Inglorious Bettas
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Spawning Bettas
    • Let's Talk Bettas!
    • Setting up the Fish Room
    • Indian Almond Leaf (IAL)
    • Fish Photography for Spawn Logs
    • Selective Breeding
    • Spawning Set-ups
    • How Bettas Spawn
    • Fry Foods
    • Grow-out Tanks
    • Jarring
    • Maintenance of Adults
    • Culling
  • Spawn Logs
    • Metallic Crowntail Plakats >
      • CTPK Spawn Journal >
        • CTPK color 031814
        • CTPK form 042014
        • CTPK form 020815
        • CTPK color 020815
        • CTPK color 072115
        • CTPK combo 030116
        • CTPK combo 011017
    • Red/Yellow Traditional Plakats >
      • Genealogical Chart
      • RY Trad PKs Spawn Journal >
        • RY Trad 112512 Thanksgiving
        • RY Trad 040613
        • RY Trad 072013
        • RY Trad/Show 020114
        • RY Trad 031814
        • RY Trad 072115
        • RY Trad 080715
    • Crowntail Doubletails >
      • Genealogical Chart
      • CTDT Spawn Journal >
        • CTDT 051812
        • CTDT 081412
        • CTDT 102012
        • CTDT 011213
        • CTDT 021413 Valentine's Day
        • CTDT 050313
        • CTDT 081313
        • CTDT 021414 - Valentine's Day - Repeat Spawn
    • Black Traditional Plakats >
      • Black Trad Plakat Spawn Journal >
        • Black Trad 042014
        • Black Trad 072414
  • Fish Shows
    • Show Reports
    • How to Send Bettas to a Show
    • What Does it Take to Become an IBC judge?
  • Wilds & Killifish
    • Betta rubra
    • Elassoma species affinis evergladei Elberta, Alabama
    • Heterandria formosa
    • Blue Gularis "Niger Delta" (Aphyosemion sjoestedti)
    • Betta burdigala
    • Blue Gularis "Loe" (Aphyosemion sjoestedti)
    • Betta smaragdina
    • Aphyosemion bitaeniatum Ijebu-Ode
  • Betta Science
    • Betta Education
    • Betta genetics: color and form
    • Sex determination in bettas
    • Betta behavior
    • Betta spawning
  • Links

Interesting Observations

2/21/2014

1 Comment

 
A traumatic beginning?
Just wanted to write down some interesting observations with Spawn 020114. If you recall, this spawn was the one that the foster dad was required to save the spawn of incompetent red PKs!

Anyway, there were only a few survivors from the first spawn. They were growing quickly - however, NONE of them were able to get off the floor of the aquarium. None. It was similar to a severe case of swim bladder, but the onset was immediate. I find it interesting because many breeders have been able to have healthy fry with artificial hatching. Clearly this first spawn was negatively affected by the poor parenting of the red male during the first day of egghood. Perhaps they were traumatized by this constant spitting? The second spawn is growing well and appears completely normal. This was the spawn where I immediately switched in the foster dad. Hmmm...


Picture
Indian Almond Leaves = Less Water Changes?
Due to the extreme drought in California, I decided to take a tip from my awesome betta friends Larissa and Minh and try to use a lot of IAL to extend the time between water changes. My fish seem to thrive in these conditions - lots of bubblenests, flaring, and egging up! Our extremely soft SF water (negligible kH and gH) allows the pH to plummet to <5 with the addition of IALs, and supposedly the low pH binds the ammonium into a non-toxic form. It also effectively sterilizes the water. Few fish are able to withstand these extreme conditions, but this is exactly the habitat that most bettas hail from. So far, I haven't done water changes in 2 weeks and the fish are doing great!

I decided to create some IAL extract to ease the transition during water changes. The idea is that I can take a small amount of super concentrated extract and add it to the new water, immediately lowering the pH and preventing pH shock. I read several articles on IAL (I will do a short literature review of them in the future - very interesting research being done!) and decided to both boil and water extract the IAL. I boiled a ton of IAL leaves in a stainless steel pot for about 4 hours, replacing the evaporated water every time it got half empty. This way, the water became almost black. I got out about a gallon of black water. I then sealed it in a jar with even more freshly ground up IAL added to it, to extract further the compounds that may be damaged by boiling. (I do not think that boiling disturbs the extract's ability to lower pH). 

I tested it out when I did a small water change on some of the fry, and it really colored the water up well with only a very small amount. I was able to match the color of the spawn tank water very easily. I need a better way of measuring pH to ensure that the extract is able to drop the pH as well.

Hope you're having a betta day!
1 Comment

Spawn 021414 - Valentine's Day CTs

2/17/2014

0 Comments

 
I decided to do one last spawn of CTs (I'm the division leader in CTs this year in Area 1...might as well keep it up, if I can). I initially wanted to do a back cross of my old Sarawut male to his BOS daughter, but i think the poor male is over the hill. They reached wrapping stage, but neither of them could figure out how to wrap each other. They tried for a whole day before they both gave up.
Picture
The poor female looked like she was ready to pop, so I threw in my old trusty CTDT. I actually had tried this cross before in Spawn 081313, and the fry were severely stunted in growth. I decided to re-try it because 1) the female was at risk of becoming egg-bound, and the "spawn master" CTDT was the only one I could really trust to get the job done and 2) I wanted to see if it was due to genetics or due to neglect (that spawn was during a particularly difficult time in my life).
Picture
Picture
We will see how these fry turn out. The spawn went very well with minimal damage on either betta, and it looks like there are quite a few fry in there. It's lovely to have fry to take care of again! Fingers crossed!
0 Comments

    Categories

    All
    Betta Science!
    Fishroom Tours
    Fish Talks
    Local Fish Store Visits
    News
    Show Stuff
    Spawn Updates
    Special
    Tips And Tricks
    Wilds

    Archives

    October 2020
    August 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2017