Betta Breeding

[teenfish-E]

Hi everyone, i'm new and just had a few questions about my bettas. This was my secound attempt to breed bettas and i believe it failed. I put the female in a floating livebearer trap in the tank with the male and turned up the temp. ONce the male built the bubble nest, i released the female when she had her verticle lines. At first they seemed to be fine together so i left, but when i returned the female had torn fins and was still full of eggs. So i took her out and put her in her own bowl. I was wondering would i still be able to use this female to breed with the male once she recovers? I also asked a question to someone at allexperts and they said i could put her and another female in with the male. Can i put 2 females in with the male at once? I looked at the female today and she seemed to be losing color, i would think its because stress, and she is getting thinner. Will she drop eggs in her bowl? Her lines went from verticle to horizontal. I let the female float in the livebearer trap for about 2 weeks before i let her go with the male, i had to order and get microworm cultures set up, which i now have. The tank is a 20 gallon long with hornwort, duckweed, a submersable heater and 2 sponge filters. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

 

[Netty]

Firstly Hi and welcome to the forum

Did you condition both the male and female before spawning (feeding 3 times a day with high protein food eg. bloodworm etc)? Did you raise the temp gradually and what temp did you have it set at?

Unfortunately, females do usually get quite beaten up during the spawning process.....it's just how they do things. Ours are usually together for about 24hrs before spawning takes places and the girls have always have various degrees of damage to their fins. I would say try again but if they have not been conditioned correctly and you say she is not looking very well then I would leave it for a while and re-condition and if she is 100% fit then try again. If not then try another female.

As far as putting 2 females in with the male.....that is an absolute NO!!!! You will most likely end up with dead or seriously injured fish.

Good luck and have a look in the FAQ thread of the top of the page. There is a very good article on breeding and rearing fry. If there's anything you are unsure of then ask on here and someone will be able to help you out

 

[teenfish-E]

Hi, thanks, I fed them typical food yeah probably not conditioned right. They got fed twice a day for about a week, before i put them together. Thank you for telling me not to put 2 females in at a time, i didn't think you could put 2 females in with one male, thats why i just had to make sure. Can i condition them with microworms? Thats the only live food i have besides looking for earthworms. They do seem to try and eat the duckweed to, lol don't think thats the type of live food you mean. As its only my secound time i will have some mistakes, The first time i had babies but i don't think i made the infusoria right thats why i'm changing to microworms. I have about 5 small cultures going right now, and with this recovery time i should have a ton by the time they are nice and healthy. I did raise the temperature while they were both in the tank, female in floating livebearer trap. I turned the sponge filters off, because i heard about it breaking the bubble nest.

 

[Netty]

Hi.....the microworm is fine for the fry but not for conditioning the adults I always have a few on the go just in case any fail lol. The best food for conditioning is either live or frozen bloodworm (they come in little cubes from the pet shop) or Attisons Betta Pro which you should be able to buy on ebay. It's a tub with a pink lid and lasts for months. We usually double the amount we normally give each feed and then after a couple of weeks you can introduce her to the chimney with the male ouside in the tank. After a couple of days she should be ready to be released. If she's a darker colour you'll see the vertical breeding bars and she will look very eggy.

We keep the filter off until the fry are free swimming and the male is out. If you get a clamp you can adjust the flow if it's too strong for the babies.

They'll certainly have plenty of food when you try again lol

Keep us updated on how things go and good luck

 

[teenfish-E]

The 5 small cultures are pretty small only 1.5cups each. About how long should i wait untill i try again? are there live bloodworm cultures? I was also looking for some other live food cultures there posted under the buying and trading link not sure of the exact name. my wanted list is 'Wanted: Aquatic plants/live food cultures' i think lol, something like that. Also if i feed my bettas earthworms, is it ok to get them from outside then rinse them? is that enough? then cut them into small pieces. Thanks for your help

 

[Netty]

Hi there. I'm not 100% sure but I don't think earthworms are safe to feed. See if you can find somewhere online that deliver live foods if you can't get them locally. The 5 pots you have of microworm should be more than enough. It they start going off you can start another and just put a spoonful of the old culture in. By doing that you will always have a fresh supply. Some other live foods for the fry for the first week are vinegar eels, water worm, egg yolk (put it in a clean hanky and swish it in the water) Just make sure you don't use too much and pollute the water. Then when they are a week old you can start feeding baby brine shrimp

 

[teenfish-E]

Thanks
How long should i wait untill i try to breed them again? What size tank do you use for a grow-out tank? will the 20gallon long be big enough with water changes? Can i put a snail in with the babies? If so should i wait till there about a week old? Would Daphina be a good food for conditioning the bettas?

 

[newfishy]

Id condition them for two weeks or so, the biggest size tank for a grow out that you can afford, I have a 20 long that I use for spawning and several large clear plastic tubs that I can divide the spawn over if I get many babies.

daphina would be good, but you can also try frozen foods for conditioning, petsmart carrys a large array of foods...bloodworm, adult brineshrimp, lots of stuff, my bettas love it even if its not live.

pending on the snail I would leave it out, I wouldnt want it eating babies, and they poop a lot and that would foul up the tank quick.


a note on the spawning some people use as small as a 5 or 10 gallon, I have found that there is MUCH less agression and fin nipping in the 20 long, I place the styrofoam cup at one end, and the heater, sponge filter and at least 5-6 silk plants and 2 or 3 terra cotta pots at the other end- as far away from the cup as you can get. spawn the bettas as usual, girl in the chimney in the middle of the tank. it just seems that esp once they are done spawning the female goes and hides in the plants, the male is far on the other side and occupied with the nest and she does not upset him at all, plus the female gets the advantage of lots of extra hideing spaces.

 

[teenfish-E]

All right my female betta has recovered and looks very healthy. a petco just open and now i can get frozen foods, i got bloodworms, and brine shrimp, and have fed them twice with both foods over the past couple days, i think im going to stick with bloodworms because they seem to have no intrest in the brine shrimp. OK, i wanted to know how long should i condition them? I can't wait!!! i have doubled to tripled my microworm count for the fry, and i believe im ready. should i turn the sponge filters off during the conditioning so the male can build his nest? Or should i wait untill after the conditioning? thanks for your help, i really think this time i hope i will get a nice spawn with surviving babies

 

[Netty]

Hi glad to see you back again

We normally condition for 2 weeks but depends on how quickly she gets eggy. We then place the female in the chimney for 2 days with the male outside the chimney and with some floating poly for him to build his nest under. Not sure what colour your female is but if she's darker you'll be able to see her vertical breeding bars showing once she's ready.

Turn the filter down as much as possible and then switch off once the female is released. If you have a successful spawn then you can turn it back on gently to start with once the fry are free swimming and dad is out of the tank.

We feed microworm for the first week but then you need to set up a brine shrimp hatchery to start feeding once they are a week old.

Best of luck

 

[modaz]

you can spawn them again after 14 days, best to condition with tubifex if not then bloodworm is the next best thing

 

[teenfish-E]

you can spawn them again after 14 days, best to condition with tubifex if not then bloodworm is the next best thing

Just an update, a little after the halfway point in the conditioning, and can't wait should get the nest built and possibly have babies by the end of this week into next week, hopefully. Fun watchn them eat the bloodworms the male it takes a few tries but he eventually gets it, but the female...she literally jump almost out of her bowl to get the worms She eats them in one gulp and that it, she loves bloodworms. Well shes filled up with eggs and i will condition them for the next 4 days and then put here in the container in the tank with the male for the 15 and possibly 16th day until he builds the nest. Then, release her and by the 17 or 18th hopefully ill have babies!!! thanks for your help, if anything sounds wrong let me know

 

[Netty]

Sounds like it's all going to plan Fingers crossed that you get some wrigglers soon, then you wont be able to tear yourself away from them. Another good thing to have is a magnifying glass....you can see so much more detail with one

 

[Mr. Convict]

Goodluckk!!

Do you have pics of the parents?

 

[teenfish-E]

Goodluckk!!

Do you have pics of the parents?

Ill try to get some pics up tomorrow, i cant get great pics with my camera but it will be something