if my beta is spawning does that mean it is safe to go ahead and put a feamle beta in the tank!?

Question

my beta keeps blowing buubble to the top of the tank i think hes ready to have kids!

Answer 1

No, just like human's.. just because you are horny it doesn't mean you are going to get any ;)

It's just a natural thing for them to do.

Betta mating can be very dangerous. If you are not sure of what you are doing then read up and keep an eye on the pair as you could end up with fish with no fins.
I breed imports directly from Thailand, not the domesticated veil-tails and veil-tail crosses you see in the pet-store.

If you definitly want to breed then here you go.

I use a tub that is 30 gallons, 10 gallons is not big enough to raise fry in, and unless you have a rack system where you can syphon the fry from the 10 gallon to a larger tank after a week then you are going to be looking at a lot of cleaning and your fry growth could be stunted.

First and foremost you want to condition your breeding pair. this means live/frozen food for about a week. I like bloodworms, some people prefer beefheart. You can get these frozen in your local pet-store. (bloodworms can be high allergy so best bet is to not let them touch your skin, or wash it afterwards)

-fill the tank so it has about 4-5" of water.
-take a styra-foam cup, cut it in half, wet the "top" end and stick it to the side of the aquarium, in or near one corner.
-put a plant, ideally live as it will help with oxygen and water chemistry. The plants main purpose is a place for the female to hide so keep that in mind when you choose a plant.
- some people add Almond leaves to condition the water as well as it helps stop fungus on eggs, etc...
-put the male in the tank
-using a glass hurricane lamp - or a 1/2 gallon glass jar (you can buy eiether of these at a craft store) put the female in the glass tube/jar.

You have to get the female ready to spawn, you can't just drop her cold turkey into the tank with the male. everyone needs foreplay *lol*
Keep them like this for 1-2 days. You will see the female get noticably plumper with eggs and she should get vertical bars that show up on her scales. if she is a yellow or light colored fish you won't notice these as much.

- after these 2 days let the female out, the male should have built a nice nest by now but even if he hasn't it should be fine.

- There will be some chasing, even some nipping. Now if the female nips the male I personally deem the liasion over and take the female out. It could ruin the male for breeding.

note on size.. the female should always be smaller then the male, or just his size. If the female is larger then him he will not be able to wrap around her properly and you won't have a good spawning.

-If all goes well the female will end up under the nest in a head down position. The male will come up to her and wrap himself around her and squeese.
he will squeese so tight that eggs and sperm will be excreted and both fish will pass out.
the hope is that the male will wake up first and start to pick up the eggs and blow them into the nest. Most females will eat the eggs, but I have had a few that will actually help gather them up and put them in the nest. I had one female that actually built her own nest, released her eggs and put them all in the next *lol*... so you just never really know.

They will spawn for a handfull of times (give or take) when they are done the male will chase the female off.
Take her out, if she is not taken out the male could likely kill her as he will see her as a threat to his eggs.

It takes 72hrs for the eggs to hatch.
keep the male in the tank, he will eat any unfertilized eggs, keep the viable eggs clean and free of bacteria.
when the fry start to be free-moving(about 72 more hours) take the male out. he will stress himself out trying to catch the fry that are swimming away from the nest.

now to feeding- you can feed daphnia or microworms or faiery shrimp(freshwater artemia). all depends on you I like all three. I start with the freshwater artemis, then to daphnia, then to microworms. Live food is best as it will pollute the tank less.
vinegar eels just suck to culture and feed,
brine shrimp can cause major issues when fed incorrectly.. or really even when fed correctly :(, including death so avoid them.
After microworms you will move up to grindleworms.


at this point you will want to add a sponge filter, these are some of the best for fry tanks http://www.ultimatesponge.com/

As far as cleaning the tank you will need a small airline tubing, start a suction into a bucket and slowly and gently clean the bottom of the tank. You may get a few fry but just suction them up with a bulb syringe and put them back.

Now all you need to do is clean and feed, clean and feed, clean and feed.

When they start to get larger you will notice some picking on the others, take the larger "bullies" out and put them in their own jars. you'll have to keep repeating this process until all your babies are jarred.

now with a spawn of 100+ fish you will see how this is going to get time consuming *lol*

usually this is where the "cull" happens.
eiether sell the fish you don't want as feeders, or as "grow your own betta's" to the local kids or pet store.

Answer 2

You can tell whether the female is also ready to spawn if when you put them near each other (so they can see each other through their glass) she colors up with vertical stripes.

Even then, keep a close eye on them while they're in the tank together. If they're not ready or don't like each other, they will fight and one might end up dead. Even if they do like each other and start to spawn -- the female will float head down and the male will wrap himself around her -- once the male starts chasing the female away, they are done and you need to remove the female immediately. She is usually weak after the spawn and the male can easily kill her if you don't put her somewhere safe to recover.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Before you start spawning a pair you need to make sure the setup of the tank is correct. 1/2 full of water.. no gravels, a very slow filter or a sponge filter? Food to feed the fry? Heater set at 80 degrees F? If all the answers are yes then go for it. Just keep a eye on them to make sure the female is also ready to spawn.

Answer 4

There is water conditioner certainly designed to take away chlorine from faucet water for fish. It works very good and makes the water nontoxic for fish, and there's even a sort designed for bettas! Check the puppy retailer, you'll uncover a few there. Trust me, I have had bettas that experience lived for years in faucet water. You will have to definetly get water conditioner or your betta will die. Just recall to place the correct quantity in and you'll be best.

Answer 5

Yes and no. Your bettas doesn't spawn by himself, he needs the female to. I won't put the female there yet until they are both ready to mate.

Answer 6

Yes ma'am (or sir?). When your male begins building a bubble nest, it means he's ready for the company of a female. :) Go ahead and drop the female in and remove her once she's laid her eggs. You'll know they're done mating when the male will not leave the nest and the female seeks refuge from the male in another part of the tank. :)

Good luck!

Answer 7

yes he is