Betta Breeding?

Question

Please tell me all you know about this. I really would like to breed some Bettas.

I need detailed instructions as I am new to this.

I think I have a mutt Betta, I got him from Wal-Mart, he is about 2 years old now. Will any female Betta do?

Thanks for the website referral but I would prefer to get advice from someone with experience, thanks anyways.

Answer 1

Yes, any female will do if all you want is mutt bettas. Of course you can't really sell them for much, but you can learn to breed bettas from them and see if it's something you like. I have been breeding betta for over 20 years for sale and show and this is how I do it:

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

I use a 10 gallon tank filled about 4-5 inches of water. No gravel works best. Place a heater in the tank and set it at 80F. Also a sponge filter is a must. You can also add some fake floating plants, I usually just do a bare tank. Place the male in the tank after conditioning him and the female for about 2 weeks. I place a new oil lamp globe in the center of the tank to place the female in. The male should make his nest. It usually takes a day or so. He will flare at the female while she is in the globe. When you see he has a pretty good nest you can gently remove the female. This is when you will need to watch them closely. Betta's are aggressive even when they spawn. The male flare and show off for the female and even chase and nip at her. When the female is ready to spawn she will swim with her head pointed down. He will then lure her under his nest and embrace her. When this happens you should see eggs falling. The male will release the female and swim around catching the eggs in his mouth. Then he will blow them in his bubble nest. This process will continue until the female has no more eggs left. Then the male will chase her away from the nest. This is when you need to remove her carefully from the tank wihout disturbing the nest. Leave the hood light on 24/7 until you remove the male. This is so he can see better to catch the falling fry. Usually in about 2 days you will see the fry falling down and the male scooping them back up. This is normal. After you see the fry free swimming (swimming side to side) you need to remove the male. This is when you will need to start feeding the fry 3-4 times a day. You should feed them infusoria for the first week and then move on to microworms and newly hatched baby brine shrimp. Do not touch the tank for the first 2 weeks. I usually start adding water to my tank around 4 weeks. Only small amounts so the temp won't drastically drop in the tank. You will also need to start cleaning the tank after the first 2 weeks. I use a dropper or a turkey baster. I always place the dirty water in a white bucket so I will be more than likely to see the fry's black eyes in case I siphon them out. They will look like Mickey Mouse ears. Be sure to keep the bottom of the tank clean because alot of fry stay on the bottom, and it can cause fin rot as well as bacterial infections. Look for any signs of disease in the tank daily. If you see something is not right treat the fry immediately or you could possibly lose the whole spawn. If you need more information please feel free to contact me.

Answer 3

research, there are plenty of sites out there and i encourage you to look at a bunch of breeding sites.

Certainly bettatalk is the most popular, but i also have a betta site with betta breeding info, and it would be great if u check it out.

http://www.bcaquatics.com


Edit: since this is ur first breeding time, always start with petstore bettas. That way you dont have much to lose, but you have a lot of experience to gain.

So yes, as a first pair it is ok to breed any bettas. Just remember to read up and know how to condition them.

Edit2: wow shot down...i guess iwasted my time for the last 13 years betta breeding... But what ever i have my halfmoons and others...

Answer 4

I discovered some thing impressive approximately Bettas that i'm passing directly to you. do you realize that bettas are extremely not an aggressive fish and that once you get them you may retame them to be very dosile even around different fish. We did. Bettas have been first bred to be in betta fights that are banned now in many states and engaged on being banned very almost everywhere, only like **** and canines combating is. For some reason they nevertheless are available in those dinky dishes on the puppy shops. Betta's are saved in those dinky little fish bowls for the point of starting to be them aggressive via fact they do in comparison to small enclosed environments. via fact it particularly is starting to be outlawed, i don't understand why they don't quit putting them interior the small boxes. in case you desire to make your betta doscile, first get a 10 gallon tank and positioned it into the tank for a era of one month by ability of itself. then you definately can introduce it right into a greater physically powerful tank that has some woman bettas in it... ie 20 gal. and enable them to be for slightly. study up on the ambience that works terrific for breeding bettas and make your woman tank that environment. We finally positioned all of them right into a 50 gal. tank that had different fish into it as properly bettas and that all of them lived very luckily mutually. there have been countless matings till now we gave our tank to our nephew as a latest via fact he replaced into so facinated with them. He nevertheless has the tank and all the fish are nice, living mutually only nice. whilst the youngsters have been born, we took them out of the tank so as that they does not be eaten by ability of the different fish as food. Then whilst they have been sufficiently huge, we gave them away in pairs to neighbor young little ones.

Answer 5

Betta breeding is always a popular question here. Read this article on breeding bettas:

http://www.fishchannel.com/freshwater-aquariums/fish-breeding/breeding-bettas.aspx

Answer 6

i know that everything i have to tell you could be watched on youtube.com.just type in bettas at the bottom then press on search and there should be videos there.the one i think is the best is called bettas spawning.it is 5 stars.i hope i help.

Answer 7

try this site. the person running it has a lot of experience.