dippstixx Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 my son is interested in trying to breed bettas does any one have any info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 fishclubgirl on here is the gal to talk to on betta breeding she knows her stuff! as for my advice, don't do it unless you are prepared to house a bunch of male bettas separately in minimum 1 gallon jars, and do water changes on those jars every day. it's a lot of time and work, making baby bettas, and that's the reason i've not tried to do it myself. plus, unless you are breeding a really nice pair (halfmoons or the other higher quality/fancier finned bettas) it isn't worth it, and can be difficult to find homes for all the fish, because the pet stores are already saturated with the common veil tail variety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGofCalgary Posted August 22, 2011 Report Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) hmm. I keep my bettas in glass canning jars, except when I am breeding them, where they go in to a 5 gal. I've got a group of bettas that are coming up on 2 months old, housed together. They'll of course have to be moved once they reach breeding age in a short time, or a bigger tank with lots of plant cover, but you'll find that with a lot of species. My recipe (much of which was from FCG and other folks from the CAS) is put the male in a 5 gal tank, about 1/4-1/2 full of water. Soften that water if you can. (I run them at about 50% calgary tap water, 50% steam distilled which is <10 ppm TDS) add half a styrofoam cup as a nest assister place the female in a glass canning jar in the tank, so that the male can see her, but not get at her. use the water from the tank in her canning jar so she is conditioned to that same level of TDS (it can be a shock to fish to make a sudden TDS change) heat the tank to roughly 78=80 live foods - white worms, bbs, frozen blood worms. some chopped up earth worms. stuff like that to condition them to breed. When you see the male is making a bubble nest, release the female in to the tank. Make sure there are some nice hiding spots for her. Now a lot of folks say that you don't need to wait on him building a bubble nest, this is just my recipe and how I do it. watch to see that they ahve spawned. It is amazing behaviour. if you don't catch them in the act, then you should know they have spawned by him chasing her away and being hyper aggressive to her. Get her out. You can put her back in the canning jar in the middle of the tank to give him something to focus his agression on. It provides a bit of 'dither' effect that can help to keep him from snacking on the fry when they hatch by encouraging protective behavior. I keep him in for a 2-4 days more, then pull him out and watch for fry. They're quite tiny, so if you have green water, start adding it. Also that 5 micron golden pearls is nice as a replacement for infusoria, Micro worms might work too, I dont know though as all my microworm cultures are dead. as they start free swimming raise the water level and shift them to bbs or bbs size golden pearls. Good water changes, add bio filtration (i lost most of a betta spawn to a nitrite spike from lack of filtration and overfeeding) always a good idea to add a cherry shrimp to help clean up the tank if you have them available. also a couple snails wouldnt hurt. raise them on up! FCG keeps an amazing array of bettas. I get most of mine from her, so if you are looking for good quality breeding stock definetely talk to her! Good Luck! Dan Edited August 22, 2011 by DanGofCalgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanGofCalgary Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 (edited) pics as promised. This about covers everything I said. The cause of the dark water is indian almond leave tea bags. sideview, giving scale to it. this is a standard 5 gallon tank close up of his bubblenest. Edited August 23, 2011 by DanGofCalgary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PistolPete Posted August 23, 2011 Report Share Posted August 23, 2011 Very cool. Ive never was really interested in bettas. My sister and law is on vacation right now and we are " watching" her betta. Hes a all blue guy and makes bubble nests all day long. I think they are pretty cool lil fish now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.