breeding betta's my way

[fish48]

I pick a male and female which I think are suitable for breeding separate them for 2 or 3 weeks feeding them well on live foods to get them in good breading condition. then move them to a bare bottom tank of about 4 inches of water i set the fish tank heater to 80 degrees.
So yesterday I prepared there tank in the far corner of the tank a piece of flower pot/cave it only has one purpose it's there for the female to take cover or hide from the male males can get very aggressive when spawning) i float a piece of polystyrene on the surface the male will build it's nest underneath and it will help hold the bubble nest together i put female in jar and placed into fish tank i then release the male, both male and female can see each other the male will take interest and soon start to build a nest. so today he have built a bubble nest it's time to release the female all is going well he is still building the nest the female swims underneath the nest with him checking things out she's not quite ready to spawn may be late this evening or early tomorrow morning

 

[Retired Viking]

Please make a photo log for us, it is interesting to see. someday I hope to try this too.

 

[fish48]

Please make a photo log for us, it is interesting to see. someday I hope to try this too.

a picture I took earlier you can clearly see she's full of eggs and showing her egg tube a indication she's getting in condition for spawning

 

[Essjay]

Yes, please make a log of what you do. Then we'll have something to link to when people ask how to breed bettas

 

[fish48]

Yes, please make a log of what you do. Then we'll have something to link to when people ask how to breed bettas

ok will do

 

[fish48]

a spawning has taken place the male gently embrace female she will release a number of eggs this process can go on for several hours the female can get very exhausted however she will recover very quickly the male Betta catching eggs in his mouth.
he will also pick up any eggs that have gone to the bottom of the tank all eggs will be spat into the bubble nest the male Betta will often let the female pick up the eggs and place them into the nest when spawning is over he will no longer allow the female near the bubble nest. he will flare up and get very aggressive towards her the female must be removed from the tank the male will be left in the tank to look after the bubble nest eggs will hatch in 24-hours.

 

[fish48]

A quick update on the 17th eggs hatched only counted 20 fry on the 20th moved male back to main tank after 3 or 4 days the fry become free swimming and strong enough to swim away from the bubble nest after the fourth day the male may start to lose interest looking after them and see them only as food. for the first 2 days I fed the fry on liquifry number 1 for egg layers then onto vinegar eels and brine shrimp

 

[fish48]

The babies are now about half an inch long and showing some colour the first two weeks fed them on brine shrimp vinegar eels and banana worms and since been feeding a paired food and a daily feed of daphnia, and feeding Grindal worms two or three times a week



babies being fed on Grindal worms

 

[Retired Viking]

Thank you for doing this, that was cool how many are still alive? Can you tell how many are male or female? Do they seem to get along with each other at this age?

 

[fish48]

Today i had a check on how many young i still have surprisingly I have a few more than I thought may be as many as 25
and believe I've not lost any however there are one or two belly sliders soon i will get rid of them,
They are all getting along fine with each other but too young to sex out, they are now at a stage where there growth rate will start to speed up , i will continue feeding them regularly on live food hopefully if all go well i will update in 4 weeks

 

[Retired Viking]

That is a really good survival rate , I wish I had more than 2 per breeding but I do keep the eggs in the tank and by the time the fry come out of hiding they are big enough that the other tetras pretty much leave them alone. I am sitting still at 4 fry total for this year. I would not like the tetra to be like my guppies with over 80 fry in 3-4 months. Just a few more would be nice.

 

[fish48]

i usually get high survival rate on most fish that i breed the reasons for it is probably feeding live foods
it's so easy to get overcrowded with guppies I once had a single female that drop 140 fry lol

 

[Retired Viking]

I was doing a silent /planted cycle on my 30 gall so I bought some feeder guppies to help start the process, They were fry themselves so I could not tell what they were . I ended up with 1 male and 7 females. The male had a great time. That tank is now a shrimp tank and the guppies moved in with my RES turtles which so far seem to leave them alone,

 

[Barry Tetra]

Nice, please make a video or photo log about them.

 

[fish48]

They need to be fed two or three times a day , to be sure they've eaten enough food their belly should be round and plump