What can I do next before I breed my Betta's?

Question

I have a male and female picked out, and I have been conditioning them for quite sometime, but only because my female has caught a slime/fungus disease. I am treating her for it and she is getting better. I want to do something else though, just to be prepared. I ordered a microworm culture and it will come soon. Is there anything else that I should get ready? My tank is all set-up and ready to go. Sponge filter, submerseble heater set at 80, no gravel, plastic wrap over the top, jars for the fry, and a cup for the male to build his bubblenest under. What else can I do while I'm waiting for my female to get better and my microworm culture to come and then set it up?
Thanks!

Thanks for the info! I'm very aware of how to know a male from female, and not to keep them together. ;-)

Answer 1

Check out these sites, if you didn't already, to make sure you have everything.
http://www.bettacentral.com/breeding.htm
http://www.bettatalk.com/breeding_bettas.htm

You can even join http://www.fishforums.net/ There are a few betta breeders over there and they have a big section just for bettas with a bunch of sites for even more info.

Answer 2

Just be patient. It looks like you have everything you need to be ready when they are. Just concentrate on getting her healthy and egg-laden. I do have on suggestion though. When I was breeding Betta's, I never used the practice of putting them near one another to get the male all horned up. Instead I got them conditioned separately completely and when I put them together in the breeding tank I had put good hiding place for the female in the tank for during the ritual. I usually used a handkerchief with a paperclip or some kind of weight in the center of the handkerchief to weigh it to the bottom. The female can hide as needed in the folds, while the male is building his bubble nest. When they finish breeding the male will usually chase the female back to the handkerchief and you can know that they are done. When that happens net out the female(which should be easy as she is well worn and tired) and pull out the handkerchief.

Answer 3

First thing, your female will transfer her fungus to her eggs. You won't be able to breed her for several weeks at least. Maybe you should try another female first?

Here is what you need to start breeding and care for the fry:

A tank of dechlorinated water which has some anti fungal or meth blue solution in it. A sponge filter (turned off) and a heater set at 24degrees minimum. The ph, hardness and temp of your breeding tank will determine the fry sex BTW.

It would be better if you had an Indian Almond Leaf for the male to build his nest under but a cup or piece of floating tinfoil works too. Male goes in after he has had a solid week of being fed live foods.

Add a breeding trap or cut an old plastic bottle to size with holes in sides and insert female. Keep her in the trap for 24 hours so she can see the male and he her but no fighting.

He will build his nest and she will begin to fatten up with eggs.

You will know they are ready to breed when he stops darting at her and she will put her head down and have vertical stripes. Release her when they show these signs and watch them. They may nip and chase but dont let it go on too long. She SHOULD go inspect the nest and wait under it. He will then come along and wrap his body around hers until the eggs fall out. They will collect them in their mouths and spit them into the nest.

When the eggs are released, female will go catatonic for a few seconds and look dead but she isnt. Just watch and wait. She should be removed as soon as you have a nest full of eggs.

put her in isolation and treat with melafix for a few days to heal any nips.

Leave the male in the breeding tank for 3-4 days and dont feed him. Try to cover the lid so the heat is trapped inside. This is crucial.

Remove the male when the fry can swim freely and treat him in isolation also (feed him up too).

Now seal that fry tank up again so the lid wont come off. You could stick a straw in through a small hole and use that to feed them.

Their first couple of days you feed them on liquifry
First week onwards you feed microworm
Feed Baby Brine Shrimp from weeks 2-3 and do so several times a day.


DO NOT clean the tank out for the first couple of weeks. You need the hot air to stay inside that tank at all costs.

Fry will grow on a diet of microworm, BBS, crushed deskinned peas and finally bloodworm and daphnia.

Do not jar them up until they are around 8 weeks old.

The Sponge filter goes on around week 2.

Make sure you have a female and not a male plakat in disguise as pet stores sell any short finned betta as females when males are short finned too!

Good luck and enjoy the experience.

Answer 4

You seem to be pretty much ready, but I would also recommend buying some brine shrimp eggs to hatch for the fry when they are over a week old. Also freeze up some egg yolk to feed to the fry. Feeding fry egg yolk and microworms will get you off to the right start. Here's a link on how to prepare egg yolk http://www.fightingfish.com.au/article.php?id=5

Also join ultimatebettas.com where you can ask tons of breeders any question you have.

Answer 5

Copied and pasted from http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/bettas/betta_breeding.htm#top2 Contains lots of good info!!

Here is a list of nine things you really must know about breeding Beta Fish.
(1) Learn to distinguish between mature male and female Bettas. Note that the males have much longer fins than the females.

(2) Male and female Bettas should not be kept together except for an hour or two in a fish bowl or small aquarium, while they spawn.

(3) Keep each male in its own fish bowl. Sometimes more than one Male Betta can live together in a large aquarium. But most experienced Betta Fish breeders keep each male in its own bowl.

(4) Female Bettas can be kept together in one aquarium as shown at the top of this page in a picture of a six-gallon aquarium, where twelve Female Bettas live together. Some experienced Betta breeds keep a few mild tempered males together in large aquariums with or without females. But some males are too aggressive and cannot be kept with other Bettas, except for a short time for breeding with a female.

(5) Most of the time we feed floating pellet food labeled for Betta Fish and freeze dried blood worms, which are mosquito larvae, to our male and female Bettas.

When we're ready to spawn our female Bettas, we feed them the following foods each morning and each evening in the order listed: BettaMin, Freeze Dried Blood Worms, some live or frozen brine shrimp, then a few live Black Worms.

With good care and plenty of food the female Bettas will swell with eggs, and the good food will also encourage the Male Betta to build a big bubble nest. Sometimes I have been able to see pinkish eggs through the skin over the abdomen of plump females.

(6) Change 20% of the water each day in the bowls with the males and in the bowls or aquariums with females. This should stimulate the males to build bubble nests on the surface of the water along the edges of their bowls. You can see a bubble nest above the spawning Bettas in the photo just above.

(7) Put your plumpest female in with the male that has built the biggest bubble. They will usually quarrel for a while. The male may rip the female's fins, she may nip him back, then he'll embrace her, and they'll spawn as shown in the picture above. You can see in the picture above that the male has ripped the females fins. You'll need to watch carefully to be sure that he doesn't hurt her too badly.

If they don't spawn, you should remove the female and put her back in the aquarium or fish bowl that she came from, or the male will probably hurt her. If they do spawn, you should still remove the female.


(8) The male Betta, not the female, will care for the eggs in the bubble nest. You will see him taking the eggs into his mouth where he cleans them with special natural chemicals in his mouth. Two days after spawning the chemicals in his mouth change and dissolve the outer layer of the eggs to release the fry.

Answer 6

Get yourself a large powerful magnifying glass. My 1st spawn hatched Saturday and without the glass,I have, I would have missed alot of very interesting things. I have a chair placed at the tank and the glass by the tank and the whole family stops and checks out how they are coming along. Very interesting. First micro worm feeding was something not to miss, and without the glass you can't see whats going on. Good Luck!! ?;)~

Answer 7

You have to get a divider and put both fish on either sides of the divider in one tank. You have to see if they will like each other. If they don't they will attack.