Is it easy to breed bettas?

Question

I just wanted to about breeding them and i am not just trying to do it i already know a lot about them just wanted to know a little more

Answer 1

It's neither really hard nor the easiest fish to breed, but like many other things, it's all in the preplanning and how much research you do before you start. I've been breeding bettas for over 20 years and this is what works 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 2

It's as easy as the fish make it! It's really important to do lots of research and make sure you are fully prepared, but in the end it's all up to the fish you choose. Some males are too aggressive. Or not aggressive enough. Some females are bullies. Some fish just aren't compatible. Sometimes you do everything right and they don't spawn. Or they spawn easy and then the male eats the eggs. Or everything goes right and the whole spawn dies for no reason. It really depends. It is fun trying, though!! As long as you keep a good sense of humor, then it will be lots of fun. Research research research and then just go for it! Some good sites to get breeding info are:
www.abettaworld.com
www.bettatalk.com
www.bettysplendens.com
Good luck!!

Answer 3

I don't think it's hard when you have a lot of time on your hand and lots of patience
The main things you need to know are:
you need to condition the couple for at least 10-14 days before trying to put them together

you need a 10 gallon tank with 6 in of water, lots of plants, (for the female to hide during spawning process) bare bottom and a sponge filter which will be the breeding tank and the home from the male during conditioning

you need to put the female close to the breeding tank during conditioning for them to see each other

the longer you condition them, the more eggs she will produce

feed them with frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp etc., but don't overfeed them

after conditioning them you can put them together and the spawning process should begin, you will know when she's ready when she gets redlines and a white gravid spot which are her eggs, and when the male has build a nice sized bubblenest

They will intertwine with each other and he will sqeeze the eggs out of her

You will know when the spawning process is done, as soon as the male will chase her away from the nest, that's the time you will need to take her out

He will take care of the eggs, and then the fry until the fry are free swimming, that's the time you have to take out the male

Here is a link the discribes raising the fry in detail
http://www.bettysplendens.com/articles/catview.imp?catid=856


Hope that helps
Good luck


EB

Answer 4

Like what? What do you want to know?
I've bred Bettas before but I wouldn't exactly consider it "easy." The males can be PITA's to deal with because they can get overly aggressive with unreceptive females - to the point of attacking them and killing them if they don't accept their advances.
I think the key here is to have at least a 5-10 gallon still water tank with 1 male and at least 3-4 females.
I personally wouldn't wait to put the females in the tank until he's built a bubble nest because I feel this illicits more frustration and aggressive behavior from the male than if you put them in at once together, let him court a receptive female, build the nest and then spawn.
The second the male spawns with a female you need to remove ALL of the females from the tank - so make sure you've got a back up tank set up for this.
The eggs will hatch within 48 hours or thereabouts.. and they won't start swimming freely until the majority of their yolk sac has been absorbed into their body (they'll remain in the bubble nest during this time, and the male will tend to them).
You'll want to make sure you've got live baby brine shrimp, fry food, or infusoria to feed the fry - but I was also successful with finely crushed flakes. It's just better if they have a large variety of food to choose from.
The important things to remember are frequent water changes so that they have a constant supply of fresh water and aren't exposed to waste regularly from uneaten food - and make sure when they're swimming freely you take out the male - otherwise he could potentially eat them.
Give him at least two weeks time to rest and then you could place him back with the females for a second round.

Answer 5

No, that is not elementary. And it is going to not additionally be tried till you have executed huge examining, and characteristic effectively bred a fish it somewhat is definitely elementary to reproduce. Betta choose extra desirable than in basic terms a single tank with a divider to reproduce. you will choose 2 seperate 5 gallon heated/filtered tanks to maintain each the female and male betta for finished time. men and ladies human beings can not stay at the same time finished time. they'll finally end up struggling with, and you will finally end up with severly injured or ineffective fish. you will additionally would desire to have packing containers to maintain an in many circumstances occurring of a hundred+ fry for while they hatch. It takes careful conditioning of the two the female and male betta before you are able to upload the female to the male's tank. you are able to desire to be waiting to heavily observe each and be waiting to tell while they're waiting and while they are not. I recommend performing some severe learn, and a great sort of it before even getting this concept on your head.

Answer 6

It can be hard. The males are sometimes overly aggressive or the female isn't receptive. They also have A LOT of fry so it is a lot of work. Especially since all of the male fry will eventually have to be seperated.

Answer 7

Well, they fight with each other a lot, so it is not a good idea to put two bettas together!

Answer 8

just buy one male and lots of females to let him choose form