# Phoenix's Betta Splendid, HM, HMPK, Giant



## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

Nice looking bettas! Giants are awesome!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Gorgeous fish!

I really like those dragons. I think I'm going to end up getting a HM dragon for my new desk tank at work...

Best of luck with the new spawn!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Thanks! The Giants rock my socks. Can't wait to see what I get when I breed them.


I'll have Halfmoon Red Dragons in about three months. The daddy is taking very good care of them. He made a new nest and moved all the eggs.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

The male made more bubbles and moved the eggs around. I will know in 24-48 hours if they are going to hatch. They hatch fast and are born very, very, very small! From what little I can see I guess 75-100 eggs. Not bad for their first spawn. Female is only 4 month old.










above


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Fingers crossed for you! Congrats!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Fingers and toes for me! I should be able to see eye spots sometime tomorrow!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

This morning the nest was three times as big, eggs still look good! The Giant male that was ill is better already (all hail triple sulfa).


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I can't wait to see these fry, the parents are fabulous.


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

So neat. Loving the good news!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Babies!!!! I got home today and there are tons of tails! Eeek! I'm so excited! I also got a peek at some of the little guys from above. Sooooo tiny. If you don't know what you're looking for it will be hard to see. The top pic the baby is in the middle as two black dots, in the other shot the thin white things hanging down are their tails!


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## Burks (May 21, 2006)

I was reading about Bettas in the Jan. issue of TFH. I didn't know about these "Giant" Bettas! Very cool. They said they weren't very colorful and I immediately thought "not for long!". Knew someone would be trying to breed some awesome colors into them.

Congrats!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Congrats!!

How much longer will you wait before removing your male?


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

You have fry running out of your ears!!!! Amazing!!


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

You just got them and they're breeding already... like bunnies.

So who are the parents? I see the male is the red dragon. Who's the mom?


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I stuffed the pair with live blackworms and got them in the moooood. The female is a Red Dragon as well (sister of the male). 

They are trying to swim (the fry), they drop down about 1/4 of an inch and then zip back into the nest.


Just placed the King blue betta and the Giant together...yup, some one's gotta work to get some color into the Giant line, might as well be me!


EDIT: All the fry are free swimming! They like to hide under the anubis plant leaves. Fed microworms, I can't believe how tiny splendid fry are! Removed dad, he was getting stressed about trying to keep them in the nest, but he was not happy to be taken out.


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## max23 (Feb 27, 2008)

great job, i used to breed betta. Too much work for me. I never fed any microworms to the fry. Just live bbs only.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

So awesome! I can't wait to see the fry you get! 

And those little tiny eyespots.....frickin' adorable!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Here is the new set up. I put the rack where my old drawing table used to be (Selling it, I don't use it anymore). I'm going to get the T5 light on the top tanks raised up a bit so it lights them better, and I need a new bulb for the bottom, I hate that hue. The small rack has rubbermaid with various fish with sponge filters. The 20 gallon is dry at the moment, will be grow out for the Halfmoons. The big tub is for breeding and growing out giant betta. the ten gallon is Albimarginata grow out. On the big rack, the top three tanks will be all Albi, the bottom will be splendid and aa tank of imbellis. the little five gallon will go. And I now also have a ten foot free wall space...you know what I'm thinking....barracks! Giggle. 

Excuse the mess, I've been moving tanks and filling, and draining ALL day.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Wow that is crazy! And very cool! I'm totally digging your setup and the DIYing you've put into it! Great idea using simple rubbermaids too as grow-outs, no need for all of them to be display tanks! :hihi: How economical of you! :biggrin: Looks great! I can't wait to see how the breeding goes!


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Hey, great setup!

If you're ever interested in Guppy grass for your breeding/fry rearing tanks, just LMK... I'm letting some grow out right now so will probably have plenty to spare in like 2.5 minutes... LOL


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I love rubbermaid betta tanks! Giggle. Good bang for your aqua buck and they clean easy! I drilled holes in the lids to allow for feeding without lifting the lids.

I've got java moss out my ears...how is guppy grass in low light?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Phoenix-cry said:


> how is guppy grass in low light?


Almost indestructible. roud:


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Phoenix-cry said:


> I love rubbermaid betta tanks! Giggle. Good bang for your aqua buck and they clean easy! I drilled holes in the lids to allow for feeding without lifting the lids.


Totally great bang for your aqua buck! Wish I'd thought of it when I was breeding guppy / endler hybrids....might have gotten better results if I separated them out more! :tongue: Thought my boyfriend would have killed me if I had a rack full of "tanks" :hihi:



Phoenix-cry said:


> I've got java moss out my ears...how is guppy grass in low light?





lauraleellbp said:


> Almost indestructible. roud:


It is truly quite nearly indestructible, I used it in my guppy breeding tank, it was great. It's quite prolific, and quite pretty!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

OKay, so my Pionus parrot got out of her cage while I was at work...she crawled up onto the five gallon tank ATE through the air cord (which shuts off all the tanks), and shat in the tank like a dozen times. ATE through another cord. Chewed up on of the plastic lids. ATE several pencils. Arrrggghhh. 

The fish in the shat water? Still alive and doing well!



Here is the guilty one. Don't let the look fool you! GUILTY!!!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Spawning my two true giants, and a pair of dragon plakats (red and purple) tonight.


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

awesome job... your fish room looks like my bedroom...haha


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Well I am glad no harm was done to anyone! But what a little so-and-so!!! 

Beautiful bird though!!!  But i know that look, i know it well, my dogs do the same look when they're guilty of tearing things apart :hihi:

Good luck with the spawning!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Here's the Red Dragon spawn, two weeks old tomorrow. Fuzzy fry pic!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Spawned a pair of Dragon HMPK yesterday. The Giants got all friendly with one another, but never spawned. Male might be too old. I'm going to try my female (full of eggs) with a really big marble plakat that I have for some half giants.

New spawn:


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## Chrisinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Congrats!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

WOOHOO! :biggrin:


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Phoenix,

Damn birds! Glad the fish are ok. 

Good luck with the spawns. I also purchased 3 pairs from Coolbettas (awesome seller) a while back too: Copper Black, Red Green dragons, & Blue dragons. Awesome fish indeed. Hope you don't mind me cluttering your post, but I got babies from the Red green pair so far (20 strong about 3 weeks old). The Black pair seems infertile to me. They spawned the same time but their eggs all turned into a glob of fungus. Well, that was 3 weeks ago and the Black pair spawned again today so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Black female betta are very often infertile, that is probably the trouble. If the eggs don't hatch again, don't bother breeding her anymore, breed your male into a nice neutral color like blue.


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Thanks for the info Phoenix. I kinda suspected it was the female since all the eggs that come out of her seem much bigger than regular eggs I've seen before.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Yeah, there is something about female black melano betta, 9 times out of 10 they are infertile. The male will be fine, and if you breed him and then breed the siblings you should get some blacks.


I spawned my Halfmoon Butterfly with my crowntail female, this will result in some of the spawn being 'Halfsun', the 180 spread with a light combtail fringe:
Male:








Female:









Huge nest, should hatch tomorrow night:











Here are some of the babies from the Dragon Plakat:


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Awesome!! Keep us posted Phoenix. Thanks for the suggestion.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

ooooh very cool! Can't wait to see those babies!!!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Okay, fry update time.

There are halfsun fry EVERYWHERE! I've never had such a sucessful spawn, there must be 300 fry in there:

Halfsuns:









The plakat Dragon batch is awesome cause the fry have already divided out into a brilliant white, a deep orange, and a dark gray at 2 weeks old! The pic doesn't really show the color that well.

Plakat Dragons:










I moved the HM Dragons into a 20 long and they are getting bigger all the time, they've started developing red fin color. There are 47 of them. They are really hard to get pictures of! This is right after a decapsulated brineshrimp feed

HM Dragons:


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

A fellow betta lover from another forum who goes by the name Mad About Chichlids (MFK profile: http://www.minnfish.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=15) came over to buy my blue halfmoon and took some really nice shots of my boys! With his permission I'm reposting them here for you all to enjoy!

The chunk out of his tail was from the female crowntail, they have a 200-300 fish spawn growing up right now:










Here is my plakat boy, I'll be breeding him sometime in March:










Metalic green and red boy (currently for sale 20$):










And my special Red Dragon boy!


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## speedie408 (Jan 15, 2009)

Awesome looking fish ya got there Phoenix.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Thanks! I love the red dragon....I'm breeding him again right now.


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Absolutely gorgeous Bettas! LOVE the fry pics! 

Can't wait to see them grow out! :biggrin:


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

I might snag one of your HM males down the road... I'm rather fond of (< read- completely addicted to) blue BF bettas!!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

BF betta rock, here's to hoping some of his young carry the BF!



I just got a new pair of blue dragons. I love them! I can't wait to see what the babies will be like! I'll breed them in a month or two.

He has nicer color in real life, I'm still working on the whole camera thing.































female (unrelated) camera shy:










I hope you love them half as much as I do!!!


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## JennaH (Sep 28, 2009)

haha i love that 3rd pic of the male. he's a beast


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Gorgeous!


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## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

Wow. Want more pics!


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Heehee, the male says 'Be gone!'. Giggle. 

I got a new pair. I saw the form of this boy and *had* to have him. These are just quick shots, real photo shoot later.










This pic his more true to living color











And this female. She's amazing! She's HM, they told me HMPK, but I'm thinking HM long tail. I thought it was male, but she's full of eggs, and has the ovipositor, and short ventrils. SO irridecent in real life.










The fry are doing great, getting bigger and more colorful every day.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

I saw this little guy in a sea of so-so crown tails. I thought he was a black dragon in the light of the fish shop. Got him home and found that he's a purple dragon! Sweeeet. Not bad for 10$.


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

These are fry pics from the Red Dragon Halfmoon spawn! Just over a month old now!


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

Wow GORGEOUS fish you got your hands on their, truly stunning! I love Betta!!! :hihi: 

And those fry are flippin ADORABLE! :hihi: LOVE THEM!!! :biggrin:


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## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

Makin me want a betta. I'm not even into bettas anymore. Someone let me know if friendly bettas become a possibility. Multiple in the same tank! Someone should breed them to be nice lol


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## Karackle (Dec 11, 2007)

^ You can often keep females together, I used to have 3 in my community tank :thumbsup:  Or one of the wild-type betta species


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## Phoenix-cry (Dec 25, 2008)

Somestimes the females get along and sometimes not. Depends on their mood. Giggle. Imbellis can live together!


This litte guy sez: "I'm gonna be purdy like my Daddy!"


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## Clare12345 (Dec 20, 2008)

How did I not know this??? LoL. I'm afraid I'd choose the wrong kind though. Maybe I'd have to buy from one of you


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## Craigthor (Sep 9, 2007)

Beautiful Bettas'


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