My Sorority Princesses

I was cleaning the 20 gallon sorority tank this past evening and I got a look at all my girls in one place.

From Upper let to right:

* Mariana(dark blue/ black CT),

*Kalia (Big steel blue HM, behind cherry),

*Cherry (red vt)

*Katina (cellophane with aqua tips),

*Honey (next to Katina light blue vt),

*Tiki (the smallest cellophane girl with aqua tips CT),

* Onyx (on the far upper right next to the plant)

and not shown Ariane (who is nicknamed the coelacanth)

I sat there for a moment and watched my girls as the tank drained. Who would know how much love you have, until you see the object of your affection in front of you. I am proud of these wonderful girls, some are rescues, while others were purchased. Either way having a sorority of nine girls who can co exist with each other in peace is wonderful to have. Well they have lots of silk plants at different levels of the tank, I also have some caves all different shapes and sizes. Its better to give them alot of space for them to pick and choose their territory without killing each other. I started out with 5 girls together which is always a good thing because starting a sorority of more than 4 girls, it spreads out the aggression between them, and eventually they will ignore each other or even hang out. I had two females cherry and Lemmy (rip) who would always follow each other around the tnak, i never saw one without the other. Well It was a sight to see.

Sadly I must go now I promise to write more later.

New bettas and new spawning

Hey guys, I am so sorry I have not been updating. I have been extrememly busy with some new additions I currently have a sorority running And also I have 4 new males. Two of my males are in the midst of spawning. Flipper (pictured on the left) is a double tail male who was a rescue from craigslist whp is pictured on the left. His girlfriend is a little steel blue girl named Kalina. She's a veiltail sweetheart.

I amal so spawning my Black and red Crowntail male named Shadow with another steel blue girl who is a Halfmoon female . Her name is Nai'a which is hawaiian for "Dolphin" . So far with Flipper's brood we have eggs, as for shadow, nothing yet.

As for the other males, Koho, Hoku, Shadow and Nakai ( first picture on the right with the red spots on his body) are the new guys, their all beautiful boys. As for my girls there are all together 8 girls. I am glad that this is going well. I will continually update as much as i can now that i have freetime.

Two girls come into my life

Their names are Pepper and Mint..lol Pepper is the black one and Mint is the Steel blue little girl. Both of them are Overhalfmoons which mean their tails are larger than 180 degrees, which is usually see in normal halfmoon bettas. Im decideing if i should spawn them with one of my prized boys. But I still have to wait, of course while they adjust to their new home. I will add more pictures tomorrow.

New Betta couple

After sitting down and reviewing many things over, I decided to retry spawning my Betta's. The lucky couple is Tillikum and Taima. The irony of it all is Tillikum and Taima are two orcas at Sea World Orlando and they have had many kids. So hopefully this spawn survives. As I type there is a huge thunderstorm passing through. I'm watching as Tillikum courting Taima in her side of the tank. Taima is a Crowntail female and Tillikum is a halfmoon rosetail betta. I brought Taima four days ago and ever since i placed her into the tank divided with Tillikum on the other side she's been doing nothing but watching him. He's taken a liking to her too as he's been flaring at her showing off his fins and making little movements here and there that shows he is interested in her. Tillikum has recently made a bubblenest which is pretty impressive. I am of course going to wait till Taima is full of eggs before I let her into the tank. As I already have the Cultures set up and im trying to make sure mistakes do not repeat themselves. But one cant control what nature has in mind.

Fry Update

Im sorry I havent been posting much, but my little fry are not doing too well, first we had a tank disaster in which a whole box of aquarium salt spilled into the tank, I had to do a premature change though I had no choice. I found out I had 220 fry!! For the first day after the incident, they seemed okay. But I noticed that they fry were dropping one by one during the early morning of the second day, now I only have three left. As sad as it is, im trying my hardest to keep them okay. They were already at the all eyes stage and were eating Brine shrimp. Well I wouldn't say that this was a failure. But things happen that are not in our control. I am now trying to save them. doing what I can, changing their water and feeding them, watching for any changes. Not everyone is successful on their first try, but lessons are learned as we now understand.

I currently have the three remaining fry in a 10 gallon tank and I did a complete scrubdown on the 20 gallon fry tank. I already have it set up for a new spawning pair. I will continue to update on the remaining fry. But I will also start a new blog on the new pair. keep checking back for more updates.

The Fry are Here!!

Today June 14th 2009, the fry are here!! I am such a proud breeder. Tillikum is doing wonderfully eating well and just swimming around checking things making sure everything is perfect. Well I will write more later Yay!!!

There's some spawning going on!

I was in the office typing when my husband comes into the room freaking out saying that "Tillikum is trying to Kill Rikku!", I rushed into the living room and found them in the most interesting position (thank god i left the camera next to their tank) Yep their Spawning! both are picking up the eggs and placing them into the bubblenest.All I can say is Holy Crap! IAL WORKS FAST!! I added the leaf in yesterday man talk about aphrodisiac for fish! So far everything is going great! He's still spawning with her and placing the eggs in the bubblenest. So now it's time to watch and wait. Lets hope all goes well the i have healthy little fy..

We have Bubblenesting!!

(Proud daddy-2-be poses as he looks as his handy work of bubblenesting)

Tillikum has built an awesome bubblenest for Rikku and has been adding more and more bubbles. Rikku's curiosity has gotten the best of her, always approaching the nest from behind Tillikum as he works to keep it neat. He's been enticing her alittle bit, not much chasing and flaring but showing off for his girl. If you havent noticed, Rikku has been reintroduced. Im crossing my fingers for a full spawning success. Im actually sitting here watching the tank on my right side for anything new. Right now im being stared at by Tillikum who's wondering whats that shiny thing on my lap..lol. As for Rikku, she is hiding in her cave. If anything happens believe me it'll be posted here.

Have a good night!

Back to Square one :(

Goshdarn it,

And we have to start with square one, so once again we try to recondition as Rikku did not respond to him, her stress stripes were showing instead of the normal vertical stripes. . So Tilly is once again showing off from behind the divider. Since the heater died last night the water temp shot down to 72 degrees, which may be the reason why she shown the stripes. things happen which are not in our control. so i guess since we have the new heater now, one more reintroduction let them get comfy again and hopefully off it will happen. keep your fingers crossed for me!

Update # 3

Not much change, so far Rikku has been submissive to Tillikum. However Tillikum's been busy Flaring away at his rival, he's been acting alittle agressive so I have Tiku in another tank close to Tillikum and letting those two flare out their frustrations, hopefully he will calm down enough to mate with her. Rikku's been hanging around the bubblenest here and there so we're just watching and waiting as usual. I took a picture of her while she was playing with the orange bead, she likes to push it around and study it and occasionally flare at it. She's really barred up and chunky, I guess she's waiting for just the right time.. Well got to go- I will update later tonight!

Update # 2

And Rikku has been placed into the tank with Tillikum. So far she's hanging in the bottom, Tillikum is on the otherside of the tank checking her out. He spreads his fins out when he swims by her and she watches him, but when she's ready she will give him the "go" . I will update you later on how the fish are doing. I have a couple of things to do today.

Meet the Lovely Couple

Here's the Father his name is Tillikum,

Tillikum is a Blue/white Halfmoon Betta (which is a different type of Betta since his tail, when fully spread looks like a halfmoon. There is another species which is more common called Veiltails, which tails are longer and kind of looks like a brides veil.)

He was Found by a friend who works at my local pet shop. He kept Tilly just for me as he knew i was looking for a very special blue betta. Tilly is a very special blue betta. I named him after a special whale who I am particularly attached to. The name "Tillikum" is Chinook jargon which is a language used in the Pacific Northwest. Tillikum means "Friend."

Here is the Expectant Mama her name is Rikku.

Rikku I bought at a pet shop which she for some reason caught my eye. She is a young female who is a halfmoon Plakat. Plakats are another type of betta. their tail types are completely different than the more common Veil tails as explained above. Her red colors with the hint of blues and greens. I believe she would make a great mate to my Tillikum.

For the past few days I've been in the process of conditioning her to Tillikum. They are currently in a ten gallon tank with a divider between them. the water is at warm 86 degrees, Indian almond leaf has been introduced and i also threw in a little bit of Black water extract.

*Update #1:

Tillikum has been flaring less at Rikku and created a magnificent Bubble nest for her. Rikku's interest in Tilly has been pretty good. She follows him around, her vertical bars are showing and lighter which means big time interest and recently the egg tube has begun to protrude. she's getting kinda fat with eggs which is a good thing. So here's hoping I have some great news tomorrow!! have a good night!

Welcome friends and Fellow Betta Lovers

To my Betta spawning log. I decided to create this blog to share my experiences with my first spawing pair. All together I have 5 bettas (three male and 2 female) but this is Tillikum and Rikku's journey as they become parents and as I will also keep track and updates on the fry as they hatch and grow. I hope you all enjoy reading this as I share the good and bad experiences in Betta breeding. Thanks for reading.