FRENCH FRIES IN THE MAKING - PART 5

Read my past spawning journal here.

It has been almost 6 weeks since they last hatched.
Remember the last update about the disastrous water change
resulting in heavy causalities?

At that time they are still tiny and colourless...

3 weeks later, they now look like this


All of they are still looking like albino, but developing red wash on their finnage
Seems like mommy's gene is too strong!

This is how they look like overall... about 1.5cm to 2cm in length
Still small , but no longer meed to strain our eyes looking for them.

These two days, we have put them on dry baby food
its seems to work fine, as they dive their nose into the pile of food.
really cute!

My guess is we have mostly boys here as there
are lotsa of little bubbles nests on the surface.

It wont be long before we have to start jarring all of them
should still have about 50 survivors, as i last counted.

BETA SPLENDOUR

Last night, we finally moved a rake out of the storeroom
and into the Beta room.

Now, its has officially transformed into a Beta Rack.

So happy... now fish viewing has become so much better.

Here is some of our fishes.. only managed to take a few
as most are camera shy! Lol..

I think they grow a bit bigger since the last time
as we have changed their diet.. :)

This blackish-red boy is super shy and paranoid.
Its so difficult to actually catch him on film this red!
Btw, he has just become a dad... few days ago
to our 2nd batch of spawn.

This is the new kid on the block.
Just bought home yesterday, one of the 5 pcs we bought yesterday

They called it the Pineapple because of it colour.
He is now Emma's new love.

Thats all for now, until we add new racks and perhaps more fish
or more picture of some others which are super camera shy.

I have ask the fish farm to help me source for a Black Piece
to replace the one that was dead recently.

AFTER GROOMING

Gosh, I just love the way Cyrus look after grooming.

I think he is VERY VERY HANDSOME..!

Im sooooo in love with him..

doesnt he have a human look?

Irene agrees Cyrus is a human not a dog.

Even Cyrus agrees too... know why?

I did a test before.

I call him "Dog, hey dog come here"

He didnt response, and he only came over when i say

"Hey Ren (human).. come here"

Eto on the other hand, response to Dog not Ren(human)

so Eto know he is a dog while Cyrus dont think so.

These pictures are taken with my hp. so quality not so good.

BAD MORNING - PART 2

Read my past spawning journal here.

This post is a boring one. Im keeping it as a spawning journal.
Just skip if you are not into fishes.

I came home to MORE carcass.
In total i scooped out 46 dead fries, in addition to the 35 this morning
haiz....
But i do manage to save 1 little fellow... i almost thought he is dead!

in just 1 day, 81 fries die on me..
the most scary thing was.. all the daphnia that was added into the tank as food
end up dead as well.

Now i have a tank bottom full of dead daphnia and fries.

So damn suai, i really dunno what went wrong.
All I know, something is wrong with the water condition
the water was from a adult breeding tank which i though would very safe.

So i decided to do a PH test.
the test shows an alarming result
water in the tank was very acidic.. below 6
Is that why the daphnia and fries are dying on me?

Very likely as temperature and cleanliness should be favourable
only PH is not.

So i further did another 5 test on the old tank and mixture of water.
Old tank on the other hand is almost alkaline.. almost 7
I still have 2 fries in there surviving well with leftover of microfood

No choice, I need to bring down and balance the PH
so i further test another 8 times.. mixing water from the rest of the adult tank
into the old breeding tank until i obtain a PH of 6.6.

It such a co-incidence that today was Home Alone day.
Emma went back to Jb, and I was to handle all these on my own.

So I start to play scooping game again....
scooping the surviving fries 1 by 1 back into the old tank.

This time, survivor number was only 55.
it doesnt tally with the dead carcasses i found.
So i suspected that some could have been eaten as i just
caught 1 fries eating its smaller sibling.

when its all done, i added more daphnia into the old tank
using a touch to shine on them..
I could see the whole tank was full of microfood
and this time the fries was not as restless as the night before
I could see them chasing after the food.

Let just pray hard these 55 survives..
I didnt want to wake up to a tank a dead fries again.

BAD MORNING - PART 1

Read my past spawning journal here.


woke up this morning and saw white carcass floating

sad.....

last night just did a headcount .. got 145 pc of fries right?

This morning, i started scooping 1 by 1.

headcount for dead fries.. intotal I have 35 dead and maybe more to come

(which i hope not, keep my fingers crossed.)

Possibilties could be either not enough food or

fries are stressed out which causes death

i think should be the latter since most of the dead fries are

the bigger ones.

Emma just went to get some fries food for them

just hope i dont see any more carcass when i got home tonight.

the only good news was, emma found another small survivor stranded in the old tank.
so headcount is at 109.

BACK BREAKING ACTIVITY

Read my past spawning journal here.

Did something that really strain my back and neck!!
wan to break already lor.

I just spend the past 1hr + doing headcount for all my fries.

2 days back, i started to experiment with 7 fries.
scooped them into another container with aged water.
to see if they can survive the different environment.
Experts have warn me not to touch the fries, as they are very fragile
and unstable. any changes they will die off.

But i could no longer tahan the smelly water, so i tested
100% water change with 7 fries.

2 days later which is today.. they are still alive and kicking!
Okay .. means not necessary will die lor..

just just nw i try to scoop the rest of fries into another tank.. using a spoon
Emma was still saying some of the fries have die.. nw only left 50 pcs

Yea right.. Lao niang wo.. scoop until i wan to die
never ending lor.. almost cannot straighten my back and neck.

together with the pioneer 7.. in total i have 145 pcs.
can you imagine scooping 1 by 1, 138 times
and i need to use a torchlight if not cant even see them

its no fun.. man.
haha.. its really like those pasar malam game scooping the gold fish
I think i will score very well at that!

peeps. congratulate me.. i still have 145 fries left as of now!

If they all survive.. I will take picture of their betta rack.. hmm no shelves!

FRENCH 'FRIES' IN THE MAKING -PART 4

Read my past spawning journal here.

Currently now my fries are coming of 2weeks of age.
Its not as easy keep them alive and rearing them to full terms
Since friday, I have started feeding them boon aka daphnia
oh they love it so much that the tank is pretty much empty the
following morning. Need to refill it on daily basis but the problem
is I'm running out of daphnia.
And the fish shop downstairs are not selling it.

Good news is.. they seems to have grown much bigger for the
past 3 days after started on boon diet.

Now we are discussing and looking into ways to rear this fries
water in the breeding tank is getting dirty and smelly
How to we change it?
The Pros have advise that it not advisable to touch the water
until 1 month later. But Im worried about bacteria growth with all the
waste in the tank.
Fries do die during water changes due to difference in water temperature or PH.
I guess we just have to experiment it our own way.
Betta fries are not easy to rear.. and survival rate is only about 10-20%
I have about 100+ fries now, ultimately i might only end up
with 10-30 surviving adults
Some owners have report 100% death rate or only 7 adults surviving.

Another 1 crazy thought i have.
If i rear the fries (3-5 fries) separately in individual container
will these increase the growth & survival rate
as there are more food and less competition,
hence they will grow much better with more food intake.

Perhaps I should do a experiment on this and monitor their growth.

Lol, me and Irene were discussing all these and reminds me of the days in school
when we have to do project. I don't think i was this enthusiastic in the past!

Now see now pictures.

This is how the breeding tank look like now
with a lot more waste, colour of the water is from the leaves


Fries like to form their own group like these
in this small group like this, its easy to find about 15 of them.
Most are prefer to swim on the surface
although there a few loners, like to roam
the bottom of the tank.

I have done a close-up shot.
See how their size differ, some are even smaller
then the one on the left.

I have use red arrows to indicate the head and tail
so its easy to see the whole length.

They have really merge into the water
having the same colour, its almost diff to spot them out
in the pictures.



I think in another 4 days or so
they should be developing their Dorsal Fin aka Tail

hmm, i wonder how they grow up to be.
By the way, im not sure anyone knows
rearing betta fries is just like having jackpot draw
as you will never know what you going to get
unless both parents are the same.. maybe
You wont know how they look like and what colour until
they fully develop.
They may look nothing like their parents too or even
developed colours which the parents dont have! LOL

PRINCESS DIARY

MOMENTS OF LOVE

Whooh.. we have a big tummy female
In fact for this pair we have keep for quite some time already
but yet to post any picture because of their colour
highly reflective
Its almost impossible to take a decent pic of them for the past weeks
especially the male.. he is camera shy.
for the past hour, i only manage to capture these few -------------------------------------------------------------------
we have just transferred the pair of Green Mask HMPK into their breeding tank
This is our female lead. Actually both of them are siblings
with very good genes.

Here come our camera-shy handsome boy
Not his best pic, as he is always flaring at some hidden angle


Female will be placed at in the floating tank until she is ready.
Meantime, the courtship shall begin here

This will be where both of them shall be for the next 2 days
nurture some feelings.. hah!
The male also starts to blow some bubbles..

Shall update again.. esp on his bubbles nest
I believe should be quite big by tomorrow morning.

P/s: Marina, do you want to name them?? No names yet
p/p/s: haha someone say she never seen fish mate before! want to see??
haha.. stay tuned then

MORE TINGS TO COME

Today, the 3 of us (w/ Emma & Irene) went for a excursion at Pasir Ris

Spend a total of 4 hrs at 2 fish farms

and we came back with more bettas , tanks and food.

Spend almost $200 there.

Im only able to take picture of two bettas as my Cam batt went flat.

Hehe, will take picture of the rest once my Cam is upz.

These two are my fave, among all.

Especially this black piece.

I doubt it will be used for breeding as the fins are too perfect.

My heart will ache if its damage during the breeding process.

'FRENCH' FRIES IN THE MAKING- PART 3

Read my past spawning journal here.

Our apologies to Mr Curly Ting for accusing him wrongly

If you have read the previous post

we have suspect Curly of eating his own babies!

This morning there is a delightful surprise awaiting us in the Betta Room

the whole eggy gang have transformed..into tiny black dots

woohoo!

There are hundreds of eyes staring back at us.

When we stare hard enough, these tiny black dots moved

followed where the red arrows are

stare hard ..those tiny black dots are eyes of the fries...

Most have start to hatch, as for those whitish patches

either they are slow bloomer or could be unfertilised eggs

But the amount of eyes we have are amazing

they look so cute

Infact , does share a resemblance to the dessert we alway eat

not sure what is the name, the ice mountain dessert that has lotsa

Tadpoles lookalike among it (know which 1 im refering to?)..

LOL.. you can ignore me!

There is something more amazing than the eyes

Look at the picture carefully , follow the red arrows again

See the tiny tiny strand of thingy just beneath the bubbles??

Its the tails of the fries and its wriggling

Note:

1) Please click on pictures to enlarge it. These fries are really tiny, even with my naked eye I have to stare hard and long to see where they are. Picture quality is the best I tried.. with my Panasonic Digi Cam

2) Please do not be mistaken the yellowish liquid in the tank as dirty mirky water. Its the result of adding a type of leaves which the fishes loved.

FUNNY NO LONGER FUNNY

Just a few days back

I noticed something different about

His cute little white patches on his eyes

hmm, like getting lesser but I didnt take any pictures.

In case you have forgotten how he look like 2 weeks ago.

Here's a recap.. that how funny he looked.. LOL

Last night, Emma was screaming for me in the Betta's Room

Funny Ting look different

As is he had a make-over and is now donning a new look

The Cute little white markings are gone...

TOTALLY GONE!!

Almost couldnt recognise him

even the blue banding on his fins are like merging into the turquoise

Not that he look ugly.. infact he have grown more handsome

Looking just his expensive next door neighbour

Mr Green Mask (no picture/name yet!)

But Funny is no longer funny now.. He look so serious now..

We still missed his old silly funny look!!

Is that what people say, look more mature when you grown older?

Signs of Maturity?

Not sure thou..but certainly my little boy is growing up!

NOM NOM NOM

What does this look like to you? Make a guess

Its dog chewing stick
hah.. look very plastic right?

But the boys loved it...
as they start to dance in circles

In fact they love anything that i had on my hands
Cuz they just thought whatever it is..
Must be delicious food.

Look at the way they eat...
look really tasty right??

Nope, not at all
these sticks smells like play-doh
Oh Yucks!

Unlike their usual treats,
smells good and some taste good