Yesterday afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to come home and find my pair of Betta hendra spawning under a nest full of eggs. Since my previous attempts at raising fry from this species have ended in disaster, I am hoping that this time around I will be more successful. Most hendra in the country come from the main wholesaler, so it would be good to have fish from different sources contributing to the gene pool. However, not only were the above pair spawning when I arrived home, but my pair of Betta stiktos also decided to join in on the act. I am always touched to see how comfortable the stiktos male is with my presence. He has no problem with me watching him while he tends to his nest. In fact yesterday he and his female broke off mid-spawn to come over and greet me. They would also more than happy to share some of the live brine shrimp I had bought home for them and my other fish. If you have read previous entries on this blog, you will know the difficulty I had in ever getting a successful spawn from my previous pair of Betta brownorum.
It seems I am not alone in this, as I have heard from other breeders that it can be one of the hardest species from this complex to get spawning. However, my current brownorum pair have been showing some promising signs. Yesterday, the female was displaying some faint vertical barring, and the pair of them were very animated. I suppose time will only tell whether I am successful or not, but it would be a great ending to what has been a particularly challenging year, if I could get at least one spawn that eventuated in fry.
John Skillcorn
15/3/2015 02:08:00 am
With regard to rearing B. hendra fry, I've found the adults will spawn above pH5, but the fry will only survive if the pH is 4 or slightly below. Hope this helps.
Ashlea
15/3/2015 07:17:23 am
Hi John, this pair gave me plenty of fry. This post was from when they first arrived. The issue I had with previous Betta hendra was velvet. I suspect it came in with some new fish and when I went from tank to tank sharing equipment I spread it everywhere. Unfortunately, young fry do not tend to take velvet and the subsequent treatment for velvet very well. Comments are closed.
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AuthorLocated in Melbourne, Australia, I currently keep and breed a number of species from the coccina complex. Archives
November 2017
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