Tuesday, June 28, 2011
WOOOOOO!
Two new fish are coming. First time fish have been sent to me. Their coming from a wonderful breeder in the US. I am excited and it has made my day a little better. :)
Monday, June 27, 2011
Might be buying another girl...
I have been meaning to get a good breeding straight HM female for a while, and I might get her partner too. Hopefully I can get a good spawn if I get them and breed them. Pictures soon!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Common Betta Diseases and Treatments
Now that the DBT X CT Spawn has stablized with like 4 fry/ and everyone is sitting around under their bubblenest (exept the girls who are chasing the new female) I thought I should introduce you to the two most common problems I see with betta and how I treat them.
First off the best medicine is prevention and most of these diseases can be prevented and solved by cleaner water, this usually means more water changes and less feeding.
Fin Rot:
I commonly see this in betta coming out of the pet store or one that has been neglected for a period of time. For mild to medium cases I usually start doing 100% water changes everyday and adding a little freshwater Aquarium Salt. Severe cases usually will require I medication. Fin rot usually presents its self as a dark edge around the fins and will in a short amount of time manage to eat the edges of the fin in, till the point where it starts eating away the body... I have seen this before and its not lovely usually the fish will die as soon as the rot starts eating away at their body.
As you can see here is a photo of Splatter this is a photo of him healing and his fins are growing in clear (you can see this best on the bottom) and on his dorsal fins you can still see some of the dark edges of the fin rot. This is sometimes harder to spot on darker betta but its the same idea and almost all finrot looks the same.
Swim Bladder Disease and Bloating:
Caused by overfeeding and bad water quality. This is real simple to diagnose the fish will start to have problems controlling their buoyancy. Bloating can cause swim bladder disease, and you will notice a fat tummy and lack of pooping. Swim bladder problems will cause a fish to float to the surface all the time or sink... mainly you will notice a lack of control in the fish.
In this fish here you can tell he is bloated the best course of action would be to raise the temprature and fast him for a few days. Also Epsom salt in 1tsp/gallon dosses helps. With swim bladder disease you can add epsom salt in slow upgrades to maybe 2 tsp/ gallon and see if that can help. Swim bladder disease can also lead to dropsy which is usually fatal.
Photos (c) to their owners.
First off the best medicine is prevention and most of these diseases can be prevented and solved by cleaner water, this usually means more water changes and less feeding.
Fin Rot:
I commonly see this in betta coming out of the pet store or one that has been neglected for a period of time. For mild to medium cases I usually start doing 100% water changes everyday and adding a little freshwater Aquarium Salt. Severe cases usually will require I medication. Fin rot usually presents its self as a dark edge around the fins and will in a short amount of time manage to eat the edges of the fin in, till the point where it starts eating away the body... I have seen this before and its not lovely usually the fish will die as soon as the rot starts eating away at their body.
As you can see here is a photo of Splatter this is a photo of him healing and his fins are growing in clear (you can see this best on the bottom) and on his dorsal fins you can still see some of the dark edges of the fin rot. This is sometimes harder to spot on darker betta but its the same idea and almost all finrot looks the same.Swim Bladder Disease and Bloating:
Caused by overfeeding and bad water quality. This is real simple to diagnose the fish will start to have problems controlling their buoyancy. Bloating can cause swim bladder disease, and you will notice a fat tummy and lack of pooping. Swim bladder problems will cause a fish to float to the surface all the time or sink... mainly you will notice a lack of control in the fish.
In this fish here you can tell he is bloated the best course of action would be to raise the temprature and fast him for a few days. Also Epsom salt in 1tsp/gallon dosses helps. With swim bladder disease you can add epsom salt in slow upgrades to maybe 2 tsp/ gallon and see if that can help. Swim bladder disease can also lead to dropsy which is usually fatal.Photos (c) to their owners.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Not a good day for the fry...
So I ended up just having to fill the tank up twice as much and putting in a pre-cycled filter. I got test strips but they showed no ammonia I managed to get it all running.. so far I havent found any more deaths sense the two the night before but its harder to find them now they may have gotten sucked up into the filter. Many of them still dont have an appetite but now most are swimming again. We will see how they are in the morning.
Friday, June 17, 2011
GAH! Bad Day
So last night I had to take my fry out of the tank clean it a once over massive greater then 90% water change and then slowly acclimate my 2 week old fry back... Many of them were side floating and having problems swimming. Now the tank has decided to cycle I think or its just growing white stuff on my walls. I really hope this doesnt hurt the guys if worst comes to worst I have a filter I am prepared to use. So not amused by this tanks antics... and I had to cull a fry I injured him bad while trying to net him... Just not a good situation all around.
In better news I moved Uni to a bowl and my new unnamed red and white boy is eating pellets now Yay!
In better news I moved Uni to a bowl and my new unnamed red and white boy is eating pellets now Yay!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Spawn count update! CTXDBT
So durning feeding today I recounted the fry I have around ten X___x not sure what to do about that lol. Kinda a nice surprise today hopefully I can get good pics soon of them when they get bigger. Its nice to know I had twice as many as I originally counted little buggers. We will see at the final count. They are reaching 3 weeks old right now I will separate them at about 6-7 weeks hopefully.
Pic Spam!
Some recent photo's of the fish around here :)
one of the fry kinda of blurry but look how they have grown
A few of LR. Little Ryan he is growing a little and coloring up more
And two from my sister who is a better photographer then I am of Huckleberry and Gringo
one of the fry kinda of blurry but look how they have grown
A few of LR. Little Ryan he is growing a little and coloring up more
And two from my sister who is a better photographer then I am of Huckleberry and Gringo
Saturday, June 11, 2011
How I Condition and Breed Betta Tips and Hints
There are many methods out there for conditioning and breeding betta. The most important thing though is conditioning the pair you want to use. Be sure when that when you decide to breed a pair of betta that you take responsibility for the fry and their care. There can be from 5-200 fry to home and care for.
Conditioning:
Conditioning usually takes about a week from start to finish but only you can tell when your fish is ready. The first step is to start feeding them high quality food with balanced nutrition I feed daphnia and bloodworms in small frequent meals. Make sure the water stays clean I usually change the water everyday and will quarantine my fish so they cant interact with any other fish. I will usually stop heating them too, healthy fish wont mind a little temp shock when added to the breeding tank and usually it can help too.
Breeding:
You should have a breeding tank set up how you would prefer I suggest for a beginner a 10 gal- 20 gal tank filled with 4 to 6 inches of water. Be sure there are live plants in there such as java moss and maybe some snails which add to the micro organisms in the water.Be sure the tank has a heater too. Also remember the female needs a place to hide when things get rough. In any case decide how you want to breed them and research it there is a lot of good information available on the internet. I usually put them both in at the same time female floating and male free in the tank. So I can watch to be sure that the male is interested in the female and she is responding. Usually she will get vertical bars and head stand and will follow the male. The male may or may not make a nest dont use that as a determination of if the male is interested or not. He should be displaying for the female and not just trying to attack her. If they shows signs of liking each other go ahead and let her out. Chasing will occur and fins will be bit its just how it is. Dont worry unless one gets seriously beat up.
Best of luck!
Conditioning:Conditioning usually takes about a week from start to finish but only you can tell when your fish is ready. The first step is to start feeding them high quality food with balanced nutrition I feed daphnia and bloodworms in small frequent meals. Make sure the water stays clean I usually change the water everyday and will quarantine my fish so they cant interact with any other fish. I will usually stop heating them too, healthy fish wont mind a little temp shock when added to the breeding tank and usually it can help too.
Breeding:
You should have a breeding tank set up how you would prefer I suggest for a beginner a 10 gal- 20 gal tank filled with 4 to 6 inches of water. Be sure there are live plants in there such as java moss and maybe some snails which add to the micro organisms in the water.Be sure the tank has a heater too. Also remember the female needs a place to hide when things get rough. In any case decide how you want to breed them and research it there is a lot of good information available on the internet. I usually put them both in at the same time female floating and male free in the tank. So I can watch to be sure that the male is interested in the female and she is responding. Usually she will get vertical bars and head stand and will follow the male. The male may or may not make a nest dont use that as a determination of if the male is interested or not. He should be displaying for the female and not just trying to attack her. If they shows signs of liking each other go ahead and let her out. Chasing will occur and fins will be bit its just how it is. Dont worry unless one gets seriously beat up.
Best of luck!
RIP Hopeless
Sorry buddy I couldn't save you. The bugger just gave up on living... I guess just to much for him to handle. His buddy will make it on the other hand.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Hopless and another new boy
Poor Hopeless or Hopefull depending on what your looking at. He was side floating and pine coning a little but I raised the temp and added more epsom salt and he is swimming up and moving around... I hope its not an act.
On a lighter note I got another HM I know I said I shouldnt but he was in a veiltail cup at petco :D
On a lighter note I got another HM I know I said I shouldnt but he was in a veiltail cup at petco :D
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Yay!
What few fry i have left have made it through the transition and now are eating the microworms I couldnt be happier... I think I will try the doubletail spawn maybe again but I would rather work on some super delta/ halfmoons.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Dropsy update and New boy
Well the dropsy girl didnt make it however I got a new male I couldnt pass by. He was a HM and also noticed that HM are freaking expensive at petco which is irritating majorly. Still got him I couldnt help myself :)
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Dropsy
I got a little yellow girl from Petco a few weeks ago and she never ate anything so I seperated her from the rest I left for the night and I come back and now she is pine-conning. I am treating her with epsom salt but not much I can do for her now but pray and wait. Pics soon.
Daddy's out
Day 3 with the fry and there are only a few left I can only assume daddy got hungry .... oh well not much of a loss although all fry are exciting. Cleaned about 40% of the water and then I ran out of water conditioner I will need to go get more :/ I always worry that they fry cant find the microworms cause the buggers tend to sink really fast and fry dont hang near the bottom offten I may invest in some bbs (babby brine shrimp) hopefully the fry will want those more.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Fry Day 2
This is all I managed to get today the fry are getting better at navigating and swimming farther and daddy is not amused by this... He was also un amused by the camera being poked in his face and anytime I get close to the tank with the camera he will wig out flare and go berserk trying to get me away.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
HuckleberryXChica Nest Hatching
I am always bemused by the hatching daddy never seems to know quiet whats going on until he has hundreds of babies zooming around so far I havent spotted many this may be because of the lack of eggs produced in the beginning mixed with the fact he has bad egg tending habits. But who knows you can never tell till they all become free swimmers. I managed to sneek one photo of a lone fry who escaped before he spotted me.
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