This might help a bit
Raising the Fry:
After the spawn and removing the female, you need to treat both her tank and the breeding tank with Maroxy. This prevents infection to her from any torn fins, and is needed in the breeding tank to keep fungus from developing in the eggs. You also need to cover the tank with plastic wrap or glass so that no cooler air is at the surface of the tank. When the fry's labyrinths start to develop (at about 5 to 7 weeks), and they come to the surface for air, they can get pneumonia and die from the cooler air. I leave the cover on the tank for the duration, until they are moved to jars or taken to the pet store for selling.
Start an infusoria culture with lettuce and water or have on hand "microfood" to feed the fry when they are ready. At first the fry will live off the yolk sac and do not need any food. Start to feed about two days after they hatch or when they become free swimming.
In about two weeks, you will need to start feeding either live baby brine shrimp (you can set up your own hatchery) or microworms (which are started from a culture and not ordinarily found in pet stores) to feed the fry. Microworms are easier to keep, as the live baby brine shrimp only last about five days after hatching. You need to keep two hatcheries going so there is a constant supply of food. The fry will need to be fed about every four hours or so, small portions at a time.
About 36 hours after the spawn, you will notice little "black dots" with tails falling out of the nest to the bottom of the tank. The male will studiously go to the bottom of the nest, retrieve the fry and blow them back into the nest. When the fry become a little more free swimming in the horizontal position, you can remove the male from the tank. It is also possible to remove him earlier if he is not a good caretaker, eating the fry. This is when you really need to pay attention as to how many fry you have as he might be a good poppa at first, and the next minute eat every one he picks up. If you must remove him, the fry will land on the bottom of the tank and be okay there until they become free swimming.
You need to keep the water clean during the time the fry are growing up. Use a very small plastic tube attached to air tubing or a turkey baster to suck up the debris from the bottom of the tank. Run the water into something clear so that you can look for and retrieve any fry that may have gotten sucked up the siphon. Catch with white plastic spoon (so you can see them) and replace back in the tank. Water replacement has to be the same temperature so as not to chill the fry, and be conditioned to remove chlorine and chloramines.
Betta fry are very, very tiny when hatched, and are very slow growing. Even after almost three months, they are still very little. It takes approximately 30 weeks for them to develop any color or have any size to them. They are usually not very active and most will basically sit on the bottom of the tank until feeding time. As they grow, you must pay close attention to them. As the males get older, you will notice them becoming aggressive with each other. This is when the males should be removed from the tank and "jarred". And this is where even more work is involved. You need to have on hand many mason jars for the males, and these will all need to be cleaned on a regular basis. (I have had at times over fifty mason jars sitting around my house with these little fish in them.) The females will be okay together. As time progresses and the fry become larger, you can add water to the tank to gradually fill it.. If there are quite a few female fry, they may need to be moved to a larger tank so as to not overcrowd them.
You may notice that after removing the male from the spawning tank, he acts "weird." He may be very tired from protecting and retrieving the fry or even be depressed because his work is finished. Feed him well, add aquarium salt to his water (one teaspoon per gallon of water) and in a few days, he should be back on track.
You may also notice that after a pair has spawned, they are very shortly ready to go at it again. If you have the room and proper set-up, you can repeat the spawning. However, you should wait at least two weeks if possible so as not to wear the pair out. If you have your hands full with the spawn you already have, don't worry about breeding again. She may release her unfertilized eggs and he may build bubble nests, but neither of these activities will hurt them.
got it here:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breedi...a-breeding.html
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Jun 4 2009, 05:34 PM
