Betta Breeding Questions

o0Faraz0o

so yea umm I got my self a female betta fish few days ago I would like to breed them since my parents have been pushing me to they love baby fish lol. shes a crown tail white body and red fins and the male betta is a veil tail black body and blue fins. my first question is what color babies will they make. next question is I got my 10 gallon set up for there breeding I have plants and turned of the filters. atm I have been putting there tanks next to each other for about 6 hours and then I put them in different places there tanks r at 26C. when do I know its time the both flair towards each other but then they lose interest so I have no idea first timer. Any tips and tricks/advice can be given plz??? oh and yes I am ready to take care of lots and lots of fry with the help of my parents and yes there on the right died of live frozen and pellets.
 

Chief_waterchanger

First of all, you say you are prepared to take care of the fry, how so? Do you have the number of tanks necessary, (2.5g minimal tanks for as many fry as can -possibly- be had) or a reliable source to sale them through, or do you have other plans in mind?

Everything I've read on betta breeding says they need to be in the same tank together, but still be safe from one another, in order to get in the mood. We had ours almost breed the other day (probably would've if we would've spent more than an hour watching them before we had other things to do so we split them back up) and all we are doing is we got a glass vase the exact same height as the 10 gallon the male is in, put the female in the glass vase inside his tank and feed them both brine shrimp and a very protein rich diet. The goal is to have them see one another for long periods of time (days on end) and get them a little extra fat on them, because it takes a lot of energy to do their breeding. Our female spent the better part of a week and a half in that vase inside the 10 gallon before we first introduced them and they did marvelously, and will probably breed the next time we try that. It is always harder with virgin betttas, apparently they are like any other species... instinctually they know what to do, but the awkwardness and fumbling around still occurs.

We actually watched as the female would curl up like they do when the male encircles them, he would just swim by her and look at her, then he'd start the encircling action, but she'd be 3 or 4 inches away from him.. like they are practicing their method.

If you use that method of female inside a container inside the male's tank, make sure to cover the female's container.. it keeps her in and the male out.

I still would like to know how you plan to take care of them. They could have as many as several hundred fry... and in the off chance that you have the majority of them survive you could be looking at a separate tank for each male by the time they are 3 months old, and the females would need a large tank, and may get aggressive and need to be split up.
 

o0Faraz0o

WELL GOOD QUESTIONS 2 weeks ago I went to a friends house whos parents are cichlid breeders and have been for osme years now they had these rooms set up for breeding and all and had a huge inbuilt 200 gallon tank in there living room full of cichlid it was amazing anyway I stayed there for 1 night and we like talked a lot about fish and breeding and all that. in the conversation I said that I would like to breed bettas and so on. his mum told me that if I could breed betta fish they where happy to take them when there about 2 to 3 weeks old and raise them to sell and what ever later on seemed like a good idea to me. Meant I can earn some money doing some I'm interested in and I was thinking ill keep like 1 or 2 of the fry and raise them my self hopefully they would survive to adulthood.
 

Clare12345

Cheif waterchanger, do you put yours in a full 10 gallon or a 5 inch full ten gallon tank?
 

COBettaCouple

To breed Betta Splendens, I would recommend the minimum of 200 1 gallon glass jars or 2 gallon glass rectangular tanks plus 6 10 gallon tanks and a 55 gallon tank. Also a room to setup all the tanks in along with a controllable heating/cooling unit for that room to keep the water in all the tanks at 80F.

You'll also need to setup a half dozen BBS hatcheries and have at least 5 of them producing at any time, only having 1 offline for a day to start a new batch in it, rotating through them during the week.

Have a good supply of liquid vitamins and meds stocked along with a lot of Prime water conditioner. Daily 50% water changes on every tank/jar is needed. The fry will need fed (but not overfed) the BBS 4 times a day at first, then 3 times after a couple weeks, then 2 times after they're a month old.

Conditioning the pair to spawn is a step-by-step process detailed in this page:

Expect up to 500 fry so you might need more than 250 fry jars/tanks.

It's a huge amount of space, time, money and work and to be honest, unless you're breeding show bettas, not a profitable enterprise. We love Bettas, but aren't going to breed splendens. A few wild species are less intensive to breed.
 

o0Faraz0o

oh wow now that u say that...... MIND CHANGED

wat do u mean by the wild species are less intensive to breed?? I so like umm bettas that r taken from the wild but r just the same type as in like veil tail and crowntail??? cause the onnly bettas here r like the Jar ones that get lucky and someone takes them home.
 

Barbrella

MIND CHANGED
Click to expand...

Good idea.

I've got beautiful and females, but since I"m not prepared to change the water in about 100 glass jars every day (never mind all the other many chores associated with breeding bettas) I have no intention of ever breeding them.

Selling pet store betta babies might net you about 2.00 each. Very unprofitable undertaking.
 

0morrokh

oh wow now that u say that...... MIND CHANGED

wat do u mean by the wild species are less intensive to breed?? I so like umm bettas that r taken from the wild but r just the same type as in like veil tail and crowntail??? cause the onnly bettas here r like the Jar ones that get lucky and someone takes them home.
Click to expand...

By wild bettas he means different species of bettas. Pet store bettas are Betta splendens, but there are a lot of other species in that genus. They're called 'wild bettas' because they're newer species to the hobby and still wild-type, not developed into strains like splendens.

I'm glad you changed your mind. I think we would better spend our time caring for rescued pet store bettas, rather than producing more of them. The main market for pet store quality (in other words cheap poor stock) bettas is people who don't always have fish keeping experience, but just want a cheap fish to throw in a bowl, so it's hard to find really good homes for all the fry, if they're not show quality bettas.
 

Chief_waterchanger

MahachaI bettas for instance, is a different type of betta. Dino and I put a male and female mahachaI together just because we had no where else to house them at that moment and the next day they had bred.. they stayed together just fine and we've got some subadult fry. That was achieved in a 10 gallon tank.

Clare, our Betta splendens have not yet successfully bred, but as I said, I believe they would've had we had more time to spend out there watching them the other day. They are in a full 10 gallon tank. Each has their own, but the female goes into a large glass vase into the male's tank so they can get all worked up, then they are let together only when we can be there to constantly supervise. Sorry for slow response, Clare.
 

COBettaCouple

Yea, the MahachaI are easier to breed in that you'll not need as many tanks for the fry/adolescents. Problems definitely can come up and we learned a lot of those when we bred our pair. I'd want to have a 10 gallon tank and either a big tank, like a 55 gallon or some smaller tanks to allow the fry room to grow.

Also a lot of java moss and water sprite for them as well as caves with no rough surfaces inside or outside and a good supply of almond tree leaves and the other things you'd normally keep for any tank (conditioner, meds, filter media).
 

navyscuba

all. Well since I moved my betta Nick into a 3 gal aquarium he is not doing any bubbles anymore. We bought him a female but we think she is too young. So we got another that by the way she look she was full of eggs. When we put either of them in the tank it looks like he wants to mate but they don't. Well last betta we got think it had ich cuz she infected my big tank and also him. She was really pale in color so I didn't notice till my wife notice on one of the mollies. So ich is gone. So my question is why is he not making a nest anymore? he's got fake plants to protect the nest from the running water , temp is about 81, and the readings are all good. I don't know.???
 

Alessa

Hello!

betta breeding is not as easy as just putting a female in a tank... it takes way more than that.



it is a lot of money and research, I would suggest you remove the female before one of the two gets hurt, and please read the article.


you need a special setup and and a lot of practice and patience, special conditioning for the pair, special spawning techniques, live food for the fry and A LOT OF TIME and MONEY to take care of the many babies.

good luck on the breeding. I would recommend that you research first before trying anything. Otherwise you might end up heartbroken and frustrated. Other than that, with the enough research, money time and set-up it should be an enjoyable experience.


good luck!
 

Martinismommy

He may just be too old to breed....There is a lot of conditioning that goes into preparing a male for breeding..It takes a tremendous amount of energy for a male to breed and care for his fry..

Just curious, why do you want to breed? It is a ton of work..Do you have a bunch of homes for the fry?
 

navyscuba

Alessa thanks for the info. I guess I won't be breeding them till I get another tank I guess the height of the water surface is too much so I'll wait till get another tank. thanks.
 

mollie breeder

I tried to breed my bettas this weekend and my female had torn fins. I was worried about her so I seperated them. I cleaned the females tank out today and there were eggs on the bottom of her tank. I was so close so close to a succsessful spawn. Why did that happen and when can I try to breed them again.
 

RogueAgent94

I don't know if you did, but it sounded like you had the male and female together in the tank. This is not suggested because they'll fight after a while. It is best to wait till the female is full of eggs (she usually looks fat) and the male has built a bubble nest. Then you can put them together and wait for spawning. Remove the female right after spawning or else the male may kill her.
 

andrearamirezo91

I don't know if you did, but it sounded like you had the male and female together in the tank. This is not suggested because they'll fight after a while. It is best to wait till the female is full of eggs (she usually looks fat) and the male has built a bubble nest. Then you can put them together and wait for spawning. Remove the female right after spawning or else the male may kill her.
Click to expand...

+1 !

Also before putting the female in the tank with the male you can put her in a transparent container inside the male betta's tank, my dad was a betta breeder and I remember he ALWAYS used to do that. Its also normal that they nip at each other's fins, but if you think the male may kill her its good that you took her out. Don't give up
 

RogueAgent94

Yes, a plastic container works well but I like to use a breeder net or to divide the tank with mesh so the water flows through. Males release pheromones that speed up the process of the females getting ready to spawn.
 

mollie breeder

Thank you
 

LyndaB

How much research have you done on breeding bettas? Do you have a grow out tank for the fry? Do you know what to feed the fry? Do you know how to condition the pair for spawning?

Breeding any fish should not be taken lightly. You really need to be sure you have a plan in the result of a successful spawn.
 

Rohit 25

Hello,I have a 2 gallon tank,There's a male betta in the tank and a female kept in a jar in the tank,(to know each other well) the problem is thatthe male is continously building the bubble nest for the last 2 months now,but when I release the female in the tank the male bites her and eats her fins,chases her.I give him tubifex twice.I can see a white spot near the anus of the female ,but she doesn't breed with him.Whats the problem?
 

horsin1787

Maybe he doesn't like her? trying taking her out for a week or so and try again after that. Give him and her both time to calm down. During this time you could feed her some worms too?
 

jileha

Sometimes they simply don't get along. Does your female display vertical stripes? if not, she's not ready to spawn.

I think it would be best if you read all the information in the forum section on betta breeding. I'm sure you'll find lots of useful information. Breeding bettas is not as easy as putting a male and a female together in the same tank.

Just saw in your profile that you don't know about the nitrogen cycle. Please read up on all that information before you try to breed bettas. If you want to breed successfully, all parameters need to be optimal, and you need to be really well prepared to handle everything if you don't want to risk losing both the male and the female plus the fry.
 

Rohit 25

Nah,she doesn't display stripes vertical.But anyways thank you.Maybe she doesn't like the color of the male.it's full black.I know the the names like neww tank syndrome so nitrogen cycle was really unkown to me.Anyways I know it.Thanks.@horsin..she will be killed if I release her to the tank.Its a very small tank.

Unfortunately I live in india where there are no test kits available at the shop.Some even don't no what is ammonia,nitrate,cyling the tank.IT'S really poor.Trust me.
 

Darren hickman

can anyone give me some valuable tips on betta breeding please help
 

LyndaB

Perhaps you could fill in your aquarium info so we know what equipment and fish you may already have, is your tank cycled, etc., then we can try to help you.

Have you done any research? Any experience with fishkeeping? Understand the nitrogen cycle?
 

JoshM

Male sure you have a 10 gallon and 1 healthy male and 1 healthy female.
 

Darren hickman

now is it ok
 

LyndaB

Well, your information is there, but you indicate you do not know about the nitrogen cycle. Please read up on it. Without having this information under your belt, your fish will be in toxic water conditions. You will require cycled tanks in order to attempt betta breeding.

What do you use your all-in-one for treating? Also, which dechlorinator do you have? What is the banana leaf used for, I'm not familiar with that. What other fish do you currently have and in what size tank?

Do you have a test kit? We recommend the API master kit.

Johnsfish, there's SO much more involved in breeding bettas. You need to condition the fish prior to spawning, you need to have the proper equipment (separate tanks) to keep the male and female separated until they are ready to spawn. You need to have appropriate food for the fry. You need to have grow out tanks/containers for the fry. And even more. It's not something to take lightly.
 

tress29

Johnsfish, there's SO much more involved in breeding bettas. You need to condition the fish prior to spawning, you need to have the proper equipment (separate tanks) to keep the male and female separated until they are ready to spawn. You need to have appropriate food for the fry. You need to have grow out tanks/containers for the fry. And even more. It's not something to take lightly.
Click to expand...

It's definitely not as simple as breeding live bearers.
 

animallover1

Any tips and suggestions for breeding my veintails?
betta 2

And Crowntails?
 

Vasalissa

HI Animal Lover Hopefully considering you are wanting to breed bettas you have read a great variety of sources about it Both on this forum and off of the forum.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...t-to-breed-bettas-responsible-breeding.89909/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/step-by-step-guide-to-breeding-bettas.37434/
These are good if you haven't already I recommend reading these... And then possibly REreading them.

Another thing you will need is A LOT of room, for lots of little tanks for the males when they get aggressive at about 5-12 weeks. You will need a breeding tank, Seperate tanks for mummy and daddy once they are finished doing the deed. You will need a grow out tank ready for up to and including 200+ babies, and a good place to sell the fish once you are finished.

Also I might add that there isn't much of a personal market for Veil tail betta's Crowntails are a little better but not by much, unless you plan on selling them to a pet shop for under $1 you may have a lot of trouble selling them. If you are wanting to make a profit off of this I recommended finding something else to breed as it is difficult to get much of a good profit from breeding bettas. Especially veil tails.


Anyway what I do:

I condition the pair. Put them in tanks by themselves and feed them high fibre high protein food. Brine shrimp, frozen brineshrimp frozen blood worm etc! I give them new water every 2 days and I let them see each other for 2 hours at a time. Hopefully your female will get really really fat! This means she is full of eggs and ready. If she is not fat and doesn't look to have eggs in her, you are wasting your time and they will get very very hurt just constantly attacking each other!!!!

The breeding tank is 20L and is set up with 2" (4-5cm) of water in it heated to 27-28 degrees celcius. Lots of plants and places to hide as well as a floating almond leaf to assist the male in breeding a nest. I have a "chimney" for the female which is essentially a soft drink bottle chopped in half and inserted into the water with the female inside. This is so the male can see her get all excited about her but can't actually get at her to hurt her. Then I leave them alone leaving the light on for a little while then turning it off. Hopefully the next day you come back and hopefully he has built a solid decent bubble nest. If not give them another day. (There is the possibility that he still doesn't build one and nothing happens if this is the case separate them and repeat the conditioning process)
When his bubble nest is good and she is fat. leaving the light on let her out. WATCH THEM. He will attack her and she will probably attack him back. They may fight and get beaten up! (some are docile and just do the deed and get over it. Others will not) If at any time ANY TIME you think one or the other is in danger of his/her life TAKE THEM OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
After a while (1hr-48hrs) he will embrace her, and la la la (hopefully you know this part otherwise you really shouldn't be breeding anything)

After the mating is complete take mumma out and put her in her own tank, maybe add some salt and keep an eye on her as she can get fin rot and other things from the stress of it all.
Let daddy take care of the eggs (he may eat them. If this happens repeat the above steps eventually he will be a good dad!) Once the eggs are hatched and free swimming take the male out also and give him his own tank and bring him back to full health.

The babies will need Baby Brineshrimp (you will need a hatchery) and Microworms (you will need to start a culture) and some powdered food. I do BBS Microworms and Vinegar eels as well as having micropellets and First Bite on hand. Feed 3-4 times a day!
After 2 weeks or so they will be put in the growout tank which hopefully you have fully cycled and have some plants in there ready for them. Continue feeding but eventually you will only need to feed them every day or twice a day.

Once they get old enough to be sexed (flaring and attacking will occur generally in males before females) they will need to be seperated and here is where you will need ALOT of space! As they will each need little tanks 2 Gallons or up.

Hopefully I haven't missed anything. If you have any questions let me know!!!
 

animallover1

Thanks I am at the stage where I have the female in the bottle after conditioning by:
Putting them in separate tanks opening a flap so they could she eachother flaring them once or twice a day
After my male built his bubble nest I realized he was ready so I put him in the 20 gallon with a fake plant and hiding spots and kept feeding him frozen brine shrimp
I recently stopped and started to feed him bloodworms (his regular diet) because he started to get fat
My female started to show her egg spot 2 days ago so I put her under the bottle so the male could see her
hoping that SushI (My male) Would build his nest because he saw Emma (My female)
Am I doing this right or....
THANKS!
 

Vasalissa

You seem to be doing fine at the moment.

Do you have something to feed the babies? Frozen Brine and Blood worm is too big for the baby mouths?
 

animallover1

The lady told me to crunch up freeze dried bloodworms as I don't want to breed brine shrimp or microworms
Do you have any suggestions?
 

animallover1

I am willing to but none of the stores were I live have the eggs!
 

animallover1

hI animal lover hopefully considering you are wanting to breed bettas you have read a great variety of sources about it both on this forum and off of the forum.

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...t-to-breed-bettas-responsible-breeding.89909/
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/step-by-step-guide-to-breeding-bettas.37434/
these are good if you haven't already I recommend reading these... And then possibly rereading them.

Another thing you will need is a lot of room, for lots of little tanks for the males when they get aggressive at about 5-12 weeks. You will need a breeding tank, separate tanks for mummy and daddy once they are finished doing the deed. You will need a grow out tank ready for up to and including 200+ babies, and a good place to sell the fish once you are finished.

Also I might add that there isn't much of a personal market for veil tail betta's crowntails are a little better but not by much, unless you plan on selling them to a pet shop for under $1 you may have a lot of trouble selling them. If you are wanting to make a profit off of this I recommended finding something else to breed as it is difficult to get much of a good profit from breeding bettas. Especially veil tails.


Anyway what I do:

I condition the pair. Put them in tanks by themselves and feed them high fibre high protein food. Brine shrimp, frozen brineshrimp frozen blood worm etc! I give them new water every 2 days and I let them see each other for 2 hours at a time. Hopefully your female will get really really fat! This means she is full of eggs and ready. If she is not fat and doesn't look to have eggs in her, you are wasting your time and they will get very very hurt just constantly attacking each other!!!!

The breeding tank is 20l and is set up with 2" (4-5cm) of water in it heated to 27-28 degrees celcius. Lots of plants and places to hide as well as a floating almond leaf to assist the male in breeding a nest. I have a "chimney" for the female which is essentially a soft drink bottle chopped in half and inserted into the water with the female inside. This is so the male can see her get all excited about her but can't actually get at her to hurt her. Then I leave them alone leaving the light on for a little while then turning it off. Hopefully the next day you come back and hopefully he has built a solid decent bubble nest. If not give them another day. (there is the possibility that he still doesn't build one and nothing happens if this is the case separate them and repeat the conditioning process)
when his bubble nest is good and she is fat. Leaving the light on let her out. Watch them. He will attack her and she will probably attack him back. They may fight and get beaten up! (some are docile and just do the deed and get over it. Others will not) if at any time any time you think one or the other is in danger of his/her life take them out!!!!!!!!!!!
After a while (1hr-48hrs) he will embrace her, and la la la (hopefully you know this part otherwise you really shouldn't be breeding anything)

after the mating is complete take mumma out and put her in her own tank, maybe add some salt and keep an eye on her as she can get fin rot and other things from the stress of it all.
Let daddy take care of the eggs (he may eat them. If this happens repeat the above steps eventually he will be a good dad!) once the eggs are hatched and free swimming take the male out also and give him his own tank and bring him back to full health.

The babies will need baby brineshrimp (you will need a hatchery) and microworms (you will need to start a culture) and some powdered food. I do bbs microworms and vinegar eels as well as having micropellets and first bite on hand. Feed 3-4 times a day!
After 2 weeks or so they will be put in the growout tank which hopefully you have fully cycled and have some plants in there ready for them. Continue feeding but eventually you will only need to feed them every day or twice a day.

Once they get old enough to be sexed (flaring and attacking will occur generally in males before females) they will need to be seperated and here is where you will need a lot of space! As they will each need little tanks 2 gallons or up.

Hopefully I haven't missed anything. If you have any questions let me know!!!
Click to expand...


thanks for the info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I really used it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Vasalissa

Oh Um you can get microworm cultures online from multiple sources same with the BBS eggs. Microworms are EASY AS PIE I have a lot of them and I sell them to people, unfortunately I can't send them to America...

Brine shrimp is pretty easy also.
That is a link for a simple effective way to set up brine, I do it that way?

Your welcome!
 

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