Siamese Fighter won't build a nest!!!!!?

Question

I am trying to breed my siamese fighters but low and behold he won't build a nest, I have a a tank divider so he can see the eager females but he won't do his thing!!! the water is perfect and everything according to the book, I bred them success when living abroad, but am struggling here in england, any tips will be helpful thank you.

Answer 1

Having bred bettas for 10 years the last 2 for profit I can assure you what your betta is doing is normal for alot of males.

Placing the fish together without crowding them and without the prospect of placing one or the other in danger is accomplished in many ways and they have proven to be successful in varying degrees.

Some breeders use a partition of glass of plastic in the breeding tank to separate the male from the female, the fish can see but not hurt each other. The partition of course would be removed when a nest appears and the fish appear ready to spawn. In your case no nest is appearing.

In my opinion the most succesful separator in tanks are plants. A harrassed female can retreat behind plants, and even though a game of tag may take place she can usually keep from being harmed. Plants provide a less restricting separator than a divider or a jar, since the female can decide when she is ready to approach the male and does not have to depend on the breeder to release her at the right time. Floating plants are the most convenient to use and very effective. Rooted plants can serve the same purpose if planted thickly enough. Floating plants have proved to be so effective for us and other breeders that where they have been quite thick the female has been known to retreat after spawning only to return repeatedly to the nest sight to spawn again without harm.

Nest themselves can be extremely varied some males will build virtually no nest at all and still be successful in spawning, other males will build a nest covering a considerable amount of water surface. Some males will start building a nest at the sight of a female and others only if the female allows herself to be bred.

We have and so have other breeders successfully spawned bettas where there was no nest built before the spawning started. In fact this happens quite a lot with certain males we have. These males will only build nests once they are spawning the female and she is dropping eggs. They then continue to enlarge their nest the whole time they are in the water with the eggs and fry.

My advice to you would be to ensure you have adequate hiding places for the female you will spawn. Condition her well and release her into the spawning tank with the male.

Good luck!

Answer 2

A few different things come to mind here....

One: The fish might be a little too young for breeding. If you know he's a really young fish just wait a few weeks to a month and he'll grow into it.

Two: He might not quite be in breeding condition yet. Feed him really good foods for the next week and keep his water really clean. Then after a week warm him up a bit. Take the temperature up by 3-4 degrees should do it. Keep the temp between 70-78 for the week the bump it to 84-86 would be even better.

Three: Place the female so that he can see her. This often gets them stirred up and ready to go in no time. If he has been able to see her for several days, then he might have gotten board waiting so take her away for a few days and then bring her back.

Four: He might be trying but filter currents are breaking it up. Use no filter of one that doesn't disturb the surface too much. Another soething to try to help this. Cur the think ring off the top of a styrofoam cup, wash it and float it in the tank. Make several and the betta will probably build his nest inside one. You can leave it until afer the eggs hatch.

Over all try this: Make sure he cannot see the female and his tank temp is about 76 or so. Feed both of them really well on a wide variety of foods for the next week keeping the water clean in both tanks . After the week it up, move the female so that he can see her but not get to her and raise both tanks to 84-86. he should build a nest by morning.

If that dsoesn't do it, try again a week later and again a week later etc. If still no luck after 6 weeks, he might really be that dumb, lol... but that is really, really rare.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

There are several options you can try.

First of all, if this particular betta has never bred before, he may be simply not sure what to do... Or not the type to build a nest.

One thing that sometimes helped my bettas get the idea was to release the female before the nest was fully built. It requires watching them both, and I had to re-divide the girl once she started getting beat up a bit, but it gave him the idea to start making his nest. From what I've heard, sometimes other breeders face the same problem, that the boy would rather court and build simultaneously.

Another option is to find a boy that makes good bubble nests, and carefully transfer over one of his nests with a spoon to the tank with the lazy boy.

A third option is to choose a female that builds bubble nests -- they're terribly rare, but it does occur from time to time.

And of course, making sure the breeding location is out of the way of disturbances and using a bit of ketapang leaf doesn't hurt, either. ;)

Good luck!

Answer 4

the only element you may do is supply him an anchor for his nest like a styrofoam cup. make beneficial the easy isn't too reliable as this could burst the bubbles and make beneficial the pH isn't too severe (upload dried Indian Almond leaves?) it could additionally be a case the place he's not conditioned sufficient to decide to mate. Or he merely isn't sturdy at it and you may get yet another male.

Answer 5

spray him with spanish fly