Help with betta breeding? Do I leave female in?

Question

I'm trying to breed bettas, ys I've read a lot. The male has his bubblenest female has verticle bars and eggs. But they haven't mated yet and I need to go to bed. Some sites say to leave thewm in together overnight and some say to take her out. they haven't fought much, but I don't want to risk losing one of them. What should i do? Also, any tips for getting them to breed faster?

P.s they've been in for a few horus but they take a long time to spawn I guess. Is there anyway to encourage them? I've floated her in a large jar in the tank for a few days now...

Answer 1

www.bettysplendens.com is a great site for breeders.

Leave them together overnight only if you have lots of hiding places for her. Plants and other "hidey holes" where the male can't reach her.

Answer 2

Did you condition them separately? Did you feed them high protein food for two weeks to condition them? Did you float the female in a glass jar in his tank while the male built the nest? Does the female have the white dot behind her anus? Did you start this attempt to spawn them in the morning? Is it at least a 10 gallon tank? Do you have a sponge filter running? Do you know that vertical bars on the female are a sign of stress? Do you have food ready for the fry if you get any eggs that hatch? Do you know what to feed the fry?

If you have conditioned them properly, they will breed right away, within a couple hours after you release the female from the jar. If they don't, the female probably is not full of eggs.

You say, "they haven't fought much." They shouldn't be fighting at all, the female does not fight, she gets beaten up by the male if she is not ready. He will eventually kill her if she is not ready and you do not remove her.

It is also possible you have an idiot male who does not know how to do it yet. Condition them again and try once more. If it still doesn't work, go to the store and get another male.

BTW, it is pronounced bet-tah, not bay-tah....

Answer 3

Separate them before you go to bed. They shouldn't be left together for more than a few hours without you being able to check on them. If they are going to breed, they will do so within a few hours of being put together. As for tips and hints, I have been breeding bettas for over 20 years and this is how I do it

I have been breeding bettas for show and for sale for over 20 years and this system works well for me.

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 4

in order to breed Betta's i will often float the female in a see-through plastic cup over night. the male can't get at her (and hurt her) but does get excited by her presence.
in the morning i will tip her in and breeding usually starts by the time i have breakfast.
make sure to take her out after as he may hurt her if she doesn't leave (hard for her to do in a tank) good luck