Four Week Old Betta Fry

This little guy/girl (still too soon to tell) is hunting for food... well not so much hunting as watching it intently before snapping it up. Which is what he/she did right after this picture was taken.

They seem to enjoy hanging out near the Mystery Snail that lives in the tank with them. I am not sure, but I think it is because something he excretes is edible to them. One day I saw as many as two or three with a lip lock on him before going for a ride all about the tank when they were about a week old or so.

If you look at the snail closely in this picture you can see the little white wormy looking things. They are growing naturally in my tank thanks to some plants I picked up at PetSmart a few days before the spawn. They are food for the fry, as of yet I have not had to introduce any outside food source for them.

In this picture the fry is seen coming to the surface for air. At around 4 weeks their labyrinth organ begins to develop. You can see the tiny bubbles that they have been busy blowing all over the place in the last day or two.

Hard to see the fry in this image. To put it in perspective the gravel is the regular size aquarium variety. The fry is located in the center of the picture.

Babies Grow Up So Fast

3 Fry at the base of the plant

The baby Betta's are now three weeks old. At day 4 after they began to hatch I removed the male, had I removed him a day sooner I may have more fry swimming about.Turns out to be a happy mistake because I only have the one ten gallon tank, and a dozen or so fry is the perfect number.
Another happy incident that actually occurred two days prior to the spawn was the purchase of some plants at the local PetSmart. I noticed a day or so after the fry began to hatch that my tank was full, and I do mean FULL of teeny tiny white bugs. There were long skinny (in comparison) ones and short round ones. They were best seen with a magnifying glass... a little research educated me that they are a normal part of tank life, but the best part is that they are natural first food for baby Betta's!
Three weeks later the bugs are all but gone... the larger ones anyway. I can still see small ones with my magnifying glass. The fry are growing very well... some are bigger than others which is interesting to me. The all hatched at the same time, have lived in the same tank, eaten the same kind of food, yet there are some that are noticeably larger than others. One in particular is very small, about the size it was at 3 days old. I call it the runt... doubt he/she will survive. :(

Life in the Betta Tank video shows how they were doing about a week ago.

Rice and Beans

My church has challenged the congregation to eat nothing but rice and beans and drink only tap water for 5 days. It is to give us a better understanding of how people in third world countries eat. The money we save on groceries and eating out will be spent on getting them more food and hopefully clean drinking water.
I missed breakfast this morning as I had an early class and not enough time to cook up some rice. The picture is of my lunch that I am working on eating while writing this blog.... I am getting a better understanding all ready.
Can somebody please pass me some salt?

Betta Love

Today I am sharing with you my hobby of breeding Betta fish
first the tank needs to be set up. Temp is kept between 80-82 degrees, Styrofoam cup cut lengthwise for the male to blow the bubble nest under.

The Bubble nest

The female Betta after a day of "courting"

The Spawning

The eggs hatched the day after spawning. This picture was taken when the babies were Two days old. The male moved the bubble nest from below the cup to the front of the tank.

Here you can see the young falling out of the nest. They kept the male very busy for about three days until they were able to swim on their own.

You have to look closely to see them but here are pictures taken today of the five day old babies. I took the male out two days ago, but I think he had already munched on a few as I have only been able to count 9-10 of them.

The babies are the tiny brownish spots with a black dot on them. Clicking on the pic will open it up larger so that they are easier to see.