How to MAKE bettas breed?

Question

I have a mixture of platies & mollies in a 20 gallon tall tank.It is like 10 of them with my blue/green female betta.So I decided 3 weeks ago to breed her with Red my solid red & blue tip betta!I conditioned them with live brine shrimp & freeze dried bloodworms!Her egg spot is showing but stomach isn't "big" but it is not small!So I decided to put him in my NET BREEDER inside the tank.So she was showing stress marks but was following him in the net breeder.Well today I put her in the net breeder to get him to blow a bigger bubblenest becuz he only had like 30 bubbles under the piece of stryofoam under there.Well he was instead not blowing more instead inviting her to the nest by flaring at her then running back under the bubbles so she was just sitting there with the vertical stripes like she was ready to mate & went into the head down tail up position but the male got upset with her not coming to the nest I guess and rush her & went back under the nest.What should I do know?

Now I have her in a little plastic cup inside the net breeder,she has jumped out into the net breed once so I put a top on it........Should I wait until there's an bigger nest or go for the risk of fertilized eggs just not a place for them?

Answer 1

This stuff happens naturally and i time they will mate but for now just let it be as it is. Don't rush.

Answer 2

First, you cant force it, fish don't work that way. Second, a net breeder is far too small of a space for them to breed in and the bottom need to be firmer than the net breeder will allow so that the male can find the eggs. Here's what I do that works very well for me and have for years.

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 temperature 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 3

IF you have never bred before read this for a general idea of what to expect.
Conditioning? Min 2 wks time.
Asa beginner yoiu should take it one step at a time till you can figure out your own style. So here is the basic idea.

"Is a ten gallon good for breeding= YES
You need a sponge filter and air pump, with a valve so you can turn it down an up.
Only fill the tank up 4 or 5 inches.
Yes put in a few live plants I reccomend hornwort, good, and cheap also. geta good thermometer, and heater a fully submersible type as you wont have a full tank for a bit. so yoiu lay it down low. Dont put gravel in the tank.

Purchase IAL indian almond leaf, http://www.majesticbetta.com right there in calif. they will mail it to you.
Age your water , make sur to add dechlor. Boil the IAL in a gallon of water three leaves or so. make a tea and add it to the tank water.
Most will recommend a chimney but I use a divider for the tank , 5 gallons each. that way she can relax and swim about while you feed them lots of live food or frozen, redworms, or shimp , or mysis , kinda your choice there but good quality food is a given. Hikari is best by far. After a week she will fill up with eggs and look like she ate a marble. The male side of the tank should have a target for the nest, float a nice peice of IAL in there , the male will know what to do, then if all is good take the divider out,

Watch the male for mating, when he is done remove the female, you'll know when , you should see eggs falling and he and sometimes her will pick them up and put them into the nest . She will run and hide when there done becasue he will get rough and rowdy, might try and kill her. So remove her. He could get rowdy during mating as well but you will learn the difference in actions.

Eggs will hatch in a very short order 24 to 36 hours, depending on the temperature, most everyone reccomends 82" I go up to 90' but I dont reccomend that for anyone else. Thats a peronal thing from what works fr me.

Its important to be ready for the fry, live bearer food wont cut it for fry. You should have a mix of egg yolk and water to feed them, basically boil an egg and take the yolk out and mix it with a cup or so of water. mix it up well , feeze a some in an icecube tray the rest put into a spritzer or sprayer and feed from day one to day 7 with a spritz a day over the tank one spritz only, or should I say one in the morning and one in the later afternoon, after six pm. (dinner)LOL
Some folks use VE Vinegar Eels and some use MW mciroworms, either one is good but takes a c ulture to work with. egg yolk mix is by far the easier. and works great.

After one week old or so you should start to hatch BBS for your fry, this is not too bad but you should have a hatcher ready to go as well. they need a light on them to keep them warm and a little aquarium salt, I use a 2 litre bottle and mix mine up , see pic. http://brineshrimpdirect.com instructions and eggs for sale.

Answer 4

Put them in a separte tank away from other fish if you do that they con breed they can hide in the back of trhe tank and breed ask the store owner for a Female and Male beta then you can breed them put them in a seperate bowl and there you go

Answer 5

Breeding Bettas, information:

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/kick_beta-breeding.html

Answer 6

You can't force them. They are both inexperienced. With time they will learn what to do.