FINALLY my betta is building his nest but...?

Question

my male has finally started and almost doen with id say about 8/10s of the cup full just a bit more to go
i let the femlae go and he chases her for a bit then gets back to his nest
how long should i wait and expect them to finally breed?
and how will i know when they are going breed?

no my fish are not in a cut
from the pet store...

they are in a 10 gal tank
with a cup taped cut in half for those that dont realize that
with a fake plant
corner filter
and a submersible heater
the temp is at 81
ph is at 7
the female has a big stomach and her overpoister is bulging
and the male well yeah

the water is at 5-6 inches
anythign else?

Answer 1

You should give them several hours before you remove the female. It can take them quite a while to get around to breeding.

How to tell when they are about to start can be a bit tricky. He is basically trying to chase her under the nest so that chasing will look much like any other chasing. If you see both of them under or even near the nest at the same time without him chasing her them you can be sure they are going to breed. During the breeding, the male will wrap himself around the female under the nest to help her release eggs. This will occur several times during the breeding with a bit of a rest between each time. She will rest and he will take eggs from the bottom of the tank and blow them into the bubble nest. You will know they are finished when he will no longer allow her near the nest.

You mention 8/10 of a cup full. Some males build large nests and some much smaller nests, so don't use the size of the nest as a strong indicator of when they are ready.

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

Kool.believe me in this one.Your bettas will spawn at some point or yet another.My male equipped bubblenests in the past i've got been given a female yet then they spawned and the male equipped a bubblenest 0.5 the size of my 5 gallon tank.So dont difficulty,my male didnt build a bubble nest till he spwned so youre fortunate that he has a failing bubble nest rather of two bubbles.(this occurred on my first spawn then for the subsequent 3 spawns,he became into experienced adequate to construct a million in the past hand)

Answer 3

Your male Betta is ready,the female will display her readiness by the extension of a spawning tube. This will appear as a small cone shaped tube that descends from her vent. It's not very large but it will appear white and not that hard to see if you know what to look for. If she is not in breeding condition the tube will not appear. As long as the male is maintaining a bubble nest keep the female where the fish can see one-another. Keep the room warm and watch very carefully.------Good luck.----PeeTee

Answer 4

How big is the tank you have him in, exactly? You said "cup," so I automatically think a cup like the ones they sell them in, which is bad! Bettas should not be bred in anything less than a five gallon, as they will tear each other up pretty badly in a smaller tank/container.

When they are preparing to breed, you will see them embracing off and on. Sometimes a pair never does this--some bettas just aren't compatible. Anyway, they will "flirt" with one another by several small embraces throughout the day, then finally they will begin to breed, which is characterized by a heavy embrace by the male. He will wrap himself around her and twist then take the eggs to the nest.

When they are finished breeding, remove the female, as it is likely he will kill her trying to defend the nest. You can leave him with the eggs until they've been hatched for two-three days, then you will want to remove him as well.

The babies should be fed day-old brine shrimp, microworms, and boiled egg yolk three-four times daily or they will never grow to a proper size. Obviously, you will not want to feed all these at once: the very tip of a paintbrush covered in microworms is sufficient, as that tiny amount contains millions of worms. Feed the microworms once in the morning and once in the evening. The day old brine shrimp can be used for the second feeding and the egg yolk (properly smushed and released as tiny particles in the water near the babies) for the third.

Good luck!