Day 2 Multi X Marble cross

Well the nest count looks like its down by half and daddy isnt paying much attention to them. Some of them look like they are figuring out how to swim upright which is good I will start feeding them in a few weeks or so on micro worms. There should be enough things for them to nibble on until then :)

Wrigglers ahoy!

Nest update

So far Coal is taking real good care of the eggs he isnt fanning them but he likes to move them around a lot from one side of the nest to the other. I have never had a male do this so often lol so far I havent noticed a loss of eggs so hopefully he isnt eating them.

Spawn Multi X Marble

Now the hard part waiting and then feeding the fry. I am surprised at the difference all that duckweed made I will have to try it again to see if it was a fluke or really actually helped improve my chances at a spawn.

Spawn Attempt

So I have Rossie and Coal in the breeding set up which is at about 86* F and filled with pond scum and a little pond water I am hoping nothing in the water will kill them... DX I already pulled out this weird leech thing ewwwww..... but they are very happy to pull bugs off the duckweed in there... and if Coal doesnt breed (I give him a 50% chance to) I have Gringo waiting in a small container getting fed live food frequently. We will see how this goes...

New Spawning Style and Conditioning Method

So sense I have been having a hard time getting my betta to spawn immediately when introduced I am going to try to get a HM pair to breed immediately, here is the advice I gained from a wonderful mentor on bettafish.com, OldFishLady...

"To bad you can't get some live food...mosquito larva is great...mass fed can really help to trigger reproduction instinct....or even new born guppy fry...chop up some red worms......
You can also try the shock method-keep the breeders in separate container so they can't see each other in cooler temp (74-75F) and limited water changes...mass feed-small meals 5-6 times a day-live is best or frozen-let them see each other twice a day for 5 min...do this for a week...have the spawning tank ready, lots of live plants and tannins, no filter-water temp 80-81F-turn off the lights and drop them in the tank at the same time without acclimating them either at first light or at light out...healthy fish will tolerate the temp shock...usually spawn will start within the hour or at first light if you added them at night
If you have rainwater-use that in both the tank and the holding containers used to condition......
Even in small containers-short term water quality should not be an issue...don't make any water changes for the 7 days...sometimes going from dirty conditions to clean conditions will trigger a spawn
Don't worry about a nest-if you have something natural to use-like oak leaf or IAL that has not been water logged or even a sword leaf pinched off the plant and allowed to float-some like natural items to nest under....
Live foods are the biggest trigger especially with reluctant spawners-take your brine shrimp net and a small container of dechlorinated water and go looking for some standing water-dip and place what you collect in the water-rinse again before you feed-mass feed the larva......
If the breeders are healthy and of breeding age-mass fed live food and temp shock usually will work....
Good luck....."

Coal Photo's

Here is his photo's the second blurry one is to prove he can indeed flare to HM extension.