How do I mate Betta Fish without spending TONS of money?

Question

I have 2 Betta fish, male and Female. I would really like to mate them, but I need instructions! I also have a budget. I need to know if I can mate them without buying heaters, and stuff like that. I heard you can do that in the summer without a heater but.....

And also, I read that the girl betta can develope eggs inside of her just by seeing the male, is that true?

Answer 1

You can set up to breed a single pair of bettas for under $75 easily and probably under $50 if you use a little effort and take the time needed to find stuff. All you will need to buy is a 10 gallon tank, an air pump and either buy or make a sponge filter. That will give you the basic set up, but a heater would be a good idea. Check out the paper and yard sales form this stuff, you can usually get it for just a few dollars that way. You can make sponge filters really easily, just google for DIY sponge filter and you'll see tons of different ways to make they with stuff you probably have around the house. Using that set up, here's how I breed them:
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, but you can use anything that is solid and won't be hurt by the water.

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!

If I can help more, feel free to email me

MM

Answer 2

Actually the poster above MM copied and pasted from www.betta talk.com. I have been breeding betta's for a few years and it's not all that expensive. Since you have a pair and the tanks/bowls they are in all you really need is a 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter and a heater. No gravels! You can add a floating plant in the tank if you want. You would get better results with a heater because fry will die if the temp drops very fast. You can get a heater for a 10 gallon tank for $8 at walmart. You will also need to buy a microworm culture and start a infusoria culture. The fry will eat these the first week. Then you can feed the fry newly hatch baby brine shrimp.

Now you will need to condition the pair with foods full of protein such as bloodworms, live insects such as flies or mosquitos. Do this for a week or so. Place the male in the 10 gallon tank that is filled only about 5 inches deep. You can place the female beside him in her bowl or I use a new oil lamp globe and place it in the center of the tank. I then place the female in the globe. She should have vertical stripes on her as well as her egg spot showing. (white dot under her)
If they pair is ready to breed, the male will start his bubble nest. Let him work on it for a day or so and then release the female only on a day you will be home all day. You will need to watch them very close after you release the female. He will chase her and things may seem to be very rough, but this is normal. When the female starts swimming in a head down position then she is ready to spawn. The male will lure the female under the nest and wrap himself around her. Doing this he squeezes the eggs out and fertilizes them. He will then swim around scooping them in his mouth to blow up in the bubble nest. This could take anywhere from 2-12 hours. When you see the male chasing the female away from the nest you need to remove her. Carefully, do not disturb the nest. The male can be left with the fry for up to 5 days. When most of the fry are free swimming (side to side, not floating up and down) you will need to remove the father. This is when you will start feeding them the infusoria. Leave the tank light on 24/7 until you remove the father so he can see the fry when they fall. Do not mess with the water or the fry except to feed for they first 2 weeks. Then you can start gradually adding water and siphoning up left over food from the bottom of the tank. If you have more questions or need anymore info please feel free to contact me.

Answer 3

I'm not an expert on mating betta fish, although I have kept them before and still have a few.
I found this website which might help you. I read through it and it seems to give a list of "instructions" on mating the fish. Hopefully it won't cost you too much money and you won't have to buy a heater!

http://www.save1004.com/articles/breedingbettas.htm

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

The breeding pair:
1)- One pair of younger bettas from a good breeder. Pick a strain easy to work with and not too expensive to start with. $20 to $30 for the bettas and $20 for Express mail shipping costs. Please do not try to save a few bucks by having your pair priority mailed. Priority mail is not guarantied to not go in the unpressurized cargo area of the planes. Many bettas shipped priority mail have EXPLODED while on the planes!!! Please don’t jeopardize your bettas lives and spend the extra $10 to get them there safely.

2)- Two one gallon glass jars to house each of your bettas. $15

3)- Water conditioners and additives as follow: Amquel ($9) Novaqua ($9) Aquarisol ($3) PH down—in most cases—($4) aquarium salt ($5)

4)- First aid must have medications: Maroxy ($3), Methylene Blue ($5), Tetracycline and a few other antibiotics ($5 each)

5)- Food to feed the little critters: freeze dried brine shrimp ($10), or frozen foods or live brown worms ($1 a portion—you will need many portions over the next months)

6)- Two fish nets ($2 each)

Subtotal = $130

The spawning tank:
1)- 10 gal or 5 gal spawning tank (same price $20 with cover and light)

2)- Mini penplax corner filter ($5)

3)- Small airpump to run the above filter ($10)

4)- Tubing and valve for above ($4)

5)- SUBMERSIBLE (and submersible only) heater 25W to 50W no more or you will cook you fish! ($15)

6)- One stirofoam cup (free… Woaw that’s a new concept!)

7)- One piece of scotch tape

8)- One chimney glass (from your local hardware store) ($4)

9)- One or two very thick bushy plastic plants ($6 each)

10)- a pack of small plant weights ($3)

11)- a mini tank cleaner (vacuum) ($7)

Subtotal = $74

The fry related purchases:
1)- One microworm cultureto be purchased about 3 weeks before attempting the spawning. ($10)

2)- Brine shrimp eggs ($6) extra valve and T connector to send some of your air pump’s air to the brine shrimp’s hatchery. ($1). Also a 1/2 gal jar with lid to hatch the shrimp in ($1.50)

3)- About 50 to 100 jars for the males to be jarred when they grow and start fighting ($1 each)

4)- preferably another larger tank (40 gal) to move them to when they grow, with cover, light, filter, plants and heater (used $100)

Subtotal = $171.00






GRAND TOTAL you will be coughing up after the Heimlich maneuver :):

About $380.00

Aoutch.

This initial investment is the bare minimum to spawn one pair of bettas, that is of course if you want the pair and their fry to live. If you don’t care if they live or not, then you could cut the cost down. (Boooooooo!).

In all honesty, trying to skip any of the above items will probably cause you to fail in your endeavor. If you try to keep 200 fry in a 5 gal or a 10 gal, they will die of bacterial disease or nitrite poisoning. You must provide them with ROOM to grow and survive. Remember: Bettas may lay as many as 500 eggs! Hence the need for a grow out tank and many jars.

Hmmmm… You look pale. Are you OK? :))))

Ah, what the heck, it is only money, and believe me, the enjoyment you will get out of breeding bettas is well worth it.

Have fun shopping, and don’t let that fish store salesman anywhere behind your back!!! Face him at all time! (hehehe I can already picture you walking backwards out of the store!! LOL)

Answer 5

just get a 2 gallon container, and a lamp , a 60 watt bulb , some hiding spots for the female, then put the male in the large container, and put the female in a small clear cup, and after three or so days take the female out. but if the male is still aggressive to her put her back in the cup for a while.

Answer 6

well first of all you HAVE to buy a heater secong of all you have to buy alot of female because some time the female dont get alontg with the male