How do you know when the female batta fish is ready to breed?

Answer 1

To spawn bettas you need to first prepare the fish.

You'll need to make sure you feed them extra well, and provide a wide variety of foods. Betta's do well with meaty foods and many will feed them black worms in preparation to breeding them.

Now you'll want to introduce the females to the males. I find that the easiest way to do this is to put a divider in the tank and have the male on one side and the female(s) on the other. This will allow the male to see the females and vice versa, but not allow the male to beat up the females.

Alternatively you can put in several females into the tank with the male which will spread out his aggression.

Once you notice that a female is becoming gravid (filled with eggs) you should remove all of the other females and put the male and female together in the tank.

You should lower the water level in the tank so that there is about 3-4 inches of water in the tank. You'll also want to minimize any water movements as this will effect the ability of the male to build a bubble nest. You can do this by using a simply sponge filter and a small air pump for filtration.

The male will build a bubble nest at the top of the tank. This is where the eggs will be put once they are fertilized.

When the female is ready she will move up towards the bubble nest and they will do the mating dance, at which point she will start dropping eggs. The male will fertilize the eggs and then put them into the nest.

Once the egg laying stops you need to move the female to a different tank and leave the male with the eggs.

Here is a good article on breeding bettas:
http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=311

Answer 2

Female bettas will get fairly heavy about the abdomen,and when they are ready to spawn an egg tube will descend from their vent. This will appear as a small whitish triangular shape approximately 1mm x 2mm. Hope this helps. PeeTee

Answer 3

they will continue a pattern of floating to the top of the tank and then back to the bottom

Answer 4

They will develope stripes, she will also begin to mimic the males movements and her belly will be swollen.