male and female betta fish?

Question

i have 2 male betta fighting fish and 2 female betta fighting fish they are all in different glass vases and jars. I intend on breeding so i need to know when is it the right time for a male fish to start mating and what signs i should look for. also with the female what signs i should look for when it is ready. please be specific thank you.

Answer 1

If you want to really do it right heres most of the basics and a few details too:

Breeding tank: A 10 gallon makes a good breeding tank for bettas. Place in on a dark surface and set it up with no gravel or decorations. Use a small sponge filter and a heater. maintain the heat at 78-82, the temerature is not really that critical. Using a hood is a good idea to hold in heat and moisture.

Conditioning: Condition the male in the breeding tank. Condition the female in a seperate tank and be sure they cannot see each other. Feed well on frozen or live foods alternating with flakes or pellets for at least a week. The female should be plump with eggs and the male should be flaring and showing his best color, maybe even building a bubble nest.

Spawning: Drop the water level in the breeding tank to about 5" deep. Place the female in a bowl or other container next to the breeding tank so that the male can see her. As soon as there is a good bubble nest in the breeding tank add the female. Check for eggs in the bubble nest every few hours. You know they are finished when the female is hiding from the male and he no longer leaves the nest to chase her down. He will also not be trying to attract her to the nest. At this time remove the female from the breeding tank. If they fail to breed within a few hours go back and repeat the conditioning steps for a week.

Eggs and fry: The eggs will hatch in 2 days. At first the male will collect the babies and return them to the bubble nest, this is normal. Once you see that the babes are able to swim in a normal fashion, remove the male. Now is the time to start feeding the babies. Feed them newly hatched brine shrimp, micro worms or vinegar eels. Feed several times a day for the first week to 10 days. At that time you can start addig some powdered flake food to their diet and begin increasing the water level in the tank.

Care: The babies need very clean water. Do a 50% or more water change every day and be sure to remove any uneaten food or dead babies that you see. Keeping the water clean and changed very often is one of the major keys to sucess. Be sure you cull the brood. Culling is to remove unwanted fish. Remove any deformed fish right away and destroy them.

Rearing and selection: Eventually you will need to split the batch as they will over crowd the 10 gallon. Removing the females to another tank is the best way. The males can stay together without a problem. Continue to feed quality foods of increasing size working your way up to frozen or adult brine shrimp and continue to do large daily water changes. Once they begin to develop color, you should cull based on color. Keep the color you like and remove the rest. Even if you started with two reds you will get a few that are not red or are not evenly colored. If they are near adult size a shop should buy them from you or at least give you some store credit. Be ruthless, keep only the very best to breed with next time around.

The males can stay together basically for their entire lives as long as you never seperate them. Once seperated even for a day they will begin to fight so keep that in mind.

Best of luck and stick with it, you'll have baby betta before you know it!

MM

Answer 2

you dont have to buy another tank just go to walmart or petsmart and buy a gold fish bowl and she would be happy that way she can eat and don't worry about gettin attacked! If a female that wasn’t ripe, or ready for spawning, would have entered a males tank, it’s possible that she would’ve been attacked, as non-ripe females are not tolerated within the vicinity of the nest. By not fleeing, a female indicates her readiness to spawn. Yes, some times if you are not careful when trying too breed bettas, the male will attack the female and he can injure the female, the females are much smaller than the males. A Male and a Female: In the wild, females stay clear of males, except during mating. When cohabiting in tanks, males might kill females, and are generally kept apart unless (a) they are juvenile siblings, (b) they are breeding, (c) there is a partition, or (d) the tank is large enough for the female to escape attack. Often, before breeding, breeders use such a container to allow female display without risking harm by the male. Two or more Females: Bettas are not schooling fish, but in a large tank with many hiding spaces, female bettas can cohabit. When two females share a tank, one usually bullies the other, however, four or more females will establish a hierarchy allowing peaceful co-existence, nevertheless, females living in community must be monitored for aggressive females.

Answer 3

When bettas are ready to mate. the top of their water will have a lot of bubbles. this is a male sign. at this point you will put the female into with the male for the fertilization. just have to watch to see if the female will take it or not. if they start to fight each other then proceed to remove the female and put in the other female. once the female have taken the fertilization process you will need to remove the female and place here in a holding tank. once the egg has been born remove the female so she won't eat the eggs. this is just a quick little info. to find out more details on this you should go to your local book stores ( barnes and noble) they have a wide selections on breeding and care for your fish. i hope this help...


haitech

Answer 4

Actually you are focusing on the wrong parts. You need to focus on the breeding tank, and fry food. A healthy betta is ready to mate any time. You just put the two where they can see each other. (In fact you don't want them seeing each other too early.) Wait for the male to build a big nest. Ideally you'll want to see the female display bars, and go head down. Just keep in mind that some bettas just won't mate, or try and kill each other.

Answer 5

Males need to be about 6 months old or older (at a year, they usually have their full fins grown in so you can see what you're dealing with). Females about the same age. You'll need at minimum a 5 gallon more or less rectangle bare bottom tank with a lid and a heater--floating plants are optional but aid in making the fish feel comfortable, gives the male somethign else to build a bubblenest in, enough plants will give the female somewhere to hide if hte male gets too aggressive (they will also, if they have been in a tank for a long time and are in good shape, will provide infusoria for the babies). No signs. Put the male's tank next to the female's tank so they can see each other, then after a couple days, separate them so they can't see any other fish. For 2 weeks make sure you feed both male and female twice daily with fresh, meaty fish food (live if possible--worms are good, frozen if you can't get live). You want your fish at their health prime. Make sure both breeders are always kept in clean conditions so they don't develope any illnesses they may pass on to the babies. When the breeding tank is set up and ready for fish, put in male betta and let him get used to his breeding tank for a couple of days. Continue feeding him (and the female in her own tank) but make sure to clean up any uneaten food so it never start rotting. When he start building a bubblenest, put in female but keep an eye on all. If male (or female) gets too nasty and start taking nips out of hte other, remove. Female (not light in color) will develop vertical strips to indicate she is kind of scared but also intrigued by male (light color females can't make strips). She'll usually go and inspect the nest, start to follow the male around a little. When male approaches her, when she's ready, she'll let him and follow him to the nest. They'll betta embrace, release eggs & sperm, will pick up and spit eggs into nest.