can you breed betta fish?

Question

i just bought a female fish today ive had a male betta fish for awile, ive been wanting to breed betta fish. i was wondering how do you breed betta fish? can you even breed betta fish? please help

Answer 1

Ditto to bettachris.. read, read, read. Breeding bettas isn't that hard, but it is a long commitment. The more you read up and the better you prepare before yo try to get them to breed the better you chances of success.

MM

Answer 2

don't claim to be an expert in breeding betta fish. All I've done is gathered information I've researched regarding the breeding of these beautiful fish. In my research, there have been really fascinating things that I've discovered about how to breed betta fish. For a start, you need a female betta fish. These are pretty hard to come by. Most petstores only stock the more flamboyant male bettas. However, if you search hard enough on the net, or ask your local petstore nicely, they will probably be pointed in the right direction. Female betta fish are pretty dull compared to their male counterparts. Some are pretty colorful but their fins are usually a lot shorter than the males. It is also possible to keep female betta fish together in an aquarium whereas you can't do that with males (in fact, you shouldn't keep the female betta with the male either - or anything that even looks remotely like a male betta eg fantail guppies - they will be attacked).

Answer 3

To spawn bettas you need to first prepare the fish.

You'll need to make sure you feed them extra well, and provide a wide variety of foods. Betta's do well with meaty foods and many will feed them black worms in preparation to breeding them.

Now you'll want to introduce the females to the males. I find that the easiest way to do this is to put a divider in the tank and have the male on one side and the female(s) on the other. This will allow the male to see the females and vice versa, but not allow the male to beat up the females.

Alternatively you can put in several females into the tank with the male which will spread out his aggression.

Once you notice that a female is becoming gravid (filled with eggs) you should remove all of the other females and put the male and female together in the tank.

You should lower the water level in the tank so that there is about 3-4 inches of water in the tank. You'll also want to minimize any water movements as this will effect the ability of the male to build a bubble nest. You can do this by using a simply sponge filter and a small air pump for filtration.

The male will build a bubble nest at the top of the tank. This is where the eggs will be put once they are fertilized.

When the female is ready she will move up towards the bubble nest and they will do the mating dance, at which point she will start dropping eggs. The male will fertilize the eggs and then put them into the nest.

Once the egg laying stops you need to move the female to a different tank and leave the male with the eggs.

Here is a good article on breeding bettas:
http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=311

Answer 4

Keep a few things in mind.

A) A female and male betta can't be kept together other than briefly for mating. After mating the male will attempt to drive off the female. As there is no where to go in a tank he'll most likely kill her.

B) Once the fry hatch, and leave the nest. The father will eat his fry. Females will often eat their own eggs if the male fails to defend his nest. You'll need a tank just for the fry.

C) Betta fry are tiny, and need very small live food.

D) Betta tend to produce 50-200 offspring. In a few months the male will need their own private jar. In the (unlikely) event you bring most of the spawn to maturity you'll need to cull a large number of them.

E)The 1st couple of times generally end in tears if you aren't well prepared. See the betta talk that has been posted.

Answer 5

Yes you can, but be careful dont put two males in the same tank(you may alredy know that). And also you could predict when a Betta Fish is going to have eggs. You would notice that the male fish will be making lots of bubbles at the top of the water thats were the female is going to la her babies. But its really dangerous if the female dosent agree to lay her babies the male will kill her.(if you dont belive me i got this from a book)

Answer 6

do RESEARCH , that is the secret that betta breeders will tell you.

Please dont take this the wrong way, but in general, just because people have amale and a female, doesnt mean that they should breed bettas. You really should pay your dues in away and research breeding bettas.

I have spent over 13 years breeding and learning about bettas. Theres not a day that goes by where i dont learn things about them. I mean i work with fish everyday, and their is alot i still dont know. So i dont expect people to become "expert" in one day.

Please research breeding bettas, and i encourage you to please check out my betta site, for breeding tips and betta research
http://www.bcaquatics.com

Answer 7

i don't recommend doing it in a 1 gallon, it doesn't allow space for the female to get away from the male at all, and the water will go bad very quickly, they need immaculate water conditions to breed. also, once the fry are free swimming a 1 gallon is in no way big enough and moving them would be very difficult. use the 10 gallon half filled and if you get a good spawn you'll need a 20-40 gallon for grow out.

Answer 8

Yes you can. It isn't easy though. http://www.bettatalk.com has all kinds of advice and instructions on breeding and general betta care.

Answer 9

you can but u need a whole bunch of supplies and find the rite pair of bettas

Answer 10

yes you can but its a complicated proceedure . yahoo betta breeding and read up on it before you do anything!!!!