# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Anabantoids >  eeeeemo's Betta albimarginata

## eeeeemo

hello.

today was a cold rainy day.. and this is what happens.. during cold rainy days.



did not witness the actual spitting of eggs etc.. but i did see them acting suspiciously... i went for my dinner.. and when i was back.. his mouth was constantly bloated...

this is where it happened


close up!


and here is the mom.

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## eeeeemo

and the dad!

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## Cacatuoides

Congrats on the spawn, hope to see him hold the eggs successfully!!  :Wink:

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## eeeeemo

day3 and going strong.  :Smug: 

i actually dropped a few strands of bloodworms into the tank..
i read that bettas are able to eat even when they are mouth brooding..
even though some might say the males eat the eggs up when they are tempted. but i want to try to train this guy up to be a good father....
so far i observed he will move up really close to the worm. circle it.. but still unable to open his mouth to eat it. and the tiger shrimps will eat it up in the end.
i have also separated the mother into another tank.
he has taken shelter under the driftwoods which he did not do so in the first day of the brooding - where he boldly roamed the etennellus fields with his mate.

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## willsblee

Congrats Bro. Should be able to hold to day12. My Albi swallowed on the 2nd day. BTW, nice setup.

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## Cacatuoides

Glad that the male did resist the temptation...good job!!
I'm sure he will make it to full holding period

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## eeeeemo

hi guys. today dates 19 April.
19 - 13 = 6days. when will my albimarginata release fries?
i have yet to cover my filter inlet with sponge..


hes very skinny now.. im going to pump him into a 2.5inch monster before allowing him back with the female... i have already started pumping the female and she is HUGE.

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## Cacatuoides

My Channoides released the fries after 15 days....its about halfway now :Wink: 
Should have passed the critical stage, I'm sure he will hold the full period

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## eeeeemo

wow.. they take so long to release the babies.. read that betta rubra brooding period is only 10 days.. today i transferred my brooding male into this tank..

is this a close biotope to betta albimarginata's?

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## eeeeemo

help! my albi male is still holding the eggs! hes taking so long!
my tank temp is 25deg at night and 27deg in the day.. but today is already day 12...
i am pretty sure the eggs have developed as when he puffs i can see the black dots in his mouth... what am i supposed to do?

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## leeruisheng

All's well. Patience, my friend. Since he's already been mouthbrooding past Day 12, he will hold to full term. Though I'm not sure normally how long does albi holds. Only thing to do now is wait. Or you may strip him of the fries, which i would not recommend.

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## eeeeemo

i read that it is usually 11days for albi!
he's very disciplined.. i was tempting him to spit fries and eat bloodworms by dropping bloodworms in front of him.. he goes really near it.. so he knows its food but resisted eating... amazing.

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## Cacatuoides

lets wait up to 2 weeks....if not, you can try stripping the fries off him  :Wink:

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## eeeeemo

okay.. today is 27th april!
it has been 14days.. how do i strip the fries out of him??
i did a small water change and i saw him coming out of his den.. still blowing his mouth and all.. i am certain he is still holding the fries.
any reason why is he holding for so long?
i am not eager to see the fries.. but its bad for him to not eat for this long.....
i am worried for his health.. help~~!!

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## johannes

he should be ok...

let's wait for few more days...

but if you can't wait, then strip lo..

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## leeruisheng

_Betta macrostoma_ holds up to around a month or so (30days).

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## eeeeemo

yay i am not too worried now...
i was staring at my tank today.. saw the dad pop his head out.. noticing his mouth was much smaller.. i fed him some bloodworms.. he did take them reluctantly..as i could see he still blows his mouth up to aerate his pouch. he has fries in his mouth! as he ate i saw a piece of small shit at the back of the tank.. it looked odd.. it was floating..but yet attached to the driftwood. i thought my snails were having diarrhea. but as i looked closely.. it was a miniature albimarginata hovering in the backdrop! =)
could it be he actually decides which fry is ready for the outside world and staggers their release timings??

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## Cacatuoides

The male does not release all the fries at one go, usually in batches so not to be worried  :Wink:

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## eeeeemo

can you spot the fry??

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## Shi Xuan

Betta albimarginata is one of the most beautiful aquatic creatures I've seen. I would love to keep and breed some but they are quite expensive for a start. Its tempting after seeing your betta albimarginata.....

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## 900801

haha,where is the fry i cant see it

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## eeeeemo

its right in the middle of the picture!!! =)

hello shixuan.. seems like you're a new member.. are you the shixuan that keep guppies??
betta albimarginata gets more beautiful as they grow older i feel.. the white seam of my betta is spreading!! =)

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## Shi Xuan

Yes eeeeemo, I breed guppies but also try to keep some small fish species. I'm pretty new here and I was captivated by the pictures of the betta albimarginata you showed. Very interesting.... :Smile:

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## eeeeemo

when i started out fish keeping hobby in J2 two yrs ago.. i saw your nick then and i thought it was very cool to have a girl breeding quality show guppies and showing so much interest in the hobby. haha maybe you could hop over to the wild side! here is a very good deal for wild bettas by a fellow forum-er and i am quite sure it will interest you.

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=40521

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## eeeeemo

i have had more than 4 spawns from this pair.. and yet currently i only have 10 fries....
i guess.. even though spawning them is easy, keeping the fries and bringing them up is really tough for me...
somehow the fries keep dying.. they are really weak and susceptible to diseases.
i do not even know what disease as they die with full stomachs and some die with half of their bodies alive and the other half dead.

could this be velvet??

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## leeruisheng

A different story for me. Fries decimating because of not covering.

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## Panut

> hello.
> 
> today was a cold rainy day.. and this is what happens.. during cold rainy 
> 
> did not witness the actual spitting of eggs etc.. but i did see them acting suspiciously... i went for my dinner.. and when i was back.. his mouth was constantly bloated...
> 
> 
> and here is the mom.



The nose looks like a pig  :Laughing:  :Laughing:  :Laughing:  :Laughing: 

(no offense bro )

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## leeruisheng

I believed you're refering to the circular black markings? If so that's not their nostrils. Those are markings under their lower jaw.

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## Panut

Ooops  :Embarassed:  well yeah. still looks like a pig though.  :Grin:

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## eeeeemo

> The nose looks like a pig 
> 
> (no offense bro )


lol i guess when you take a photo so close up, you'd look like one too!!!

what is your feeding regime for the fries rui sheng? do your rubra parents eat their young?

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## leeruisheng

2 times. Lunch and dinner time. Live bbs. 

Parent left the fries alone but in my case if there werer several batches of fries, it's the bigger fries that will eat their siblings.

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## willsblee

> i have had more than 4 spawns from this pair.. and yet currently i only have 10 fries....
> i guess.. even though spawning them is easy, keeping the fries and bringing them up is really tough for me...
> somehow the fries keep dying.. they are really weak and susceptible to diseases.
> i do not even know what disease as they die with full stomachs and some die with half of their bodies alive and the other half dead.
> 
> could this be velvet??


HI Bro, After talking to you last night, I think your problem is the food. Give them live food as I suggest - daphnia. 

BTW - thanks for the pallifina

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## eeeeemo

it was nice meeting you william! =)
next time when you go on your trips, if on weekends. let me know! i would love to tag along.

yes. it is the food. i will work on that.
anyway, heres a photo of my setup to share with you guys.



female hanging out in the middle of the tank. male is... MOUTHBROODING for the 5th time.

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## carlfsk

> HI Bro, After talking to you last night, I think your problem is the food. Give them live food as I suggest - daphnia. 
> 
> BTW - thanks for the pallifina


Hey, care to elaborate what's with the food that cause the death of the fry?

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## willsblee

I will let eeeeemo explain to you. haha.  :Grin:  Best is he tell you, if I tell, story maybe different. eeeeemo, all yours

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## carlfsk

Okie. Mine just did it again this afternoon. This is the 3rd time and I hope the father manage to hold them till hatching, then I can think about food for the babies  :Grin:

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## esng

Hello emo,

my pair of albis are of sub-adult age. my female always shuns away from my male when he's approaching and they will have end up having a really swift chase. she actually prepares to swim away when she notices the male flaring.

what's up with that behaviour?

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## eeeeemo

> Hello emo,
> 
> my pair of albis are of sub-adult age. my female always shuns away from my male when he's approaching and they will have end up having a really swift chase. she actually prepares to swim away when she notices the male flaring.
> 
> what's up with that behaviour?


heys i am not an expert mans. but i do believe all fishes do select their mate.. even though for some bettas like albi it is easier to achieve a pair, you actually do have to find a "true" pair. when i first bought this female.. she came with a male that was in the same package. after acclimatising and settling down in a 1ft.. for some reason the male did not show he true colours well...i also noticed they kept chasing each other.. the male will attempt to flare and seduce but the female would react violently. eventually i separated the pair and tried to give them some time apart to miss each other enough so as to have sex the first thing when i put them together again. a month passed. this time i dumped the female into the 2ft tank which housed the male. since the male has been there for so long.. and he did grew bigger in the process as well, he was supposed to protect his territory and be aggressive! again he tried.. for the entire day.... flaring and circling... but as expected, after the day passed and his adrenalin wore out, the female started to dominate the male again despite the male being bigger...

finally, i decided i should buy another pair and see what happens..
when i threw in my second pair.. it was obvious that the new male is treated much better than the first male... the female would approach the new male.. he would flare.. and the female would twirl him with as much enthusiasm as how the old male twirled her! it was a pleasant sight..

the old male also showed interest in the new female..and she responded kindly as well.. i decided that all i need is a pair as i needed to downsize. therefore i shifted the pair of (new male + old female) into a 1ft cube and sold off the other pair.

within a few days.. he started to brood after a rainy day(though now i am pretty certain these fishes do not need a temperature/pressure change at all to spawn) and after so many batches.. though i have lost most of the fries. i truly believe, after this batch of fries has been released, even if i place this pair in a tau huey tub with a small piece of driftwood, they would spawn for me...

hope my experience has helped you.




> Hey, care to elaborate what's with the food that cause the death of the fry?


firstly, CONGRATS!

as long as you do not touch the tank and the male manages to brood pass a week, should not have problems even if you attempt to catch the male out to place him in another tank for fry release... (which i did) however some fries/eggs might be accidentally swallowed in the process due to shock. therefore it is better to remove female, and after fry release, remove male.

i bought powdered products like hikari first bites to feed the young ones and it is not nutritious enough to promote fast growth! i think they eventually died by diseases and sickness that are common of weak fishes. what they need is live food such as live daphnia and live baby brine shrimp. which i tried to replace with commercial products for convenience. for the next batch of fries.. i will feed with live food all the way~ =)

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## sgbetta

Bro eeeeemo a very detailed information....Thanks for sharing :Smile:

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## eeeeemo

haha i was being long winded... betta albimarginatas are easy to breed.. i would say as easy as guppies.......
it is the bringing up process that i have to focus on.

just spotted a fry in the parents tank! guess i left that one out the last time.. =)

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## carlfsk

Ya man, so comprehensive. Thanks eeeemo.

Just realised this morning when I got back to office the male have swallowed the eggs. Sure hope he got horny real soon... :Grin:

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## eeeeemo

if you never touch the tank and he swallowed the eggs, it could be because the female keeps disturbing him cause she is horny.. sometimes, my male will have a mouthful of eggs.. but the pouch will become less after a few days due to disturbance by the female even after mating. and i can see fighting signs on the female fins, probably caused by male chasing the female away to keep a fine distance between them. and in so doing, maybe he accidentally swallowed some eggs.

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## eeeeemo

after separation for more than a month. the male has grown in size! i put him in a bare tank with one driftwood. last week i added the female. and here is a picture of him.





when they are out, this is going to be their grow out!

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## willsblee

Bro, nice work. Fries out?

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## eeeeemo

tomorrow! =)

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## eeeeemo

i counted at least 10 fries today. this time throughout the mouth brooding period of the male, the tank has developed many water fleas... the fries will feast on them as they grow up.. pictures are hard to take as they are so small. but i will try to update the photos!

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