Depressing

Recently there was another conversation regarding the use of salt in freshwater tanks.

I have used it for the last 12-15 months in my tanks. I reduced it from 1 tea spoon/10 litres to 2 tea spoons/30 litres about 6 months ago. I further reduced it to 1 tea spoon/30 litres around a month ago.

The conversation took place a week or two ago.

Since then, I thought I'd give it a shot at going back to no added salt...late last week, I had one female develop dropsy and keel over. A few days later, a prize male showed some lethargy, which developed into dropsy within 12 hours and he was gone. Yesterday a female lined up for a F2 spawn went the same way even quicker.

My tanks are far from salt free just yet, as I'm using the non-salted water for the water changes - so my fish are being slowly adapted back to no salt. I don't think it's the salt that caused the issue, nor do I think it is the lack of salt in the new water. It's Murphy's law - you talk about something and defend your stance and...bang...something kicks you in the softest of places to remind you of your limited understanding of things.

Then my largest fry from my DTHMPK spawn keels over...

Every now and then, the Fishroom is the last place I want to be...

But it doesn't matter how long you've been doing this, or how much you know and take care of your piscatorial charges...something, somewhere, sometime, will jump up and bite you.

Be supportive of others, and don't think your way is the only way to do things. What works for you, works for you...until it doesn't.

Good luck with your spawns :)

White Out With A Chance Of Blackness

Spawn Updates

The white Double-Tail Halfmoon Plakats are going okay. As is usual for my spawns, they are starting to slip behind the accepted growth rate and week three is where I normally have a bit of a "wheat from Chaff" die off period. That is to say, by my way of thinking, I tend to lose quite a few of the weaker ones.

This time round I'm not particularly concerned. I started with a ridiculously high number of fry and there is still more than enough left for me to deal with.

I did manage to get the first pic showing their caudal lobes tonight...even though the rest of the fry is still blurry...another week or two till my camera picks them up well.

My second spawn tank is also full of light bodies, with the F2 of my recessive CTPK line. I started with even more fry in this spawn than the DTHMPK spawn above. They are also going well although a little behind the growth curve and also going through the Wheat from Chaff phase. This photo was taken pre-feed, hence the slightly gaunt look. I assure you, they all have orange bellies now :)

And last but not least, the Black Orchid CTPK F2 spawn...Looks to be around 50 or so that will make it to maturity. There doesn't look to be a high ratio of males in this spawn again...mostly female in F1 and it will be mostly girls again it seems.

The first male looked nice but lacked almost every trait I was trying to improve...I was worried.

As you can see, nice caudal spread, decent dorsal spread, anal is too long and a little too much hump in the top line...and bugger all webbing reduction. Feisty fella though...

But tonight I found another male who is just about ready to be jarred...

There will be a better photo once he's been jarred and a chance at a mirror, but his top line is better, webbing reduction is better, anal is more in balance...a better all round fish for my goals.

No more spawns planned till January - but I have two pairs ready and waiting to go when these spawn tanks become free and the little fellas have grown to juvies...well, at least two pairs ;)

Fry Everywhere

It's been over a month since I last updated this blog - smack my wrist...bad blogger!

Got a fair bit to report on now :)

The accidental spawn was culled due to an outbreak of Swim Bladder Disorder. The poor fellas had a rough start and never recovered.

But, that spawn was replaced by two others who have more than made up for the false start to breeding season.

The players

Many of you know that I've been after a white pair of DTHMPK for a while now. Through the graciousness of SSS's Yolandi, I managed to purchase a pair from Indonesia. As per usual, they were imported through FishChick in QLD and arrived in excellent condition.

Male

 Female

Result = a big spawn of approximately 200+ fry. Unfortunately my camera doesn't have a macro lens and so photographing the little blighters is futile...

At the same time, I setup the following pair:

Male

Female

These are my F1 choices from my recessive line of CTPK. They carry the Non-Red (nr1), Cambodian (c), and Opaque (Op) genes (among others). The goal here is to get back yellow, Opaque and Cambodians to have three separate recessive lines moving forward. These separate lines will then get crossed with fry from the DTHMPK line above. Then, as required, they will get crossed into my green and black orchid lines, and future lines I have planned.

The result (please forgive the photography - like I said, no macro lens)

This is just one corner of the spawn tank. The fry are everywhere! I estimate 400+ - easily the biggest spawn I've ever had.

BBS production has increased accordingly with a new BBS hatchery created. I'll post pictures of that once it's fully operational. For father's day I was also lucky enough to get a mini fridge with a good size freezer compartment. I need to move some things around but this will be installed into the Fishroom by this weekend (no more traipsing back and forward from the kitchen - yay!) - photos to come.

As always, both spawns were started on Vinegar Eels for the first few days and then BBS. Both are now solely on BBS, three or four times a day. Water is being added every second day to fill the spawn tank, with a water change being done every day in between (alternated between the two tanks - so one gets extra water while I do a change on the other, and then the following day I alternate).

This time round, my spawn tanks were very basic. A 20L tank from Target with 8L of IAL treated water, a small sponge filter, a half polystyrene cup (not taped to the glass) and a heater. Yep - no plant anywhere in sight. Only the sponge and the heater for the girl to hide behind.

Both girls were still introduced in a separate container, and then into a clear tube - but on release, they stayed in there respective tanks til they had done the deed (two and a half days - no tubing overnight). Both boys were very gentle, so they sustained no damage other than a nip here or there.

Both boys tended their eggs well. Red built a huge nest while the DT had virtually no nest to speak of.  Both males were removed once the fry started free swimming.

After advice from a well respected source, I'll be moving them to bigger digs in two-three weeks time, and then probably splitting the spawns even further down the track.

There will be no more spawns till around January - I think I've got enough on my plate...

Where Am I?

Some of you may have noticed my absence around the place, in the Betta Community Facebook pages and in the AusAqua Forum - it's not because I'm withdrawing from breeding my fish.

To be perfectly honest, I'm over the politics involved in the Australian Betta Community. I have friends in Betta Australis, Sydney Splendens Society, and in Victoria Betta. Unfortunately, it means I hear all sorts of things from all sides of the topics under dispute, from a wide range of people. It saddens me and frustrates me that people cant work together to come to an equitable solution for the benefit of the community as a whole. I am not pointing the finger at any one individual or group -  but I'll not get into expressing my opinions here. That's not what this post, or indeed this forum, is for.

So, to maintain my love of the fish, and not get trapped in arguments with people over topics that aren't life threatening, I've decided to simply withdraw from interaction in the scene, at least for the short term.

I am still breeding, and I'm still contactable if anyone wants to talk about the fish, but I don't want to know anymore about the clubs/chapters, or the parent organisations. I will continue to watch from afar how the scene develops.

When my current memberships of the different organisations run their course, I wont be renewing them - with anyone. This means I wont be able to show my fish - so be it...I was never in this to show fish or win ribbons or trophies - the idea that I can create the fish I want, fascinated me -> still does, so I will continue to breed. Eventually, I may even offer some up for sale, but for now, and probably for the next year or so, I'll be very quietly working away in my own fish room.

I will interact occasionally on the forum, the AusAqua FB page, and on the CTPK Project Australia page. I will answer any questions or requests made to my FB page.

I will update this blog on occasion when I have something to report from the fish room.

I wish everyone nothing but success with their fish.

So Much For The Off-Season

Last weekend, I think, I setup two spawns after nearly ten days of conditioning my pairs.

• Gold HMPK pair

 

Female

 

The egg-eater Male

• F1 of the CTPK line Green II

 

He's marbled a little since this photo with a lot more black now showing in his fins

 

She's not changes at all

I think I might have to come up with some names for my lines....

Anyway, as reported on my last post, the gold male ate his eggs. The green pair just didn't seem interested. Truth be told, I'm a little more blasé about the actual spawning process now-a-days. I condition, I introduce, and then I let them be once I think they've shown enough interest in each other.

So, every time I looked in on the green pair, she was on one side of the tank, he was on the other. Occasionally he'd go over and try to encourage her back to his pitiful nest. At no time did I see her acting submissive or hiding, and at no time did I see him trying to warn her away from the nest.

I checked the nest for three days, and saw nothing to indicate success, and the behaviour of the pair hadn't changed, so I called it a failure, fished the girl out, and went about my business a little disheartened. It was here I decided a I needed a break and implemented an off-season.

Today I thought it was past time I did a little tank maintenance, so I started doing some cleaning and water changes. Last on my list was the failed spawn tank, which the male was still in.

I began siphoning, and something moved, so I moved the siphon over to get it, and it moved again. I thought it was the biggest infusoria I'd ever seen, or maybe I's begun cultivating larger single cell organisms - I had been pretty slack in cleaning this tank up. There was hubris all over the bottom, I'd been feeding the male pellets each night, and I'd not done a clean since I'd removed the female.

I got up closer to the tank with my magnifying specs on...and there was fry in there....quite a few...

The tank has now been very carefully siphoned, new water, and BBS added.

These guys are very active, but a little on the small side, but then I have no idea when they were actually hatched. If they are a week old, then they're not so small, if closing in on two weeks, then maybe a touch behind where they should be. Plenty of BBS in there now though so they should catch up fairly quick.

I now have a spawn of Black Orchid F2's in the grow out, and now this Green F2 in the spawn tank...the early morning feeds continue then for the foreseeable future :(

Isn't Mother Nature grand...

It's The Off Season

Weather in Adelaide is getting a bit on the cold side of late, and hampering not only BBS hatching times, and the ability to keep a female in a separate tank during the introduction period, but also my ability to bend as well as I need to...and the fact that my gold HMPK pair spawned and then the male ate all the eggs...has led me to require an off season.

So, no more spawns for the time being. I'm thinking nothing till late September, when the weather should be well and truly warming up, maybe not even till October if need be.

Yes, it will slow down all the breeding programs I've got on the go, and all the lines waiting to be done, but so be it. I need some down time as well. I've been at this, flat chat, for a little over a year, so before I just burn out, I think a rest will do me good.

I'm not going away. I'm not packing it in. Just pressing pause on the spawns for a month or two.

I'm thinking June through to the end of August will work nicely for me as a break from now on...actually, I'm quite looking forward to sleeping in occasionally instead of getting up everyday to feed fry...and, as I wont be running so many tanks, there should be a drop in the electricity bill :)

This is not the end of posting on this blog during this time either. I'm expecting a new arrival soon, and then I'll post some pics of what is currently in the fish room, plans for the next 9 months once the on-season returns :)

It's All About The Numbers

Since I gave away my first two spawns of F1 CTPK, I've had a rethink on a number of fronts.

I'll not be giving away anymore fish, unless it's in special circumstances. I'll be happy to trade or to have them purchased from me, but I don't think I'll be actively offering them up for sale in the short term. If you're after something specific, I'm happy to take requests and if I can help, I'd be happy to sell/trade to you the specimen(s) in question.

When I start creating good quality CTPK, then I will start actively offering them for sale...and that's still a long way away.

Next number I figured out the other day...while I was doing a water change on an F2 spawn...a 1 in 8 chance...that is the possibility in getting a male F2 CTPK out of a spawn.

The long fin trait is dominant over the short fin trait, so we can work a simple punnet square to work out the approximate chances of getting plakats (sf) back from a F1 sibling pair.

Long Fin (Lf)
Short Fin (sf)

Fish from a cross of a long fin CT and a short fin HM = F1 spawn carrying both LF and SF genes. Crossing a sibling pair from this F1 spawn gives us Lfsf x Lfsf:

  x       Lf        sf
Lf     LfLf    Lfsf
sf      Lfsf     sfsf

25% (or 1 in 4) LfLf = Long fin
50% (or 1 in 2) Lfsf = long or mid-fin
25% (or 1 in 4) sfsf = short fin - these are the plakats we're after for the CTPK line.

Of course, we need a male and a female, so we have a 25% chance of getting a short fin, but then there's a 50/50 chance that it is either male or female (at least until someone figures out what is behind male or female heavy spawns).

So things fit nicely into all these number games, we then say that the 50/50 chance will play out evenly in the long run, resulting in every second short fin being of the opposite sex. Naturally, this is where Mother Nature steps in and laughs at our carefully prepared punnet squares and throws up female heavy spawns, or only female short fins, or the opposite with male heavy spawns or only male plakats.

Maths isn't a particularly strong point of mine, and genetic punnet squares are not as simple as the one I've depicted above. There is the background of the fish, the environment, the preparation, then there's the caring for the fry - cant say I know many people who have never lost a fry during the 3-8 months it takes to get them to maturity! What if the only fry lost are the short fins...or maybe only the male short fins? What if you only get a small spawn of 10-15 fry? You need 16 to better your chances of getting two short fin fish, let alone the astronomical odds of those two being a perfect breeding pair.

This is where time and patience come into play. Creating a CTPK line from scratch (HMPK x long fin CT) is difficult. You may have to spawn the same pair a couple of times, or cross an offspring back to a parent, or cross over to another line, or introduce another HMPK to increase the odds of getting short fin at the cost of webbing reduction. Lots of options, but what's right for the situation your line is in?

And what do you do with all these less than ideal fish you're producing looking for the elusive plakats with some form of webbing reduction? If you sell all of them off into the Betta community then you'll recover some of your costs...but what happens when you finally get to the quality CTPK specimens you've always been after....everyone else already has their/your previous spawns building up to the arrival of your quality fish....who will want, or have the room, for your newly discovered fish-par-excellence? Pet shops will only give you so much for them, and usually it's only in store credit.

So, I've come to the conclusion I'm not doing it anymore - selling (or giving away) less than quality fish, I mean. Like I said before, if you want something, then feel free to ask - if I can help I will, but I'll not advertise another fish for sale until I have some quality fish to sell...which should be right about the time I'm ready to show!

Now I need to experiment and find the best way to make home-made Oil of Cloves...

          

New Arrivals

I've had some new fish arrive to extend my projects...but before I show you them, a quick fry update...

My recessive line has now had 7 of the surviving 11 juvies jarred. Unfortunately there is only one male in the group...and he isn't the stunning nr1, Cambodian or opaque gentleman I was hoping for...

Yep - blue...fast becoming the bane of my search for green existence! So, I knew dad was carrying Bl, and most likely Blbl (due to the result of another spawn involving the same dad), but mum was supposed to be a yellow Cambodian CT...which, phenotypically (how she looked), she was...but she was obviously a bit of a mixed bag genotypically (genetically speaking).

Taking some of the females into account from this spawn, the yellow must also have been carrying Blbl, but the outer iridescence would not have been visible due to the Cambodian genes removing the black layer...no black layer = no visible blue/green layer.

So, a solitary blue male who should be carrying the nr1 gene and the cc gene, but obviously not a pair of cc genes...or we wouldn't be able to see the blue layer :)

This guy will have his pick of a number of females, but the front runner at this point would be this girl...

I believe this girl is carrying two cc genes and the dots you can see are the iridescent layer. When crossed with the blue boy, I will hopefully see a return of yellow and Cambodian fry.

I have a spawn of Green F2's growing out well - around 15-20 coming along in there...first male and female jarred at 10 weeks (a new record for me so I'm quite chuffed :) )

I have a new spawn of Black Orchid F2's - lots of fry in there...

It's all go...but, onto the new arrivals:

 

Mustard Gas long fin to start a MG CTPK line

 

These girls aren't enjoying QT, but they are really a very

nice green and will go into the Green Lines

 

Sister to the above. These will be a slight step back when introduced

to a CTPK line. They will somewhat counteract the webbing reduction

I'm after, but their colour is worth the regression.

 

Gold HMPK female

 

Gold HMPK male

The gold's will be used to breed another generation of gold HMPK's and they will be used to create a gold CTPK line, and will be crossed into my recessive line...busy times ahead for these guys :)

Thank you to Yolandi for helping me get the fish, and for the mg and green girls in particular (from her own spawns no less!).

OMG

I have obviously stopped thinking like a fish owner and started thinking way too much like a fish breeder...I didn't think interest in my fish would be so frantic!

Yesterday I made it known publically that I was offloading my excess F1 Black Orchid CTPK. I had kept a pair aside for me to further the line, a pair for a friend I had promised a breeding pair to, and two females as a thank you to the wonde3rful couple who loaned me their boy to start the line in the first place.

So five were already taken, leaving only six left: one boy and five girls.

They lasted all of about 20 minutes before they had been snapped up.

So, one spawn down, just the green spawn to go...well, I was going to wait a fortnight, allow those still in the growout to have a chance at joining those on show, but stupid me just went on impulse and made them public as well...11 girls and 5 boys this time.

I was keeping one boy and two girls, leaving 4 boys and 9 girls up for grabs...all gone, in less than two hours. My laptop got so confused I had to reboot it!

So all up, I had 27 fish from these two spawns. I'm keeping five of them. Everything else has a new home. It will be a busy day on Monday at the post office. 7 new Fishrooms/tanks will house some of my fish in different states all around Australia...that is so cool.

I have one spawn of F1's still in a growout tank. There's about a dozen fish in there. No idea on males or females at this stage but if the ratios stay true, then it should be light on males :(

This last F1 spawn is the important one. It carries my recessive genes for removing red wash and black influence. I hope to be able to develop this into a Cambodian CTPK line and a yellow CTPK line come F2 and beyond. I'm also hoping I can introduce a double tail influence into this line sooner rather than later. Not sure how many of these I will be giving away...might give the CTPK project first dibs (other than a promise I made to someone else...).

So, the fish who will be staying and continuing my lines...

Black Orchid CTPK Line

Green II CTPK Line

Black Orchid CTPK F1 - 2014

Tonight I jarred the last of the Black Orchid F1 CTPK - a big thing for me. First time I've cleared a grow out tank...first time I've raised a spawn from fry to maturity! Yay me! Only eleven from the spawn made it this far, but that's okay, what I do have is not a bad start for a black orchid CTPK line.

Judge for yourself...

A couple of the boys

 

 

A couple of the girls

 

 

The top boy and the top girl will be paired to progress the line :)

Pictures of all who will be looking for new homes will go up in a Facebook album hopefully before this coming weekend.....problem is two girls are already spoken for, and a breeding pair is waiting on a decision from another person I promised something too...after I take my breeding pair, that only leaves five girls...so if you're in the market for females for the cost of postage, stalk my Facebook page :)

There will also be some from my green line looking for new homes soon. Thirteen of these have been jarred and there is still six or so growing out. Haven't fully decided on what will be progressing the line forward, but there will be marble girls, royal blues, and some males looking for new homes (and quite possibly breeding pairs)...these will also be in an album on Facebook very soon :)

Almost Ready

Due to Easter and ANZAC day being so close together this year in Australia, I managed to take a few days off in between to join the long weekends together and ended up with a ten day break - sweet!

Over those ten days, I've done a bit of work in the fish room, including setting up my new holding tank.

Still lots of work required to finish this project, but it's now operational with a few fish already testing it out for me :)

I've also revamped my AquaOne Trio tank in prep for jarring out individuals from my growouts. They are starting to come thick and fast now. It will only be another two or three weeks and I'll be looking to pair some up for shipping to new homes, others will be available as singles, and, of course, some will be chosen to remain and carry on their lines in my own fish room.

Two current spawns are having a mixed bag of results. One has a single fry remaining, from what seems to have been a very small spawn in the first place (<10). He has been non-stop grazing on BBS and has now eaten himself into a case of Swim Bladder Disorder. His diet has been altered to try and fix this. He is growing exceptionally well though...

The other spawn is doing well with 20-30 very active fry buzzing about the tank. About to start bigger water changes and add grated blood worm to the diet.

So once these growouts have been sent out the door, things will begin to wind down a little in preparation for the winter layoff. I still have one growout moving very slowly, and these new spawns to tend to over the colder months, but I wont be doing any further spawns till August/September.

Come Spring - come the push for F2 spawns...looking forward to that :)

Betta Photos - Eye Candy

Finally got around do doing some photography last night and thought I'd share what is soon to be given away...well, some of them :)

The Black Orchid F1 CTPKs

 

This girl ^^ will be retained for the F2 spawns

 

Evil eye...but check the branching  and beginning of webbing reduction in the caudal

 

Some of the blacks are still growing out, but most should be quite nice for F1s

 

Male keeper to go with the female keeper above

 

This girl and about 8 or 9 of her siblings will be going out to new owners :)

 

 

The Green F1 CTPK's

 

 

There are around 20 or so of these guys who need new homes

 

Interesting two tone blue male with obvious variegated fin gene

He may be going to a new home - not yet decided 

 

My green line has a lot of blue to choose from. Most of these will be going :)

 

The marble gene has kicked in for some of the girls...

 

And then there's my favourite girl (a definite keeper) 

 

My favourite is also not one of the biggest - don't dismiss runts

I have one last spawn in the growouts, but they are far from ready, and I'm not sure if any will be of use to anybody else at this stage. I may simply keep a few of them and cull the rest. It will be from F2 that I expect to get the best results from that spawn...unfortunately, the give-aways will also end when the last of those from the black and green F1 lines have left the Fishroom - F2 spawns will mark my dipping of the toe into showing and hopefully, selling :)

Advice...And Give-aways

Learning about Betta has been an all-consuming passion over the last 11 months. I have loved the genetics side of the humble Betta, and then the tail-types - my shifting goals from breeding long fin half suns, to now concentrating on CTPK...but, the biggest enjoyment I've had from any of this, has been the sharing of that knowledge with others.

Facebook has become the place to be if you're involved with the Australian Betta community, although I still love and frequent the AusAqua forum and the people on there (I love them, not frequent them). But it is on Facebook that I have come to dispense the little bit of knowledge that I have gathered.

I know very little - compared to some of those who have been breeding for many more years than I have, I know less than very little! But I seem to know the basics, and that is what many of the newer breeders want to know - and so I freely dispense those bits I do know - and I feel good about educating others.

Now I have F1 spawns who need homes in the next month or so. I shall decide on the few fish I want to keep from each spawn, and give the majority of the rest away. Sorry, but only mainland Australians need express any interest.

I'll add photos when they're ready to be shipped - but, I have turquoise marble half dragons and I have black marbles, all F1 CTPK spawns. There will be 20+ of the turquoise and maybe 15 or so of the blacks that I will need to find a home for.

I'll not sell these to the LFS as I don't want F1 mutts going anywhere other than to people I know (for pets), or to breeders for their own breeding programs.

Look for me on Facebook to register your interest - it wont be binding, until I've uploaded photos with identifying designations for each fish - then if you say you want, you need only cover the postage (depending on the number of fish you want).

These are good F1 fish, as one of the girls I gave away last week has already been involved in a spawn for her new owner!

I look forward to hearing from you fellow CTPK enthusiasts.

First Departures

I've sent fish to others before, but today, I sent the very first fish that I have personally bred off to a new home.

Three little ladies from an F1 CTPK spawn, to help another breeder get her CTPK project off the ground.

 

BJT20130924F1

 

BJT20130924F2

 

BJT20130924F5

Personally, I really like the last girl, but I have my F2 spawns already underway and I don't have the room to keep everyone - so off she goes to help another :)

The other bonus is it frees up another three bays in my female barracks. My second green line of CTPK's is very close to needing some of the ladies separated out of the grow-out tank.

I shall pick out only the very best from the lines from now on - to the best of my ability - space is of a premium - which means there will be more to ship out in the near future. F1's shall continue to be give-aways - but hopefully, F2 and on should begin producing some good quality fish of a saleable nature :)

F2 Tails!

I know I've been incredibly slack on keeping this blog updated, but life outside the Fishroom is keeping me extremely busy.

But...the good news is I've managed to have some additional success in the spawn tank.

Lets go back a step or two...

It all began with a marble dragon HMPK male x with a turquoise CT female

 

 

The above pair produced these guys:

 

All my mid fin and long fin fellas end up tail biting - it's annoying :(

He was paired with the female below

 

So the above pair spawned on the weekend, and their fry (F2) began free swimming this morning.

 

And I also paired up...

 

 

 

She doesn't have any fungus or disease - it's just an effect of the light behind her.

She was tried with the other male ^^ earlier in the year, but as you can see by the fin regrowth

he was somewhat unkind towards her - she came out without so much as a scratch this time round.

 

They spawned on Sunday, and I expect the fry to be free swimming by tomorrow.

 

These guys are all part of my Hunt For Green lines. I'm trying to get some metallic green fish and to get some better CTPK. F2 should allow me to get plakat's back in the fry, and although neither dad has very good webbing reduction, the mum's are a good start - fingers crossed.