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tighebettalover

Breeding Bettas

tighebettalover
18 years ago

Hey guys, me again. I have been thinking about breeding my crowntail betta. He is so pretty, and I want to keep his "beauty genes." : ) Anyway, I don't know much about it yet, and I want to make sure I am totally ready first. So, anyone who knows how to breed a betta, please tell me. I need info like what do I feed babies? How do I get the two bettas to mate? Do I need an extra tank? What is the maxinum amount of babies they can have? When should I take the mom out of the tank, and how soon after the eggs hatch should I take the babies out of the tank? Any information will be wonderful. Thanks!

Comments (12)

  • amanda1990
    18 years ago

    First you need to no the sex of your fish do you no the sex? Bettas are a species of fish that is easy to sex. Males have the long flowing fins and brilliant colors. Females are drabber and have short rather stubby fins.
    As soon as she has her eggs take them out as she and the other fish will eat them. You can either keep them in the same tank and buy a net breeder or put them in a seporate tank.
    You can feed the young flake food that has beed crushed into very small pieces.

  • skygee
    18 years ago

    Betta eggs must be maintained by the male betta. As the female betta lays eggs, the male will scoop it up and put it in the bubblenest. The male will maintain the bubble nest by continuing to make bubbles. If the eggs fall out of the nest, he will scoop up the egg and place it back in the nest. The female doesn't do nest duty, so it is suggested that she be removed since the male may become very aggressive while he is nest tending.

    You cannot remove betta eggs from the tank and isolate them and expect them to hatch.

    Betta breeding is not a topic easily discussed on a message board. I suggest you read up on it either from books on the library or one of the bettas specific online sites.

  • uninformed_kitty
    18 years ago

    I've also been thinking about breeding my betta. There are a lot of sites on Google, and they almost all have accurate and detailed breeding information. The best thing you can do to learn is read as many as you can, especially because different people will have different experiences, and the combination of their knowledge will get you the healthiest fish.

  • amanda1990
    18 years ago

    sorry i placed wrong information about the eggs i was thinking of somethisg else although the sexing bit is correct

  • ianna
    18 years ago

    I've successfully mated bettas before but it's getting the fry to survive that I found difficult. I wasn't too successful at that point and that's because I didn't have any good fry food at that time.. The pet stores back then didn't carry them. Make sure you find the type of food that is needed before you even attempt to get the fish to mate.

    Here's how it works.

    Get an aquarium (10 gal can work), get an acrylic or glass divider (no gravel) and have the male on one side and the female on the other side. Add a styrofoam piece to float on the side of the male. They will begin flirting with each other from each side. The male will begin making a bubble nest just under that floater. When teh fish begin to flirt, the male will display more brilliant colours, the female will register vertical stripes. Once she shows that, remove the divider. Do add a place where the female can hide out to in case it gets intense and the male will attack her instead. If the female displays horizontal stripes, she isn't ready. It will take several attempts before it gets successful. The mating dance is more like they will curl around each other, the female then drops the eggs while the male is fertiziling them at the same time. The male then picks the eggs and blows them into his nest. At that point remove the female. The male will then take care of his fish. When the eggs hatch into fries, remove the male immediately lest he will eat them. At this point you begin feeding them with your baby fish food.

    It's easier said than done.

    Ianna

  • tighebettalover
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    THANK YOU THANK YOU! I can't wait to start my betta family, but I'll think I'll wait until summer. Thanks for all your help!!!

  • garyfla_gw
    18 years ago

    Hi
    Please give this some serious thought before starting.
    Usually getting them to breed is easy but raising the fry can be difficult. The fry are incredibly tiny and cannot eat dry foods for at least a week.Learn to culture the appropriate live foods before you even start.Microworms and brine shrimp are the best choices. Infusoria cultures are excellant for the first day or so. They must be fed often
    and water quality must be maintained or they will stunt and not mature properly.
    Another problem is that as they mature the males must be separated. Most people use quart jars for this and there is nothing as much fun as washing a hundred or so jars every other day lol.
    It can be very rewarding just be sure you know how much work you're getting into lol.
    gary

  • ianna
    18 years ago

    Yes, do culture your baby food first before even embarking on the process. There's a book out there with precise information on how to go about this but my book unfortunately is buried somewher in my storage room.

    One more thing, tank covers. Make sure you lids as these fish are jumpers.

    Also, feeding the male fish when in nesting mode. I do recall, that you shouldn't feed the fish when he is guarding the nest. The excess food would only start polluting the water. However do check around to confirm this.

    In anycase, once the male is nesting, he is not to be disturbed lest he'll abandon the nest and eat the eggs that are there.

    Also one to note: water quality. Obviously tap water needs to be aerated and treated for chlorine before you can use it for breeding purposes.

    Gary, do you have tips on how to make infusoria?

    Ianna

  • spongelingo
    18 years ago

    back home, I bred Bettas so many many times. It is true that breeding Bettas is very easy, but raising fries is a serious task.
    This trick comes from nowhere but our own experience. The first week, we fed the fries with 1 tiny drop of animal fat oil (very very small amount of it because if too much, you will pollute the water.) And as the fries grew a little bigger, we fed them with live litty bitty tiny creature I guess you call it Infusoria.
    The dad should stay with the fries for the first 3 days to a week til the fries start busting out swimming everywhere and the dad is out of control keeping up with the fries, then remove the dad. My friend once left the daddy fish with the babies till every fish grew to mature and that was just incredible.
    Live plants play an important roll in breeding and raising Bettas cuz they provide places for the fries to hide and oxygen and food.
    We have short tail bettas back home and those fight real hard. Fansy tail Bettas are alot weaker than short tail and they don't do good job in nursing fries.
    Bettas are very affordable and available almost everywhere.
    I don't see much rewards for breeding Bettas yourself. Even if you can really get the fries to grow mature, I don't know what you are going to do with 50something if not 100 of them. And like garyfla mentioned, every male needs to be housed in a separated jar and really, cleaning 50 something jars every 3 days is a serious subject. So, don't mean to discourage you, but let's go ahead and stick with the daddy fish and swing by Petsmarts and get him several nice looking brother fishes and that should be plenty of works, too:)
    have fun
    Sponge

  • garyfla_gw
    18 years ago

    Ianna
    Any mature aquarium will contain infusoria.The rub when using them for food is which specie and how many. Probably the best way is to maintaina dedicated aquarium with lots of algae or old straw as a food source. Of course you need a micoscope to see them and then arriving at a count is tough. lol If you're serious you can buy pure cultures and raise them in dedicated tanks. Way too much work for a casual fish breeder especially when the fry outgrow them rather quickly.
    gary

  • ianna
    18 years ago

    Hi Gary, I needed to know in order to satisfy my curiousity and I have no intention in getting into this hobby once more. I have enough to do as it is. As for getting a microscope, not exactly a problem for me. I've access to these things. In anycase, I do recall my highschool biology experiment creating a culture (of what I don't recall) out of browned stalks of rice and water.

  • tr4ey2
    15 years ago

    there can be 1 male and 3 female bettas per 10 gallons add males in groups(3 or more) so there are no noobs who don't know there way around

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