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). |
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. 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!
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I am retrying the reds last week that required a foster dad. Both male and female are from Spawn 112512. I refuse to make a spawn log until I see free-swimming fry - can't handle the disappointment again lol. It's been a while since I've been home during a spawn, so I decided to snap some pictures :) A successful experiment to get a foster dad to take care of abandoned eggs!
Took some much needed update pics of some of my PKs :) Enjoy! To zoom on genealogical chart (so you can read it!) - Click on the picture to go to my photobucket page, where you can magnify it using the small magnifying glass in the bottom-right corner of the picture (TWICE).
To zoom on genealogical chart (so you can read it!) - Click on the picture to go to my photobucket page, where you can magnify it using the small magnifying glass in the bottom-right corner of the picture (TWICE). I finally took some pics of the two female CTDTs that popped out of my last CT spawn. I am relatively pleased with their form, although there is a lot to improve upon! Both females have relatively even lobes with passable division down to the peduncle. However, the edges of the caudals are rounded, which prevent them from achieving a full 180 spread. There are several short rays at the front of the dorsal that give an unattractive stair-stepping effect. However, the webbing reduction is fairly good all around. My main concern is that both of these females have minor to moderate spinal curvature and caudal peduncle bumps.
I am still wrestling with the decision to either continue or discontinue the CTDT project. I still have in my mind the image of a big, beautiful male with oodles of thick flowing tri-banded rays swirling about his long, straight body, kind of like a freshwater lionfish...but what if half of all those rays are kinked ?? There is nothing more frustrating than jarring potential males and watching their long rays kink like curly fries :( Updated CTDT chart! Exciting times ahead!It's going to be difficult to figure out what the next step is...possibly a back cross if the CTDT male from Justin's is still healthy enough to attempt a spawn in a couple months? Or should I do a DT outcross with my triband female to improve the DTs?
I think it will depend on how the DTs look from this next spawn (CTDT x RBOS female). If he throws even lobed DTs, then I will do a back cross. If not, then the DT outcross becomes more of a possibility. Fishy plans! Transferred a lot of baby yellows to my 30 gallon planted grow out today. They are still fairly colorless looking...really crossing my fingers I get some nice yellows out of this spawn!
We're gearing up for the fall show season, and I decided to take some pics of possible showers and breeders. I am overall happy with the quality of these two spawns, and am excited to go for F3 and F4 in the near future. I will probably not show too much this next year, and focus on my judging apprenticeship. This gives me time to do some spawning!
Betta burdigala spawning (again) I caught my B. burdigala spawning, but unfortunately they were at an odd angle and the glass isn't very clean (whoops!). I've been doing a lot of water changes to compensate for the sheer amount of fry in there...it's only a 4 gallon tank, and I'm worried about stunting their growth. I hope to be able to transfer the fry to the 20 gallon (although I'm not sure how yet!) once the B. smaragdina move on to new homes.
Right now, I am thinking of dropping the B. smaragdina permanently and instead focusing on the B. burdigala. I am just in love with this species and hope to have a thriving, self-sustaining colony that I can occasionally share with other hobbyists. There has been a lot of demand for this species recently, which gives me hope that it can survive in captivity even if their natural habitat is lost. Took some pics of my growing bettas tonight. Lots of exciting stuff going on! Red and Yellow Traditional Plakats: Spawn RY Trad 040613 I'm really loving how these guys are turning out. The cross is exactly what I wanted - the entire spawn has only primary branching, while still maintaining caudal spread! Pretty excited to see these guys really mature. |
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