Marine Betta

[ThRoewer]

Day 13:












Metamorphosis and settlement should start any day now...

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 14:






I did a 50% water change.
They are officially late with metamorphosis. When I raised these guys 30 years ago they were already done with it by day 14. The difference was that, back then, I had the larvae tank hooked up to the 1000 liter system the parents were in. From my bicinctus I know that that makes a big difference (though I killed a lot of my corals in that experiment and still fighting the algae...)

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 15:






They are getting big but are so far still not big enough to take on adult Tigriopus - some try though...
By now they go after a couple of days old Artemia.
Most Apocyclops seem to be gone and only the fast multiplying rotifers remain in that size class.

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 16:




Got a few too many Tigger Pods into the tank... but the larger seem now to be able to take them on... their poo certainly is by now Tigger Pod sized.

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 17:

Settlement and metamorphosis have started.

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 17 (2):

Once they start settling it goes fast. Several have ganged up under the flowerpot shards:




And mom and dad produced the next batch:

 

[ichthyogeek]

Finally took the plunge and read the entire thread! Now I’m wondering if a pair would go well with a dwarf lionfish in a 50 gallon rectangular tub.

More importantly, is there a maximum space size before the male decides the cave is too spacious for his needs? Does the space need to be very narrow? Or is it just as long as there’s a roof and three walls available to the fish?

 

[ThRoewer]

Finally took the plunge and read the entire thread! Now I’m wondering if a pair would go well with a dwarf lionfish in a 50 gallon rectangular tub.

More importantly, is there a maximum space size before the male decides the cave is too spacious for his needs? Does the space need to be very narrow? Or is it just as long as there’s a roof and three walls available to the fish?

I don't see a reason why adult Marine Bettas shouldn't get along with Dwarf Lionfish. They are certainly better tank mates for them than tangs or other restless or rowdy fish. Juveniles are a different story of course as they may end up becoming the Lionfish's dinner...

A shelve rock with a bit protection from the sides like seen in my videos seems to be enough. Ideally it should not be too high so that the male can support himself with his ventral fins on the bottom while his dorsal fin pushes against the roof. But from what I have seen in the past and with my other pair it seems even taller caves may be acceptable as long as there is some form of a "foothold" for the ventral fins.
The cave roof should not be smooth either. I suspect that's why the don't breed inside the flowerpots despite being far more sheltered.

 

[ichthyogeek]

I don't see a reason why adult Marine Bettas shouldn't get along with Dwarf Lionfish. They are certainly better tank mates for them than tangs or other restless or rowdy fish. Juveniles are a different story of course as they may end up becoming the Lionfish's dinner...

A shelve rock with a bit protection from the sides like seen in my videos seems to be enough. Ideally it should not be too high so that the male can support himself with his ventral fins on the bottom while his dorsal fin pushes against the roof. But from what I have seen in the past and with my other pair it seems even taller caves may be acceptable as long as there is some form of a "foothold" for the ventral fins.
The cave roof should not be smooth either. I suspect that's why the don't breed inside the flowerpots despite being far more sheltered.

Hmm....I wonder if something like a cinder block with holes would be an accepted spawning surface. They're certainly not smooth...

 

[ThRoewer]

Hmm....I wonder if something like a cinder block with holes would be an accepted spawning surface. They're certainly not smooth...

That might work...

 

[ThRoewer]

The larvae/juveniles are now in their most critical phase. In the past I had the most frustrating losses in the settlement & metamorphosis period when fully transitioned juvenile just fell over dead from sudden fright syndrome... let's see how it goes with them now having plenty of Tigriopus pods to chew on instead of Artemia...

 

[ThRoewer]

Day 18:

 

[ThRoewer]

Settlement is continuing and it is getting difficult to shoot videos because most are now hiding under the shards. I'm thinking to get some plain ceramic tiles with frag plugs as standoffs to have a better control of what is going on. A lot of the ones that had stayed behind in growth and were not able to make the transition died off.
The ground is crawling with Tigriopus and other pods and their nauplii so there should be plenty to feed on by those that settled. The settled ones start to behave like the adults in pretty much every way.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Settlement is continuing and it is getting difficult to shoot videos because most are now hiding under the shards. I'm thinking to get some plain ceramic tiles with frag plugs as standoffs to have a better control of what is going on. A lot of the ones that had stayed behind in growth and were not able to make the transition died off.
The ground is crawling with Tigriopus and other pods and their nauplii so there should be plenty to feed on by those that settled. The settled ones start to behave like the adults in pretty much every way.

Amazing! What's their growth rate like? Constant? Or a massive growth spurt?

 

[ThRoewer]

Amazing! What's their growth rate like? Constant? Or a massive growth spurt?

Fairly slow so far. They have mostly grown in height, fairly little in length.

 

[ThRoewer]

Videos from Wednesday, Day 23:

 

[TriggerFinger]

Love it!!

 

[ThRoewer]

This weekend I got to figure out what grow out tank I'm gonna set up for them and how to get them there. Preferably I would use a 40B as I could just dump them in there straight from the larvae tank.
I got a whole big bin full of coral skeletons, small colonies and frags that should be ideal as decoration and hide-outs.

 

[ThRoewer]

These guys seem to eat Tigriopus at pretty good rates now - at least they disappear fairly quickly. To keep up with the food demand I also have to add Artemia nauplii.

 

[ThRoewer]

One interesting thing I observed in the morning before the lights go on: It seems a number of the settled juveniles return into the plankton during the night. Those become glassy with just a tiny bit of pigmentation remaining at the edges of the fins. They settle back down when the light goes on. I could imagine this to be a reaction to the overcrowded hiding places, basically trying to find a less crowded area on a different "reef" section...