Ok, I truely have a puzzle for us betta breeders.
This morning I woke up as usual, went into the garage to rinse the tubifex worms, brought them inside, flipped up the lid on the divided 5.5 gal (Holds Tsunami DT male and Malaysia DT female in seperated sides) and to my surprise! Bubble nests on both sides, with fry! On both sides!!!

I KNOW they didn't hop over because I was home all yesterday and never once noticed any side switching. BUT, the proof is in the water. Malaysia has 5 on her side and Tsunami has at least 10 free swimming fry, roughly 3 mm big! How could I have not noticed this?

It's amazing, I'm not worried because it's such a small spawn that I can easily go buy supplies. (I was totaly not expecting to spawn anyone till June, so I haven't bothered to pick anything up) So I'll head out today and buy Daphnia, BBS and micro worms. OY!

Now I've taken to wondering, fry take 3 days to hatch them about 3 more to be free swimming, so that means they've been there a week. Tsumani is a good daddy and catches any that go out of his sight to spits them right back into his nest. BUT, so does Malaysia, and I've always been told the mother eats the young, not rears it. I'm so proud of them, they're good parents.

So, it's off to the store to pick up foods.

This just boggles me to death. Could she have dropped ripe eggs then Tsuanmi came and fertilized them, but from accross the divider? There's no eveidence of fin damage to either, and Malaysia is still full of more eggs...Crazy.

Anyway, here are pictures of the parents. I'll try and get some of the fry but I don't want to photoshock them with a flash.

Tsunami


Malaysia

Kind of reminds me of an old Thread..."Betta's gone wild!" My two would sneak past the divider & then go back to their spots,only one day I busted them! The eggs that they laid,hatched in less than 24 hours---I am serious! They say temp makes big difference and the temp was very warm.They spawned a few times without hurting each other.If I wouldn't have caught them with my own two eyes,I would have never believed it. Congrats and Good Luck!

amazing how it happened. would love to see how the young turn out colourwise but congrats anyway, they are both two stunning fish anyway.

Devs - I remember that thread! I was laughing when I thought about it, but now ack! Haha, their tank is a constant 88*F so maybe...

Sandy - Thank you, I'll post progress pictures up for you as soon as they stop looking like floating eye balls.

What a great thing! Bettas never stop surprising us Good luck with the spawn and I can't wait to see pictures.

Ok, I've got the basics, sponge filter, heater and live foods all set up in the garage. I'm waiting for the temp. in that tank to hit 80*F so they aren't shocked from being moved into a warmer/cooler temp.

They're itty bitty about say __ that big. So cute! So far I've been able to count 13 out of the bubble nest, and about 6 under the bubble nest. This is just sooooo exciting, haha, experienced breeders are probally like...oh jeesh.

I'd be excited, too

Thier fry will be SO beautifull! And factoring in the perents parents and so on and so fourth I CANT WAIT TO SEE THEM! Pics once they grow a bit?

EDIT: does the divider have little holes in it? they may have spawned like that. tthen again, im no expert.

They're in the baby tank and all wriggly. Active little things. Maybe they'll be big enough to show up in pictures in about 2 weeks? Aw I can't wait to see how they come out.

Esareh - The grad parents were HM x DT. I'm hoping for 100% DT from these two, with a few *hopes* CT's. Yup, the divider is plastic canvas so they could have spawned like that, odd coupling though lol.

Lol. Whats dominate DT or CT? I can do a punett square and try to see.

EDIT: what color were the grandparents? lol. im bored. nothing better to do anyway.

What a great surprise , congrats. And good luck.
I can't wait for the pictures!

Oh I've done a million and one punnets, but I just can't wait too see for myself. The grandparents were steel blue HM x red CT I'm guessing. DT and CT are co-dominant, as seen in little Malaysia, I think she might be a plakat also, though she's only about 7 months. Tsunami too, plakat, I'm almost sure of it.

Fry! So, these are the best pictures possible without photoshocking the fry. Condensed them to a little banner thing so hopefuly you can see them ok. The one that looks really orangie is the biggest so far. Out of 30 counted there are 5 left, I'm not sure but they didn't look to be eating as the dead ones had very transluscent bellies. The remaining 5 have amazing appetities so they're looking to survive till adulthood. So cute. You really can't tell now but it almost looks like they're HM!

awww how cute!

Another, slightly clearer.

Really cute to see! I hope they do well for you

More pictures, took them out to clean the tank and snapped a picture. That's the 5 that are left, all eating like pigs now.

Aw, cute! I'm glad they are doing so well