# Breeding Bettas - What i wrote



## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

*Breeding Bettas*

Well you decided to breed bettas huh? Well im gonna try to help you with everything i can. Well first you want a good quality pair if you want to sell the fry, your not going to make money off veil tails. So spend a few more bucks on some halfmoons or crowntails, whatever you want. And you want to make sure you have all your supplies before you even let that male put his eyes on that nice female you got. 

*Conditioning*

First you need to take good care of them bettas. They better be healthy and fed good. This is called conditioning. You need to do this for at least a week. Some do it two weeks. And during this two weeks they need to fed live foods. If you can get mosquito larvae that is a good choice but they are really hard to find. You can allso get freezed drid bloodworms, frozen bloodworms.. They both need fed a lot. 2-4 times a day and a lot! Remember to get out the uneaten food at the bottom.. You want the water to be so clean for them. So you can have a filter in the tank that you are keeping them in. Unless they are in a bowl then change the water... Just keep the water clean!

If you are keeping the male in the breeding tank before you breed them then you can have like a power filter to keep the tank clean, but only for conditioning! So lets move on to a different topic. 

*Culling* 

Now culling can be taking them to a petstore or a giving it away b/c you dont like the colors it has. But what i am talking about it killing them b/c of their colors. I think it would be okay if the fish was deformed til it couldnt live a happy life but killing them b/c they arnt the color you wanted is just wrong. They are living, not some thing. People who do that have no respect for them and i have no respect for the people who do that to them. They have emotions just like us. People will do this b/c that isnt the finage that you want or the color... they are living, breathing creatures that should have a life, not just based on how pretty in color they are or how glamorous their fins are. Their life should not be based on that. So keep that in mind. And dont kill no fish based on their looks. 

What you should have 

Now here is a list on what you need. 

A breeding tank - at least 10 gallons
A Male and Female betta fish - obviously!
A styrofoam cup for the bubble nest
Medicine - for rips in their fins - can get at petstore
Plants - live or fake - live is better
A dechlorinator for the water - to remove chlorine from tap water - can get at petstore
Sponge / Corner Filter
Air pump - for filter
Valve - to control air flow - can get at pet store - makes the filter less powerful for the fry
air line tubing - for air to the filter
lots of jars to jar the aggresive fry - say 50 - 100
Aquarium Salt
Hurricane Glass - to put the female in to seperate the male and female, but so they can see eachother
A heater - i dont use one b/c i use a light to keep the water at 80-82 degrees but the water needs to be at least 80 degrees. 
Lights so the male can see the egss.. 

*Setting up the tank*

Now first fill the tank up to about 5 inches of dechorinated tap water, also put some salt in the water. Have your plants on the left side. The Hurricane glass should be in the middle. The styrofoam cup should be taped to the front right corner and should be floating above the water. Some people use leaves, lids, plastic wrap.... for the bubble nest. The Sponge / Corner Filter should be in the back left corner, Do Not Turn It On!!! 

So you have set the tank up and conditioned the pair and got all the suplies ready? if you do then move on. 

*And here are some notes *- You should not feed the male or female during this period of breeding.Some people do and some people dont, it is up to you. and do not feed the male once there are fry for 3 days, also again it is up to you if you should feed him or not.You can go through trial and error til you find what is right for you. i will tell you more of this later about the fry. 

The male could already been in the breeding tank before. Now if he wasnt then put him in a container and float it in the water of the breeding tank. Do the same with the female. They will see eachother and the male will flare and the female might have vertical bars on her sides. And she might be swimming with her head down. These are signs that she is ready. Well anyway i would float them in there for about 30 minutes and then add some water from the tank in the containers and then wait another 30 minutes so the temperature can settle. 

So after an hour or so of letting them sit release the female into the hurricane glass. Then release the male into the tank. He will swim around her and flare at her. He will start to build a bubble nest under the cup or what ever you have. She might have the signs that she is ready. Which is the bars and swimming with her head down. 

Give the male time to build a good size bubble nest. Dont rush him! you could give him a day or so....

So the male has a good size bubble nest? Thats good if he does. Does the female have bars and swimming with her head down? yes, then your in good shape! if not give her some more time.. It was always the female that i had problems with... lol.. or maybe the males wernt good enough for them. 

so if you see both of these then i give you permission to put your big hand in tank and take out the hurricane glass, releasing the female. Now you have to watch them closley. They can get hurt badly and could possibly be killed. So if you see that they are in danger of being very badly hurt or killed and then you should remove them from eachother and put some fin repair - the medicine- to treat her... or him ( sometimes )

*More notes* - You should leave on the lights at night so that the male can see the eggs if they spawn at night. 

The male will chase the female and thats why you have those plants in that tank so that the female can hide if she wants to. The female might get tears in her fins. But that is normal. 

So then the male will chase her and stay under his nest. Now once the female is ready to spawn she will go under the cup to where the nest is. This is a sign that they are going to spawn. 

*Spawning* :fish: 

The female goes under the nest. The male is under the nest too. They circle eachother. Now what happens is that the female flips upside down and the male will wrap his body around her to where both of their abdomens are touching. So then he squeezes the eggs out of her. Eggs fall out of her and sink to the bottom. She seems paralyzed and doesnt move for a couple seconds. The male will rush down pick up eggs in his mouth and then rush up to the bubble nest and then spit the eggs into the nest sticking them to the bubbles. 

They can do this many times having a lot of eggs in the spawning process. So once you see that there are no more eggs and that the female moves away from the nest it is this time to remove the female. 

Give her nice clean water betta medicine for those fins and feed her. 

The male and the eggs

The male will now take care of the eggs for the next 36-72 hours depending on the temperature of the water. Now he will rearrange the eggs, blow some more bubbles, clean the eggs, look on the bottom for more eggs, vent them with his pectoral fins to keep water moving and prevent fungus from attacking them, replace popped bubbles, blow more, take out the trash, clean the dishes.. lol.. j/k about the last two. Overall he just takes care of them. 

So remember these - leave the lights on night and day, and do not feed him. 

They Hatch

You got these little things that look like little hairs hanging from the bubble nest? Yep. Then you have fry! And they keep on falling, up and down they go. The male is running crazy, or swimming crazy, going up and down pick them up putting them in the nest.. picking up more puttin them in the nest. picking up more and spitting them in the nest.... you get the idea. This could go on for hours or even days!

Hopefully after a day they will go up to the surface and settle there. The bubbles might be gone but they should be able to float on the water. So dont freak out. But sometimes there are spawns that sink for 3 days, but at 3 days they should be free swimming. 

So they are still growing. Their tissues and organs have not completly formed yet. They are feeding off of their yolk sac, which they will from day 1 til day 3. So you dont have to feed them, yet. Keep off of them and stay away. dont mess with them. lol... just keep your big ugly hands out..

At Day three they have used up their yolk sac and can now swim b/c their swimming organs have developed. So they will swim away from the nest and now mr.betta needs to be removed. So get some water from the breeding tank and net the male in it.Make sure you dont get any fry in the net. You can feed him now once he is in his own tank. 

The fry will need fed b/c they are free swimming and have no yolk sac left. So get a small amount of microworms and put that in the breeding tank for the fry. You can order them off of ebay or other sites.. 

You need to feed them two times a day. And you can also feed them Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS). 

Some notes - you need to turn off the lights at night for the fry, cover the tank, and dont clean the tank for the first 2 weeks. Microworms take 7 days to bloom, so get the food ealier. 

Now about the filter - Many people turn it on early and some other like at a week old.. i think i would turn mine on at about a coulple days after they are free swimming, so maybe like 5 days?... its up to you, and make sure that the filter isnt too strong. 



So that is from setting up the tank to day three... i know it is long but would you read it and make sure that it is okay... and say something if i need to change something or add... 
I have bred bettas before but all the fry started to die.. but that was my first time and two years ago and i want to try again someday... 
I dont even have any bettas right now but im gonna get some soon. 

Chris


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I've never bothered with a filter, in my opinion it's just an invitation for fry to get stuck in it. They are really too small for a filter and when you have to do daily 100% water changes anyway what is the point of a filter? The filter doesn't remove the hormone they excrete to stunt their growth, the only way to get rid of that is to do water changes. I start doing partial water changes at 5 days onwards, like 30% daily, until they are about 2 weeks and then I do 100% changes daily. The sooner you start the water changes (which helps to remove the hormone) the faster they grow. Also you need to feed them at least 4 times a day (every 4 hours) until they are around 2 months then it can be dropped to 3 times a day until they are 5 months where it can be dropped to twice a day.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

k thanks. ill probably do the water changes. because i know the filter i had wouldnt suck them up but what it was, was these big sponges and the dirty stuff would be on the out side of the sponges. And the tank was still dirty so ill do the water changes. 
And i wanted to know if i need to put a bubbler inside the tank for the fry?
now i need to read up more on raising the fry. And i will change that to 4 times a day. 
Thanks a lot! 
Chris


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

they don't need aeration of the water so a bubble isn't necessary. They don't develop their labyrinth organ until they are around 6-8 weeks of age either so you can keep the tank covered with cling film or similar to keep some of the heat in until this point. I never bothered with that though coz I had a heater that kept the water at a steady temp. You might want to see if your LFS has frozen bbs in blister packs coz they are handy and much easier than trying to keep a few hatcheries going to feed fry. I used to just dissolve half a block in some tank water at each feeding and spread it evenly throughout the tank.

Good Luck Chris!

PS you know those 2L bottles of soda you can get? Whenever you are finished with them, clean them out, cut off and throw away the cone piece at the top and keep the bottom part. They make great containers for fry once you need to separate them.


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## Firefoxx (Jun 5, 2007)

the 2 litres also make great chimneys 4 breeding tanks / baisins  should i have plants in the spawning tank??? it seems to make my betta comfortable... he likes plants for some odd reason... and the females pretty spunky....she flares more than the male but so far ive seen signs of breeding... ill keep monitoring...


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## Firefoxx (Jun 5, 2007)

*just sum pics*

a couple pics of my setup... i just cut off the bottom of the two litre to make a chimney


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

k thanks a lot! i never thought of using two liters for the fry. That helps. i was worried that i wouldnt be able to find containers... 
and i will use that for the female too... 
i saw frozen baby brine shrimp at my fish store. But i will probably also use live bbs and microworms. 
And could you give me some info on feeding them when they are like a couple weeks old or months - is there anything else i should know. do i change anything. 
And im sure im right on this but i just wanted to check.. i heard that you should seperate fry at a month or at a month and a half.. ?

Thanks, 
Chris


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

and here is my site if you want to check it out. i just started it like two days ago. There is also a forum on it i created. 

http://www.freewebs.com/betta101/ 

Chris


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

Firefox, I find plants are essential for the female to hide in and get some relief from the male's constant sexual harassment lol. This will give her space to hide and recoup if he beats her up a little too much. The container you are trying to spawn them in would be too small in many peoples opinion, but personally both my spawns happened in a 3g (12L) tank and each attempt I made at getting them to spawn in a 10g failed. I think it matters more that the female has enough plant cover to hide in. Also I thought I might add that the bubble nest will be destroyed and then rebuilt many times before they spawn so if u check on them and his nest is all but gone don't worry, he'll rebuild it.

Betta_101 When to separate them all depends on the aggressiveness of each spawn. My first spawn didn't fight at all and were all living together until 6 weeks when my second spawn were 3 weeks (they are 3 weeks apart) and they started fighting so I just separated them all even though the first lot were still fine together. Just keep an eye on them, it all depends on how fast they grow also. Once the males start to recognise each other they will fight. Keep a look out for them starting to look like they have shark fins, that's a sure sign they are attacking each other and taking chunks out. As for feeding I've found that because mine were raised on live foods, mainly bbs, they didn't accept pellet or flake food at all. I ended up just offering it to them everyday so they had no choice but to eat it or die. I did lose a few stubborn ones because they refused to eat flakes but they all accept flaked and pellet food easily now. 

Good luck

PS I've actually written my own spawning method out and can email it to you guys if you like. Just drop me an email (the one on my profile) and I will forward it with a pic of my tank set up and the idea I had about cutting a window out in the Styrofoam cup.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Live plants also provide fry with a steady diet of infusoria. Great first foods for fry and free


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Yes my betta fry loved the infusoria in the 5g thank i breed them in.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

and i was wondering what is the least amount of gallons for the grow out tank? i heard 30 gallons..


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

I'm using a 20g and could do with some more room. It all depends on the amopunt of fry. I know some peopel who use lots of 10g seperating the fry inot a few of them.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

that seems like a good idea.. i didnt think of that.. well i dont even have a betta but i am researching a lot on breeding.. lol...


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Thats what happens. You research and then one day you relise you want to do it. then you spend months finding that pair of bettas you love and wola you have them


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

yep. the first time i bred them, which was two years ago. The fry died 
i dont know exactly why, i think it was that the water was dirty... 
but im hooked again.


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

What betta tail/forum/colour are you liking?


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

well i dont have any bettas right now... but i really like halfmoons. but the only place you can really get them is on the net... or crowntails.
lets see... lol.. i would take any high quality bettas. 
i like mostly all colors. like reds, whites, blues.. oranges..lol. Any betta that is pretty.. 

Chris


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Im also into HM  I also like HMPK, and DT. You should look around, i have found a couple local betta breeders.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

did you just breed bettas b/c it says on your signature that you have 25 + fry?
when there was finally fry, there was 150 that i had..


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I raised my first spawn in the same 3g they were spawned in until I got 2 x 15g tanks then I just dumped my 2 week old spawn (that weren't growing very fast) into one of them and let them grow. I then had my brilliant idea of cutting a window in the top of the foam cup and wanted to take a pic to post on here to show the male would still build a nest under it so I had to have the female close to him in order for him to make the nest, the next morning I woke up to find her in his tank and eggs in the nest. Oops! So when that spawn got to about a week I put them in with the other spawn I had coz they were already the same size and let them go. But unfortunately the new spawn started fighting so I had to separate them shortly after.

I would love to breed HM's but I'm yet to find anyone where I live that sells them or breeds them. I'm considering importing some from Thailand but first I need to get the money together, with the shipping+fish I'm probably going to be about $50 out of pocket per fish! There was an aussie chapter of the IBC but it's kind of died and shut down as far as I know. I'm thinking of trying to spawn a CT pair soon. I just need to find another female. I haven't had much luck keeping them alive of late. My last one got glaucoma and died soon after. She didn't like the male either so that was a bit of a bust! I'm also considering spawning a pair of siblings from my current Delta line. They are crown-deltas so I'm hoping that spawning siblings will weed out the crown and they will be pure deltas. 

Plus I'm kind of obsessed with my new tank at the moment, the 50G in my signature, so I'm more concentrating on making that tank awesome before I even consider spawning another pair. Plus I'll have the difficulty that it's winter here now, so when the fry need to be separated they will be going into unheated soda bottles in the middle of winter. No doubt I'll lose a lot from the cold! Although, I just had an idea to float plastic drink cups in a 15g heated tank so they are separated but still heated! Anyhoo, I'll see how I go 

Good luck everyone!


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## jdwoodschild (Jan 22, 2007)

If you are looking for good betta stock of various types, get in touch with people from the IBC. Especially if you are in the USA and don't want to import, and would like to know the breeding background. Go to http://www.ibcbettas.org/ and get into contact with some of the contacts, and some one will be able to hook you up, either personally or they will send you to the right person, and you shouldn't have too much problem finding stock that you want.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

So on that site i should be able to find a breeder in my area?... or the usa.


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## jdwoodschild (Jan 22, 2007)

There is a list of people who are the heads of their chapters, and if you contact them they might have what you are looking for or would know someone that would have what you are looking for.


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## Scootydoo (Jun 1, 2007)

how many fry on average do they have?

Edit: and how long does it take before the fry's become full grown?


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

well they can have from under a 100 to 500... but usually they are around 150 or so... 
and at 11 weeks they can be at two inches. but all fry are different at growth. so some can grow faster and some grow slower.


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I'm finding that mine won't grow at all and they are all in individual 2L soda bottles. I put one into my 15g with my guppys and he grew to almost adult size in a matter of 3 weeks. So at the moment I'm rotating them all around. they get a few weeks in either my 50G or 15G until they have grown to the size my other one is then they go back to their 2L soda bottles ready for sale. I don't know how breeders get them to grown to adult size in a matter of 3 months in such small containers but mine are acting more like goldfish, the size of the container is stunting their growth.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

hmm... 
well could you post some pics of your fry. 
i cant wait til i get all my stuff for them. i wanted to go to walmart b/c they have filters cheaper then a my lfs. so i need to go there. and i need to get stuff ready for breeding b/c i want to do it. 
And where do you buy your bettas at, well your in austrailia and im in the us.. but do you get them on sites. i know there are many sites like ebay, aquabid... bettatalk, though she only ships in the us... but i find the shipping confusing on some of them... 
well you should post pics!?!?!?!? 


Chris


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I get my Bettas from various LFS' around my local area. I haven't ordered any from aquabid yet but I plan to one day. If you look at the pics in my post about them fighting http://www.fishforums.com/forum/bettas/15986-bettas-fight-i-think-not.html you can see in the pic at the bottom left the size difference between spawn siblings. The fish on the bottom spent 3 weeks in my 15g and the one at the top has been in a 2L soda bottle for the past 3 months. The bigger one was the size of the smaller one when I put him in the 15g and got to the size he is now within a matter of a few weeks. As I said I'm rotating them all now. I've got one in each of my 15g and 50g tanks at the moment and when they have gotten big enough I'll put them back into the 2L soda bottles and replace them with smaller fish until they grow and so on. I will be getting a new digital camera in the next 2 days sometime so I will definitely have to go nuts and take a heap of pics of all my fish, tanks and fry to post on here.

So just be patient ok !!! Pics are coming soon!


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## Scootydoo (Jun 1, 2007)

Well you have to keep all the fry in their own individual tanks correct? but if that's so how are you supposed to keep 150 different containers heated at 80 degrees? Or will they be alright if it's a little under? Because it is summer.


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## leafgirl115 (Mar 26, 2006)

Female can be keped in acomunity tank. But there are always some that need to be on there own.


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## betta_101 (Jun 1, 2007)

Scootydoo said:


> Well you have to keep all the fry in their own individual tanks correct? but if that's so how are you supposed to keep 150 different containers heated at 80 degrees? Or will they be alright if it's a little under? Because it is summer.



yes only the males. well you have to have a room that is warm enough for the water to be at or around 80 degrees.


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## Scootydoo (Jun 1, 2007)

thanks for all the help!


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## anasfire23 (Jan 19, 2005)

I've moved all my females into my 50g community tank and placed a few soda bottles in my guppy fry tank with a few of my males in them. I've attached pictures. They actually really love it in there. They keep trying to catch the guppy fry and flare at each other constantly, it also has the added bonus of keeping their tanks heated at the same time.


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## fishyfreek (May 13, 2009)

Hi, I bred bettas 2 months ago and took them out after 3 days, I feed them baby fish food and kept them in a small tank with no oxegen and they all made it. Course I had brackish water in there, I dont know if that helped but maybe. It was pretty easy to me, but I realize not everyones the same.
thanks, freekyfish


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## betta0fish (Feb 16, 2009)

I'm planning to breed some bettas this summer with my friend. Do you think 2 10 gallons will be enough for the fry. and is it possible to breed a crowntail male with a normal one i got at a pet shop? im new to this so i would like some advice! thanks


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