paul Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Wanted to post this the other day when I witnessed a strange occurence in my spawn tank. I have kept the father of the spawn in with the fry, and about three days after they became free swimming, I did my usual check of the fry. I was initially horrified, then amazed when I saw the father of the spawn start putting one fry after the other into his mouth. He kept on going for more, one at a time. I was sure he had changed his mind from being a diligent father, to becoming a baby eater, but then I relaxed a little when I noticed that the fry were actually flocking toward him as he continued to mouth the little babies. More and more swarmed towards his mouth and he kept taking fry in. I looked around for my camera, but the movement disturbed him and he swam back towards his still maintained bubble nest and released the babies under the IAL/bubble wrap. I've never read anyone reporting that the fry would intentionally go to dad for protection, or that the male herds them into his mouth - just that the father tries to keep his fry together under the nest in the early stages of the spawn. Has anyone else seen or experienced this sort of thing with their splendens? This seems a lot more like mouthbrooding behaviour than what bubblenesters are supposed to do. The fish are fine, but is it "normal"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 I actually came on line just then to ask the same think I thought he was eating they and couldn't figure out why he was surrounded by a cloud if fry, he won't eat either, I tried to give him so food and he spat out the fryvthen got some more. Very interesting indeed. I could watch their interactions for hours :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Some of the coccina group have been known to mouth brood in rare situations - they are normally bubble nesters but found no real info on what makes them do the mouthbrooding trick ..... Betta mandor to look at is very splendens like but is a mouth brooder.... Whether there is a fine line between bubble nesting and mouthbrooding I don't know but the idea of a splendens taking eggs into their mouths to start and then spitting them into a nest... taking fry into their mouths and spitting them into a nest.... then the idea of just holding onto them for a while.... ???? No real answer there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 I tried to get a picture, I scared them though so the dad ran and the fry scattered but you can sorta see the cloud still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 This is a very fascinating observation, guys. I have no idea whether it's something that splendens normally does/is supposed to do, but it does make sense that they would do this to protect their fry from predators or fast water, and clean them. It's a logical extension of nestling-care, and it also makes the origin of exclusive mouthbrooding easier to grasp. Matt, I noticed you've used an inverted container in the fry tank. Is there a hole in the top or sides? Anaerobic bacteria could thrive in there otherwise, and possibly make the water very bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 No, is there something I can do when I take it out if there is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 How old are the fry? I would suggest leaving it for now, but monitor the smell and appearance of the water and the health of the inhabitants closely. At some point you will need to get rid of that water, to be safe. In the meantime, do not disturb the container. Waterchanges with an airline tube siphon should be ok. When the fry are about 3 weeks old, carefully collect some fry water, put that in a new tub or tank, add up to 3 times more fresh warm conditioned water, fish out the fry and transfer them to the new tub, rinse out the old tank, and return the tub contents to the old tank. Top up with new water every day or few days from then on until your next waterchange. If the water goes bad before 3 weeks old, transfer the fry to 100% new water that has been conditioned and ready for about a week. My tap water is safe to do 100% WCs on fry of any age, but I've heard Sydney's water is not so great, hence my above recommendations. Hopefully there's nothing to worry about, but good luck :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Its only been like that a couple of days and I have disturbed it a number of tmes, Can I just use rain water? And I don't live in Sydney, I live in Brisbane :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
splendidbetta Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Oh! Even better, just take it out then, no problem If you want to put it back, cut a big square out of each side to turn it into a table, so fry and the male don't get trapped An airstone very gently trickling air may help in case hydrogen sulfide has accumulated, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt_95 Posted April 2, 2011 Report Share Posted April 2, 2011 Yay, thank-you I will go put an airstone in in a sec :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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