betta spawning

[gingerbread27]

How long does it take for my bettas to spawn, my female is looking pretty worn out and is just laying at the bottom she still has fight left in her but she looks horrible.

 

[clover]

if the female isnt going bk to the nest to carry on spawning with the male i would take her.
is he niping her fins?
but if nuffink more is happening then remove her

 

[shrks1fan]

Give us a bit more information, how do you have your spawn tank setup, how long has she been in with the male, did you condition them prior to spawning, what is the male doing?

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[gingerbread27]

my male betta is in a 10 gallon tank with a plant (plastic) and he has his nest anchored to a small piece of wax paper. the female was in a 1 gallom which has sit up against his tank for months. I tried to give them various foods to condition them but they will not eat anything except Hikari pellets, they are extreme picky eaters. I placed her in the tank with him and they went into a chase for hours he chased her, then they began fighting, as long as I had the lights on so I could really see they would go to seperate sides of the tank, so I turned it off and left them alone and went about doing hoousehold chores, I came in and checked on them every few minutes, then finally she was just laying in the tank lifeless I thought she was dead then he came over and she was trying to fight so I removed her. She's back in her tank with some stresscoat and melafix, because she is pretty beatup. I researched breeding them before I even considered it, I have some very interesting colored bettas or I would not have even considered it. I also dont know if there are any eggs in there or not because he has his nest under the wax paper but I dont want to do much peeking just in case so I am going to wait a few days and see.

 

[kgrehm]

I tried the same method you did with the wax paper and all. He built a bubble nest and when i released the female they did the same exact thing. Just ignored each other and the female didnt care. When i introduced she had verticle stipes and her underside was white and looked full of eggs. BUt nothing. So I went to this site
My Webpage

and i read the article twice and I am trying exactly what she said with the exception to the filter till after i know they spawned. HTH

And please keep me posted and IM me if you have aol instand messanger because it seems were are learning and doing the same things at the same time.

 

[shrks1fan]

There are so many reasons that could cause a pair to not want to spawn. It could be one or both are too old, they are just not a compatible pair etc. Does the female have sufficient places to hide? You say you have 1 plastic plant in the tank, that doesn't sound like much hiding places for her (and yes, she does need hiding places). Some fish can take a week before they decide to spawn, others never will and then other will spawn in less time (sometimes even within a few minutes of being put together). Was the female vertically barred up before putting her in with the male? It's best to put the female in another container (a glass chimney is what I use) while in the tank with the male to start so they can see each other yet not get at each other. During this time the male may start on the bubblenest and she'll start producing eggs inside her. When she becomes vertically barred you can release her. Some nipping and fighting is normal, however if it's to violent you may need to try a different fish (either a different male or a different female or both). With my spawns, it took 18-30 hours after I released the female before they started to spawn, they rarely start right away. Have you tried giving them live food? How about the temp, have you raised the temperature they are used to? (changes in temp often put them into spawn mode). Have you tried putting something in the water such as an almond leaf or tea (the black variety) or even the Black Extract you can buy at fish shops, these things turn the water into something closer to what they would find in the wild. Just some suggestions.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[kgrehm]

shrks1fan,

Do you think that the reason her bettas arent spawnnig is because they are petshop bettas? It is better to have ones that people know will breed ex. betta talk or it doesnt matter? Just curious.

 

[bkk_group]

shrks1fan,

Do you think that the reason her bettas arent spawnnig is because they are petshop bettas? It is better to have ones that people know will breed ex. betta talk or it doesnt matter? Just curious.

pet shop bettas were all bred once so i don't think that theory washes. i have bred pet shop plakats before and had great sucess.

 

[shrks1fan]

Yea, I don't think being LFS fish would necessarily be the problem, however if they were old when purchased (as does happen often) that may be the problem. From what I understand Bettas will usually breed up to a year and a half, after that production really drops, but that's just what I've read, not from my limited experience. All my fish have come from local breeders so I have no experience with LFS or veiltails.

http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

 

[bkk_group]

Yea, I don't think being LFS fish would necessarily be the problem, however if they were old when purchased (as does happen often) that may be the problem. From what I understand Bettas will usually breed up to a year and a half, after that production really drops, but that's just what I've read, not from my limited experience. All my fish have come from local breeders so I have no experience with LFS or veiltails.

http/www.pet-emporium.com
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com

thats a good point about age it's a fact that most LFS bettas are at least a year old when they get to shops. i know that the female we found originally was maybe 6 or 7 months old and the male while full grown was still very much active. nowadays, we have access to local breeders and better yet, we are starting to get bettas we have bred become of age so our hope is to one day breed fish that are 100% ours

 

[Lenna]

I let the male build a nest before I put the female in. That way he's ready to go and the female doesn't have to be in the tank for very long. They breed within a few hours. Although, as everyone's said the female needs a hiding place. I use a piece of bogwood with a hollow underneath for her to hide under till she's ready.