how to mate bettas?

Answer 1

I have always found breeding bettas to be easy and fun Here's the method I use

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 separate 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 adding 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 success. 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 separate them. Once separated 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

Lots of work.Well conditioned fish,that means clean water(frequent changes) and good quality foods,(not just pet-store crumbles). The male should be in a 5 or 10 gallon tank, with 4 or 5 inches of water in it. He should have floating plants to build his bubble-nest near. The water temp should be 75 or 80 degrees F. He should be building bubble nests frequently. The female should be fully grown,plump with eggs and showing her spawning tube. Her container should be placed near enough to the male for him to see her. When they both signify readiness put the female in the tank. The male will wrap his body around the female and she will express a few eggs which he will fertilize.The embrace will be repeated several times. The female will be in a sort of semi-coma,don't let this alarm you,she'll be OK. The male will pick up the eggs and blow them into the bubble nest.When the spawn is over the male will try to drive the female away,that's the signal to get her out,or he will eventually kill her. For the next few days the male will care for the eggs and fry.In fact he will care for the fry until they are able to breathe whole air and swim to the surface to do it. Now you have to learn how to feed animals that look like a tiny sliver of glass. The first food will have to be infusoria,and you can't buy it you've got to grow it. You can be learning to do this at the same time you are learning how to feed the adult fish,don't wait until the fry start to hatch,you've got to have this under control first. Keep the water level low in the breeding tank until the male is removed then add a seasoned(cycled) sponge filter powered by a slow gentle bubble type air lift. There's lots more to learn,get a good book on spawning Anabantids and study it while you're getting the other stuff together.-------Good luck.-----PeeTee

Answer 3

Oh, why would you want to do this???
This is waht you do:
Have a 5 gallon tank with water and your male betta in it. The water should be around 76deg. and about 3-4 inches high. Put the female in another glass bowl with water and put the bowl in the tank- keeping the female safe. The male will go nuts. He'll start forming a nest (loads of bubbles on the surface of the water). The nest has to be a pretty good size. Leave them like that for about 2 weeks. When/if he has made the nest- carefully and slowly so you don't ruin the "nest" dump the female bowl into the tank with the male. She'll check out the nest- he'll chase her around for a while(it'll look mean). Eventually she'll get tired and he will come to her, wrap his body around hers and squeeze the eggs out while fertilizing them- they'll drop to the bottom. When he lets her go scoop her up quickly and into a bowl with nice water and a place to hide so she feels safe. Females often die if not cared for after. The male wil take the eggs and put them into the nest or bubble sack. One egg per bubble. They'll hatch weeks later- either remove him or get a breeding net because he'll eat them. Good luck- it's not easy!

In response to a few of the below answers- you don't need anything for the male to blow the bubbles on- he'll just do it where ever. You'll know he's ready by the amount of bubbles and her ab will be fat- round and w/lines.
You don't need a filter and remove the male after a few days.

Answer 4

mating bettas is simple and i will teach you step by step. I m8 bettas byself =)

step1:bake sure the bettas are comfortable.make sure they have space,light,food,ext.they need a large tank .I RECCOMEND 10 GALLON. the fish dont always like to be together and they need space to stay away from eachother.

step 2:make sure the male has something to blow bubbles into.what the male will do is squeeze the eggs out of the female and put them into bubbles to be furtilized later.I HAVE A FLOATING TURTLE DOCK WITCH CAN BE PURCHACED AT ABOUT ANY PETSTORE.

step 3:you need to kase sure you have a male and a female!
some ppl are confused and some stores dont carry females.(harder to find).males are colorful with long tails and such.some males are called crowntail (what i prefer) they look like thier tails are torn up but there just normal.if you are purchacing a normal male make fure the tail is all together because the babies will end up the same way.with FEMALES , they are somewhat grey with some color and they have short tails.the tail will be rounded and if not then you can accidently end up with another type of male.(beware the not rounded stubby tails)

step 4:when the male is ready to help make babies (horny , lol) it will blow bubbles on the leaf or dock or whatever you have floating . the female when it is ready to lay eggs , it will develop blackened lines (2 or 3) going vertically accross the body.

step 5: sit back , relax and let the bettas do thier thing.when the eggs are laid, make sure you remove the female! she will eat the babies.when the eggs hatch , remove the male , he will kill the babies.

step 6:when the eggs are falling out , you may see hundreds of eggs come out.when the eggs hatch , you will see about 50 babies . (not all survive , you cant help it)after this step , let nature take its course.the ones that hatch first will grow faster and if the babies hatch late , they will eventually be killed.when they reach about an inch and grow those "threatening gills" and start flashing eachother , seperate them. you will end up with about 5-15 out of the hundreds of eggs laid.

finaly step 7:whatever you choose to do with the babies ,(keep them , give them to friends , sell them , sell or give to pet store) you are finally done and you are ready to appreciate the effert you put into being able to help in lifes natures.

THE END
GLAD TO HELP,FEEL FREE
TO ADD ME 2 UR FRIENDS/CONTACTS.

PS.IF BOTH PARRENTS DIE , IT HAPPENS.DONT BEAN URSELF UP.

Answer 5

Breeding bettas is not easy, but can be accomplished if you are willing to do it right. You must keep them apart while you condition them with good high protein food for about two weeks.

Once the female is fat and shows a white dot close to her anal opening, she is ready to spawn. Both tanks must be kept at or about 78 degrees. The breeding tank should have an air stone that bubbles slightly so as not to disturb the nest (preferably in the opposite end of the tank from the nest).

Float her in a jar in the male's tank so he can see her. If he has not already started a bubble nest, he should start one in a day or so. If he has one started, he will add to it until it is roughly 3-4 inches in diameter and about a half inch high.
Once he has the nest built, slowly release the female, without disturbing his nest. You must now watch them for the next couple hours. If she is ready, they will start the spawning. They will wrap around each other and as she releases the eggs, he will fertilize them. Next he will pick them up in his mouth and place them into the nest. They will repeat this until she has no more eggs to give him. He will then chase her away or kill her if she cannot get away. You need to remove her at this time to save her life. This will happen in the course of 2-3 hours or sooner if she doesn't have a lot of eggs.
The male will then tend to the eggs and keep up the nest until the eggs hatch in about 3-5 days. You will see lots of little tiny tails hanging down from the nest if you look closely at the under side of the nest. If one becomes dislodged, he will retrieve it and spit it back into the nest. Once the fry start swimming on their own and straying from the nest he will give up trying to keep them under control and you need to remove him to another tank. Increase the air stone bubbles now so the water surface does not develop a film that could be fatal to the fry as they develop their air breathing (anabantoid) chamber.

Start feeding them VERY fine food three to four times a day as soon as they are free swimming. Infusoria is excellent, as is mashed up hard boiled egg yolk in water. When they get a little larger, start them on baby brine shrimp (BBS). These can be bought frozen at better pet stores. If you do not feed properly, they will not grow and will develop deformities if the tank is not kept spotless.

Keep the fry tank perfectly clean (siphon debris with air line tubing) and do 30-40% water changes every 3-4 days. Keep feeding them good and in a few weeks the males will start fighting and you will have to separate all of them so they don't kill each other. Good luck!

BTW, the name is pronounced bet-tah, not bay-tah.

Answer 6

I am not sure about this so don't laugh too hard but I heard that you have to make sure you have a male and female betta before you attempt to put them in the same tank. I can't tell them apart but the fish store will know. Then lower the lights, put on some Marvin Gaye, and let the majic happen.

Answer 7

I would join aquariacentral.com

but anyway what I knwo is you want a ten gallon tank, withlots of cover. Have the male in it, let him build a bubble nest, float a female for a few days in a cup or bettas net, when they both show interest, let her out and watch them

Answer 8

You put them in the same tank, and let them work thier magic:)

Answer 9

You need a little wine ,soft music, ambiance....