Breeding Bettas?

[chocaholic_201]

hi guys,

im new so hope its ok to post. I have 2 fish tanks currently and we had a couple of guppys in the biggest tank (65 litres) with the 50 litre one used to raise the guppys we produced. We didnt want to breed but my oh gets upset at the thought of the fry being eaten. However, sadly we have had several females die and have decided not to get any more females. I really want a pair of bettas which we couldnt have before because of the guppys and have been researching them. i had read that they were hard to breed but now im not so sure. I would prefer not breed them as i dont think its always fair on the fish and its hard to keep a close watch on the fry. Can someone clarify if they are likely to breed if left to their own devises?

The tank i would be putting them in is the 65 litre one which is filtered, heated and has 6 neons and a plecostomus - i think we need to move my male guppy as they would fight. Also is there anything important i might miss when researching such as the 2 females to 1 male we had to do with guppys.

thanks

 

[Ryefish]

i think they are more likely to kill each other than to breed, but yes, its a possibility. You would have to house the males and females seperately, and breed them in a seperate tank. The way i understand it is that fry, once big enough, also need to be seperated into their own tanks because they can also kill each other. Betta's are agressive fish. In your situation, i would suggest just getting a load of female Betta's as a sorority OR a single male, not both. There is nothing to say that they will get on with any of your current tank inhabitants though

 

[chocaholic_201]

thanks for your thoughts,

I obviously would not want them to kill each other. I would rather have one male than many females. Are Bettas known to be agressive towards neons or plecostomus? i had read that they are not normally agressive towards other species but this is why i am asking for advice. What common fish would it be best to put them with in a community tank?

 

[Ryefish]

Neon's can nip at a betta's fins, which is why they aren't always compatible. Mine isn't bothered by them though

 

[chocaholic_201]

ok thanks mine have never bothered any other fish but i will keep an eye out for this if we do decide to get one

 

[Parrotlover]

Hi there,

I have bred guppies before and I took up the challenge to breed my bettas. It is very time consuming and a very different process than breeding guppies. With guppies, you put the males in a tank with females, always having a ratio of males:females as 1:2. Than a month later or so, the females will get big and you put them in a breeder trap. Then you have fry and raise them with crushed up flakes.

With bettas it's a complete different story. First of all, you need at least a 5 gallon heated tank, only half filled(or 4-6 inches full). Then you need many live or plastic plants(covering half of the tank). I use plastic and live. Then you need a container to put the female into, and the container(often a jar or cleaned pop bottle) needs to be put into the tank. The male needs to be free swimming in the tank, so he can build his bubble nest. The male will be able to see the female, but he will not be able to touch her. She often shows horizontal bars as she is stressed out. Once she realizes he can't touch her, she won't show any barring. After a little while(depending on the pair) the malewill have built a bubble nest and the female will be bloated with eggs. At this point you can release the female into the tank with the male. This should be supervised, but doesn't always have to be. If you are a little wary of having the male and female in the tank together at night, simply put her back into the container. After a while, you may notice that there are eggs in the nest. I've heard that they often look like salt. You might also get to see the embrace. Which is when the male and female lock under the nest together to produce their eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs at this time. You will get torn fins here and there, it's normal behaviour. Once the bettas are done producing eggs, the male will chase off the female, and will try and kill her if she gets too close to the nest. Remove here now! The male will tend to the eggs for the next few days. They will hatch, and you will know this when you see little tails hanging down from the nest. The male will pick up any fry that fall and will place them back into the nest. Once the fry are free swimming(horizontally-----, not vertically|||||) you should remove the male as he will still try to put the fry back into the nest, and they will keep popping out to swim around. Treat both the male and female with melafix once you remove them and put them in their own tanks. Then, most people feed the fry with BBS(Baby Brine Shrimp) or BW(Blood Worms) or MW(Micro Worms). I cannot find any where I live, so I use a crushed so fine, it looks like powder, flake that contains bloodworms in it. Feed until they are nice and full(Stomachs will be big and white), and if you notice some food isn't being eaten, siphon it out of the tank immediately. Many people cover the top of the tank with seran wrap to help develop the fry's labryinth organ(Theres some holes in the seran wrap of course). Then after a few weeks, the males will start to show agression. This is a good time to jar them, to make sure noone gets hurt. The females will get along fine, and can just be kept in the tank. And then you have you grown up bettas that you can give to friends or sell to your LFS.

NOTE: Water Changes: I use a small airline tubing, the type that you have to suck on one end with the other end in the water to create a vaccum. Make sure to put the siphoned out water into a see through container to be sure you didn't suck up any fry.

The first week, you supposed to just replace the water you took out, then the second week, and there-on after, you add a little bit more water than you took out. Once the tank is full(Usually around 4th week) you just replace the water you took out. Usually it's 30% water changes.

I've only had one succesful spawn which resulted in the father eating all the fry(approximately 16)

Thanks!

 

[chocaholic_201]

thanks for all that info parrotlover! Were thinking of just getting one male if they are likely to attack each other. I dont want to have lots of fry again as its hard work and upsetting if any of them die.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[Parrotlover]

No problem! I've only atempted breeding once, and I just purchased another female so I can try again in a little bit. I work at the store I got her at, so I know how she has been treated there. Heater, 2x filters with hardly any currents and there were about 6 of them in a 10 or 15 gallon tank. I'm gonna try to breed her with my butterfly(I think) veil tail male.

If you ever have any questions about breeding bettas, just pm me. I'll reply as soon as I can, but I'm really busy, so it might not be right away, or even within a few days.

Thanks,
Parrotlover

(PS. Everyone at work knows me as the talkaholic, and the author, just because whenever I leave a note for someone or explain something on a note for someone I usually write a page of work that is very detailed, but could be done in a few sentences. I just like to be sure that there aren't any questions, as I usually can't get back to people right away.)

Jeez I write alot =)