bettas?????

Question

i got a male betta about 3 days ago, and he's been doing fine. i really want to breed bettas. and i just got a female batta today from petco, and i put her in the same tank with the male, but she is in a breeding net. how long will i have to keep her in the breeding net until i can put her with the male so the can spawn? (i also know that when i see a bubble nest, i can add the female) also, how lond should i keep the female and male together when spawning?

i did do alot of research!!! i couldn't find exactly what i wanted...

Answer 1

Sometimes it's tough to tell the "best" ideas when it comes to breeding bettas. That's because some people have success one way, while others succeed using a different method. One thing you will find all betta breeders agree on is the fact that the males and females need to be well conditioned before you attempt to breed them. High proteins are the key to proper conditioning and egg production in a female fish, including a betta. I've been breeding them for just over 30 years now 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!

If I can help further feel free to email me.

MM

Answer 2

Fantastic!!! Betta do wonderful in community tanks, just about every freshwater tank i've ever had has had a betta in it. I'd go with some bright and beautiful Swordtails and platies (1 male 2 females or each type) and 3 cory cats (corydoras) all these fish are hardy and come in all types of colors. The platies and swords are livebearers which mean they breed often and have live babies, so if you don't want any babies just get 2-3 females of each, you could get all males but they most likely might fight it just depends though (just like people they all have their own personalities). I won't get anymore fish than those. I'm asuming you have a good filter, you should always try to get one that is one size up from the size tank its made for. So if you have 10 gallon size filter get a 20 gallon size filter instead, also over the side filters are the best, undergravel filters are kinda crappy I would not recommend those. You will also need decholrinator Stress coat is wonderful also you will need to get a water testing kit sometime it will help you keep track of your ammonia levels aswell as nitrite and ph. I could go on and on. Hope this helps!!!

Answer 3

I would have suggested you have done something differently. LIke have 2 different little tanks and put them in each one. But let them see each other. Then you will notice her belly will get bigger and full of eggs and he will build his bubble nest. You keep them together until the eggs are released from her and he starts picking them up. After a couple of days after the eggs hatch take him out or he will eat the babies. Feed the babies brine shrimp when they start swimming.

Answer 4

if you did research then how come u dont know that you have to condition them for about 2 weeks on high fatty foods before attempting to breed them.

It is a common practice to condition the breeders in order to get the greatest success.

You need more research, one book or one website doesnt cut it sorry to say.

Please do more research as you can harm and kill a fish due to ignorance. Again i dont want to sound mean, but alot of newer fishkeepers feel that they can go get a pair of bettas, and feel self entitled to breed them without knowing anything or very much.

Along with other sites, you can also feel free to see my betta site for breeding help http://www.bcaquatics.com

Answer 5

You should've done all this research before buying them.....

here's some links for betta sites:

http://www.bettacentral.com/index.php

http://www.healthybetta.com/

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Answer 6

if you would have done your research properly you would know that you will need lots of things to breed your bettas

read the following link and educate yourself a bit more, it also has a checklist on what you will need
http://fishlesscycling.com/articles/breeding_bettas.html



Hope that helps
good luck


EB