, just a Youtube video I found)

[YT]zomYHDlLbI0[/YT]

Um, Tony, I'm watching them do this right now... Feels kind of dirty :wub:

I have a feeling that this go-round will be an epic fail, but at least I know there's a pair in t here.

 

[Becca]

Congratulations, and oh well, better luck next time! I really want to breed Halfmoon bettas, but I dont even know what to do it in! I guess I could use my 5 gallon, but.... Is that large enough?

Z - were you @ last month's meeting? Speaker said that was big enough and to fill a jar near to the top with water and put it in the center of a half-filled tank. Put the male in the tank and the female in the jar. When she's ready, she'll jump. If you find her in the tank and they're not actively spawning, odds are they're done. Remove her and put her back in her own tank, then watch and wait.

 

[zackcrack00]

I thought fish wouldn't jump like that! That's amazing! I will grow out my fry in the 5, and then get a great pair of bettas. I had to miss last meeting because of a lacrosse game. I will be at this meeting selling fry and maybe java moss! !!! That reminds me, I've got to go to mygroupauctions to register my stuff! What time do I need to drop my auction items off to be sold? No worries, I am staying for the whole auction and meeting, (Especially this one because I might try another type of SA dwarf Cichlid) and I was wondering what time I had to be there! Thanks for the advice, BTW!

 

[Becca]

Ask Tony?

I thought fish wouldn't jump like that!

I wish they didn't - might've stopped my Paradise fish from taking a nosedive into the trash can after I'd left work on Friday!

What time do I need to drop my auction items off to be sold?

Not a dang clue, I'm pretty new to this myself!

You're welcome for the recap!

 

[jonclark96]

Auction items should be pre registered on mygroupauctions.com. Please have them checked by one of the BOD members and placed on the front table prior to the start of the speaker's program.

 

[zackcrack00]

Thanks!

 

[Tony]

Becca - If the eggs were flying around, could there be too much flow in the tank for them? Watching male tryign to pick up the eggs in the video, they don't seem to be the most nimble fish out there.

What else is in the tank with them?

 

[Becca]

Becca - If the eggs were flying around, could there be too much flow in the tank for them? Watching male tryign to pick up the eggs in the video, they don't seem to be the most nimble fish out there.

What else is in the tank with them?

I unplugged the filter as soon as I noticed the eggs and that seemed to help.

Initially they were trying to spawn near the surface of the water which means the eggs were dropping down to the bottom of the tank and scattering as they went. Later in the evening they figured out that staying closer to the substrate made things a little easier. They were at it FOR HOURS - at least until the light went out around 10pm.

What I found interesting is that the rival male very carefully sought out and picked up the eggs that the spawning male missed while the male who made no advances pretty much ignored the goings on in the tank.

The female was much slimmer this morning and the male was fluffing his chin out a bit, so maybe he didn't eat all of the eggs yet.

Also interesting, the pair was still hanging out together this morning and the female seemed to be sort of protecting the male.

The tank has 4 patotis, 2 cory cats, and 1 little oil cat who hides when the light is on. I was planning to move the bettas to the barrel pond this weekend but now I'm afraid to put a net in the tank.

Heck... now I'm afraid to even feed them.