I have three females in a tank and the males each have their own tanks.. and right now i am conditioning one of the males and one the females.. I've been researching it for while and I think I have it down and I can't find anymore websites that have good info.. Does anyone have good websites?
2007-08-24 15:08:25 · 5 answers · asked by ♥ 6 in Pets ➔ Fish
I don't really have a good website fro you but 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
2007-08-24 15:16:18 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Kudos for actually wanting to do it right.
Magicman's tips are good, as are the ones on this page:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/breeding/kick_beta-breeding.html
2007-08-24 22:49:48 · answer #2 · answered by ninjaaa! 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think this one does a good job of explaining the spawning and how to raise the fry: http://www.bettatalk.com/
2007-08-24 22:14:17 · answer #3 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
check out the following
http://fishlesscycling.com/articles/breeding_bettas.html
Hope that helps
Good luck
EB
2007-08-25 02:32:30 · answer #4 · answered by Kribensis lover 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
just google it...you'll find lots...
2007-08-24 22:15:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋