# Killies Import > Non-Killie Segment >  are these eggs viable?

## ruyle

Hi folks,
I was doing a water change today and found this:



They look cloudy and if they were killie eggs, no good.

Here's an adult pic:



Betta coccina

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

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## whuntley

Viable.

Betta eggs do tend to look like dead killy eggs. If Poppa is tending and not eating them, they are doing fine.

Free advice, and worth every penny!  :Very Happy: 

Wright

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## ruyle

Thanks, Wright!  :Smile:  
You can make out poppa's tail which is to right of the power cord to the heater. I wonder if I should remove the other inhabitants while this is going on...

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## whuntley

I would.

He may eat the eggs if the others make him too nervous. [Better to conserve the energy for another day than give it to a predator.]

I would also consider removing him as soon as almost all are hatched and clinging to the plants and glass. Feed green water or other infusoria as soon as the yolk sack is absorbed. If you start with bbs, only the largest get food, and the predation is severe. Smaller foods (e.g., one drop of Liquifry No. 1 on some plants) gives all a more even start, IME.

Once they scatter, he won't be able to protect the babies from other fish. And he will be mighty hungry, by then.

Wright

PS. Think these eggs look weird? Try Apistos. Sometimes theirs are brilliant red. Seems stupid from a survival standpoint, but that's the way they are.

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## retro_gk

Ruyle, what other fish do you have in the tank? If they're all _B. coccina_ and the tank is heavily planted, significant numbers of fry will survive.

If there are other fish, just transfer the eggs to a tupperware container floated in the tank. I use a spoon to transfer the eggs.

I use Java moss in the fry container to soak up wastes and provide munchies for the fry. They get vinegar eels for the first week and BBS from 10 days on or so.

Wright, you can play around with apisto egg color, by varying what you feed the mother. More BBS=bright orange eggs. I've always wondered if feeding blue food coloring to the mother would produce blue eggs. I must pick up an aquarium strain cac or something one of these days  :Twisted Evil:

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## ruyle

Rahul,
Sorry for my late reply, I have only B. coccina in the tank and have
removed one male and 2 females. This seemed to help the male quiet
down a little guarding the eggs, which have now hatched. Wow, short
gestation time, huh? Something like 72-80 hours....

Bill

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## retro_gk

Awesome. Depending on temperature, the eggs hatch between 60 and 72 hours. Nice change from killie eggs, huh?  :Very Happy:

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## ruyle

At first I thought I'd gotten papa out of the tank too late, couldn't
find any babies after the first day they hatched. Now I have 5 babies
that swam out to the front of the tank:



Not a great pic, the fish is roughly 1/2" long.  :Smile:  What a surprise!

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## nonamethefish

Hows the water ph/softness? It looks like a relatively clean and clear tank and I can't see any signs of you adding peat or other blackwater stuff in the photos.

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## ruyle

> Hows the water ph/softness? It looks like a relatively clean and clear tank and I can't see any signs of you adding peat or other blackwater stuff in the photos.


I use peat-filtered rainwater and there's oak leaves lining the floor of all the betta tanks. Seems to work, the adults are spawning again. These
are also heavily planted with watersprite and java moss.

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## ruyle

Well, I have about 2 dozen growing out and more that have recently
hatched  :Shocked:  Here's a recent pic of one of the teenagers, taken
with a Canon G1 and 2 flashes:



Little guy is about 2.8cm in length. (Click on image for larger view.)

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## RonWill

Hey Bill, the coccina juvenile are looking good, as are the pics! Keep us posted.

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## retro_gk

Pretty!

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## ruyle

Thanks, Ronnie, Rahul,
I know this is probably "old hat" to you guys, but they've been a lot of
fun for me, and it's always rewarding to get fry!  :Smile:

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## retro_gk

No such thing as "old hat", Bill. I still get a little rush when I see guppy fry in my tanks  :Very Happy: 

The _coccina_ group bettas aren't the easiest to spawn, either.

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## ruyle

> The _coccina_ group bettas aren't the easiest to spawn, either.


I wish you'd tell that to my fish, I'm running out of room!  :Laughing:

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## retro_gk

> Originally Posted by retro_gk
> 
> The _coccina_ group bettas aren't the easiest to spawn, either.
> 
> 
> I wish you'd tell that to my fish, I'm running out of room!


Spread them around and get other species  :Very Happy:

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## ruyle

Rahul,
Do you want a little starter colony of these when the weather warms up
abit? You'll need to buy more tanks....  :Laughing:

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## ruyle

Here are some pics of the 2nd gen grouping:





click on image for larger view

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## fish newb

Those look great Bill!

If I only had more room... or bigger kritters than shrimp  :Rolling Eyes:  

-Andrew

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## ruyle

Wow, another human being, it's almost like stepping aboard the Marie
Celeste or being the Omega Man. Hi Andrew, thanks for answering my
post!  :Laughing:

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## RonWill

> Wow, another human being...


 Yeah, right... so what does that make the rest of us, Caspers? The friendly ghosts?? LOL!!

Hey Bill, good to see that you and the coccinas are doing well. My backup is doing ok with the Chroms and good to go when you're in LOS! You just have to let me know.

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## ruyle

> Originally Posted by ruyle
> 
> Wow, another human being...
> 
> 
>  Yeah, right... so what does that make the rest of us, Caspers? The friendly ghosts?? LOL!!


Naw, Ronnie, you're not a ghost! I just didn't see a lot of seismic activity
going on except for the posts dealing with your upcoming population
explosion.  :Shocked:  You guys definitely need to consider a second home
in Malaysia or Vietnam.  :Laughing:  




> Hey Bill, good to see that you and the coccinas are doing well. My backup is doing ok with the Chroms and good to go when you're in LOS! You just have to let me know.


Thanks for keeping the home fires burning as it were. My move over is
delayed twofold: my mother is 87 and not well, and I have a half-brother
that has COPD who is 63 and doesn't expect to see 65. So I'm in a bit
of a turmoil, here. My wife and her family are doing just fine, which is
some relief.

Good hearing from you, Ronnie!  :Smile:

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## nonamethefish

Wow...those are stunning fish and pictures!

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## ruyle

Thanks, Joseph,
Here's another:



More an excercise in CS3 than anything else.

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