Well it seems that given time, and daily feedings of mosquito larvae, my breeding pair of Betta livida have finally gave me a spawn. As of right now, the male is busy tending to a small nest of eggs at the back of the tank, and I'm hopeful that this will result in some fry.
This now means I've successfully bred all described species of this complex, and several undescribed species. Unfortunately, due to my ongoing issues with velvet, I haven't been as successful at raising large numbers of fry. My goal for 2015 is to get some of these rarer species beyond just the initial F1 generation. This will mean I have to figure out what is causing the periodic outbreaks of velvet in my tanks, and fixing the issue. Something that has eluded me thus far.
David Jones
10/1/2015 12:29:56 am
I have bred wild B. brownourum in a pH of 8.0! The fry were raised in this pH and I have no issues with velvet. I think the emphasis on low pH is not a rule for keeping or breeding. Low conductivity or carbonate hardness, yes, needs to be low, but not pH. Maybe velvet thrives in lower pH? Try raising pH, see what happens (if you have not already).
Ashlea
20/1/2015 08:00:25 am
I do think some species from this complex are less fussy when it comes to water parameters than others. Unfortunately, velvet does thrive in low pH/warm water environments. Because my tap water has very low KH, getting a stable rise in pH or hardness is quite difficult. My goldfish tank has had a couple of cycle crashes even though I use crushed coral as a buffer and Seachem Neutral Regulator during water changes. I think the problem is that velvet is so highly contagious and very easy to miss early on, so I touch an infected tank thinking the fish are healthy and then contaminate another tank without even realising. I seem to have it under control at the moment. I only have one actively infected tank and they have almost completely recovered. So fingers crossed I see the back-end of it for a while. 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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