why is it so hard to get Siamese fighting fish to breed?

Answer 1

No No No No..... Being A Betta Breeder / Owner I Know How Hard It Is. The female does NOT lay the eggs in the nest. The spawning is like this. You'll need a 10 gallon half filled tank with a submersible heater set at 26-27oC celsius. Lots of plants such as java moss in one corner and a bit of polystyrene or a half a poly cup. Place the male in the tank for a few hours to let him get used to his tank, THEN place the female in a cut down coke bottle so he can see her but she cant get out etc. Depending on the colour of the female tou will be able to see vertical breeding bars on her. (Dark females only) Light females will only be able to spot breeding behaviour from their behaviour. Head down fins clamped (although this could mean a disease so make sure ;) ) And the male should build a bubblenest at night. The following morning if the same behaviour is being shown, it is known to be safe to release the female. But keep a close eye on them for the first 30 minutes. Embracing can start any time from 30 minutes after release or even upto a week after release. Generally they are ok to be left together, if any major damage like a whole fin or scales being ripped off you should take the female out and place her back in her coke bottle. But if they start embracing you should leave them to it. You'll know when it's over when the female is hiding in the plants at the other end of the tank and the male is more interested in his nest than her. This is the time to VERY CAREFULLY take the female out, try to not disturb the nest at all. After this time the male will be busy catching the falling eggs, cleaning them, eating fungussed eggs and also moving them around. After an average 48 hours the eggs will start to hatch. the little babies will be hanging tail down from the nest. If you see a load of little greyish tails hanging from the nest you've successfully spawned Betta Splendens. Now the hard bit begins... And im bored of writing so get the rest from www.bettatalk.com :P

Copyright Bret Weber (Excluding the bettatalk link)

Answer 2

We used to breed them easily in a community fish tank.
The conditions must just have suited them. Getting them to breed was easy, rearing the young was the tricky bit as the hatchlings needed a lot of attention.
I can't really prescribe the ideal conditions, as our problem often was to stop them breeding.
The tank was about 24x12x15 (inches)and there was one male and several females, along with a load of guppies and other viviparous species. The water (fairly soft) was maintained at about 75 degrees F by means of a submersible heater no pump or filter.
The male was always blowing bubble nests, and enticing the females to mate with him. As each egg was laid, he would catch it in his mouth and pop it in the nest.
When the female had given up all her eggs we would remove the bubble nest to another smaller plastic tank floating in the main tank. The eggs would hatch, and then the care of the young would become the difficult bit.
Meanwhile, a bit annoyed, the male would go off and build another nest and entice another female.
As teenagers we used to make enough money to go out on Saturday nights, by taking home bred Siamese fighting fish back to the Aquarist shop, and selling them, a practice now of course not allowed.
One thing we discovered was that in a tank that consisted of apparantly all females, one would suddenly grow it's fins and start blowing bubble nests, so we concluded that they can actually change sex from female to male if the circumstances demand it -( a well finned male commanded a much higher price than females) I have never checked this out, as we now only keep goldfish.(and they breed by themselves in the ponds.)

Answer 3

Beta fish are picky breeders. It also depends on the size of your tank, the temperature of the water, and how calm the surface of the tank water. If the tank water is above 80 degrees, the males will build a bubble nest, in preparation to lure a female to it. He will show off he physique to get her interested in him and his nest. If the female is interested, she will follow the male to his nest, and the courtship begins. the size of the nest has to impress her, or she'll swim away. The less turbulence, the better the nest stays intact. You need a tank at least a 5 gallon size, so that the female can get away if she needs to. 80 degrees and above in water temperature is needed to stimulate the male the build a sizable bubble nest.
A good dose of patience is needed,too. Good luck and I hope this helps you out. If you are really interested in breeding these beautiful fish, go to your local library and check out a book on Beta Fish, or your local pet store should have books on this subject.
Tinker Toy

Answer 4

Actually - it's not. Bettas, like other Anabantids, are bubblenest builders. The water must be no more than 6" deep and there must be no surface water movement.

The pair do a courtship dance and the female lays her eggs in the nest. The fry hatch after 24 hours. They are actually beginner easy to breed.

Betta
http://www.aquariacentral.com/species/db.cgi?db=fresh&uid=default&ID=0013&view_records=1

Answer 5

Put some Barry White on. Foolproof.

Answer 6

The same reason why the chicken crossed the road.

Answer 7

They don't quit fighting long enough to breed. They are fighters not lovers

Answer 8

Change your aftershave

Answer 9

instead of wanting a shag they want a fight