Betta Spawning?

Question

Can I spawn my breeder bettas in a two gallon stripped out of all of the non essentials? I can't possibly afford to go and spend over 300 dollars for all of this fancy **** just to spawn bettas . Let me know the truth.

Answer 1

You can easily spawn them in that tank, but not raise the babies for very long. No need to spend a bundle of money either though. Less than $25 is plenty. A 10 gallon tank with a air pump and sponge filter is all you need to raise the "keepers" from a batch of bettas. Once some of the babies die, you remove some that are deformed and you remove more that have bad fins or are poorly colored for you, the rest should do fine in a 10 until they are large enough to sell. Raising bettas is not expensive unless you want to raise tons of them or want to raise show quality fish. Even then $300 would get you set up with a great top of the line space to raise tons of bettas.

MM

Answer 2

You don't need to spend more than $10 on a new 10 gallon tank, $6 on a sponge filter and less than $15 on a heater for it. The fry need warm filtered water to grow properly. Here is a quick run-down on how I have spawned bettas in the past. It has worked for me on many occasions.

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.

Females cannot be housed with males, because the only time a male tolerates a female is when the female is in condition to mate and is full of eggs for him to fertilize and take care of. Yes the male takes care of the eggs and fry (babies) after hatching until they are free swimming.

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 or a sponge filter 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

Answer 3

it's possible, but the water conditions would be pretty bad for the many many offspring. they probably wouldn't live very long. also, what will you do with them once they're old enough that they need to be separated?