Betta Breeding Questions

[Demeter]

Live plants are always beneficial when spawning fish but with bettas it's not a necessity. Most the time I spawn my bettas in a planted tank, a few times I just fulled up a 10gal half way, threw in a handful of dried oak leaves and let them go at it.

The best thing live plants provide is microscopic food and shelter, plus they soak up ammonia products.

 

[RainBetta]

I've found it useful since it is harder for the female to find the eggs and eat them

 

[LambPrince]

So, I've been watching a ton of videos and research on Betta breeding and I wanted to try my hand at it. However, I wouldn't be attempting that until after my move and letting them hang out for a bit. What of the most important questions I haven't had answered was this:

Can betta eggs that've been fertilized be shipped? I'm asking because I'd really hate to cull eggs if I didn't have to, but if I must I will. I know it only takes 3 days for them to hatch, and I know the bubble nest is supposed to incubate them but could betta eggs survive out of their bubble nest? Or is it a must that they stay there? Also, how do you know if the eggs are fertilized? Are you able to tell? At what age, exactly, can betta be shipped out? I'm fully aware that I wouldn't make much money off of the hobby, but I love Betta's so much and I'd love to try breeding my own. I was thinking of starting off with a small sample of keeping maybe 5 eggs just to get my feet wet, but I felt bad at the thought of calling so many eggs just to keep 5 that may or may not hatch.

Also, if anyone has bred them before please leave any advice you have down below! I know I should slowly introduce the male and female by placing their tanks side by side and putting a divider between them and for a few minutes every day removing it. I also know I have to prepare them both by feeding them something nutritious a week or two before breeding - I was told daphnia and mosquito larvae are good for that? I'm aware that I need to increase the tank temperature gradually, and that they also require a lot of cover so if the male becomes aggressive the female can hide, and to remove her immediately after they're done breeding or else she'll eat them. I was told to keep the water level low in the males tank so he wouldn't have to travel too far to retrieve the fallen eggs, is that correct? It makes sense. I was also told not to use a filter when and after the breeding and to just do daily small water changes once the eggs are fertilized, but what about after they hatch and I remove dad? Would I still do the daily small water changes? Or could I use a filter as long as a sponge filter is used so the babies don't get sucked in?

 

[david1978]

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/forums/betta-breeding.320/
Have you been threw this section of the forum?

 

[LambPrince]

https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/forums/betta-breeding.320/
Have you been threw this section of the forum?

I actually hadn't seen that section! Thank you!

 

[Rtessy]

1.) No, the need to be in the nest both for air and to protect against fungus, they won't last a few hours outside of it.
2.) Earliest is 3-4 months, they won't have a lot of color though, so you'll have issues selling them
3.) I haven't had an issue with them not being fertilized, they don't change color and are super small, so I'm not sure if you can tell.
4.) No divider, use a vase to put the female in that reaches to the top so she can get air. Release her after the male makes a bubble nest and she submits and bows at a 45° to him.
5.) Eh, haven't had issues breeding in 12" of water, but I have seen 6" recommended
6.) You'll need microworms or vinegar eels and infusoria to start them out, then transition to baby brine shrimp, then you can do daphnia and mosquito larvae. I just had some hatch this morning, they are super small, smaller than I remember! I mean, maybe a millimeter wide, maybe 2-4 long. Teeny.
7.) I recommend removing the male after 3-5 days, as they will be able to swim on their own at this point, but the male keeps trying to bring them back to the nest, and it stresses both of them. By the time they can swim, they've lost their egg sacks, so you'll need to feed them at the same time. Daily water changes shouldn't be necessary at either point, as the male doesn't eat while taking care of them, but every 2-3 days should work. If you want to keep the changes real small, daily could work too.
Lmk if I missed anything!

 

[Troy0714]

I have breed bettas in the past, but they have all been dark bodied bettas, and I just wanted to know how I can tell if my female is ready to breed, because I know because of their light bodys they don't show their submissive stripes. Also she is ignoring my male, and instead trying to swim towards his bubble nest, do I have a bad female or is this normal? I just put them together last evening around 5pm after conditioning them for 1 week, this is my males first time breeding and he is so interested in her every second of the day he is flaring at her and trying to get her, but its like she doesn't even care...and yes she is filled with eggs and has a white spot

 

[Jim]

I do not know what you mean by “submissive stripes”. The female betta always has a supply of eggs, it is just a matter of is the male ready to breed with her. Usually the female will get pretty beat up to some degree during the mating. In the betta world it is all about what the male wants.

 

[Rtessy]

I do not know what you mean by “submissive stripes”. The female betta always has a supply of eggs, it is just a matter of is the male ready to breed with her. Usually the female will get pretty beat up to some degree during the mating. In the betta world it is all about what the male wants.

They probably mean breeding stripes.
That's pretty normal, she has to approve the bubble nest before deciding to breed with the male. If nothing happens in the next couple of days, you should remove and recondition both.
What was your conditioning routine?

 

[Demeter]

Some females need more of an aggressive courtship to get in the mood. For all females you will see that her belly is getting more plump towards the vent area and the egg spots becomes even more apparent.

When you see the female clamping her fins a bit, angled with her head down and doing the slow wiggle dance, rather than the fins up body slapping, then you know there will be eggs soon.

 

[Troy0714]

They probably mean breeding stripes.
That's pretty normal, she has to approve the bubble nest before deciding to breed with the male. If nothing happens in the next couple of days, you should remove and recondition both.
What was your conditioning routine?

I kept them in clean 80 degree water and fed them bloodworms and omega one pellets

Some females need more of an aggressive courtship to get in the mood. For all females you will see that her belly is getting more plump towards the vent area and the egg spots becomes even more apparent.

When you see the female clamping her fins a bit, angled with her head down and doing the slow wiggle dance, rather than the fins up body slapping, then you know there will be eggs soon.

Ok thanks for the comments!

Also he got scared of something and messed up his bubble nest, will he make a new one?

 

[Rtessy]

So no conditioning? That may be a large part of the problem.
I use live California blackworms to condition mine, works every time

 

[Troy0714]

So no conditioning? That may be a large part of the problem.
I use live California blackworms to condition mine, works every time

I wish I could but I can't get them atm... I thought bloodworms worked fine, thanks for the help of course

 

[Rtessy]

Were they live? Frozen? Did you normally feed bloodworms, and how much did you feed during the conditioning period? Also, how long was the period?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, lol, but how are they doing now?

 

[Troy0714]

Were they live? Frozen? Did you normally feed bloodworms, and how much did you feed during the conditioning period? Also, how long was the period?
Sorry for the barrage of questions, lol, but how are they doing now?

Live and frozen

 

[Rtessy]

Ah, I thought you just mean frozen, my mistake. Live ones should have conditioned them well.
How are they doing now, and how long did you condition them for?

 

[Troy0714]

Ah, I thought you just mean frozen, my mistake. Live ones should have conditioned them well.
How are they doing now, and how long did you condition them for?

About a week and a half... My female is light in coloration, she isn't showing any stripes but she doing a little dance where she will wiggle around trying to swim towards the bubble nest or sometimes the male, once in a while I will catch her following the male does this mean she is ready to be released, shes fat too and has a nice sized egg spot, also his bubble nest seems to have a big hole in it where some of the bubbles popped does this normally happen?

About a week and a half... My female is light in coloration, she isn't showing any stripes but she doing a little dance where she will wiggle around trying to swim towards the bubble nest or sometimes the male, once in a while I will catch her following the male does this mean she is ready to be released, shes fat too and has a nice sized egg spot, also his bubble nest seems to have a big hole in it where some of the bubbles popped does this normally happen?

Also my males bubble nest is pretty small, is it still good for egg laying, its about 2.5-3in long and 1-2in in width... This is his first time trying he is 9-10 months old

Also my males bubble nest is pretty small, is it still good for egg laying, its about 2.5-3in long and 1-2in in width... This is his first time trying he is 9-10 months old

Is that a good sized nest for breeding or not? His nest was bigger but the bubbles popped

 

[KOIiiii]

They add on more into the nest as it goes. Some pop and all, but they'll add on no worries.

 

[Dylan'sFishExperiment]

I have 2 pairs of betta fish and they are breeding successfully until I take out the female betta. It seems the male doesn't have any interest in the eggs and over night the eggs and most of the bubbles are gone. I only take out the female when its obvious the male isn't interested anymore. Any tips or something I'm missing? It has happened two times. The other pair same thing happened but I still kept female in just incase they increase their bubble nest but nothing so far. Thanks to anyone willing to help but if you keep scrolling happy fish keeping

 

[Salem]

I myself haven't personally bred bettas but I have heard that a lot of first-time dad bettas don't really know what theyre doing and need a few tries. I know my own betta didn't even fully know how to make a bubble nest at first

 

[Dylan'sFishExperiment]

okay that makes a little sense. So I have another question, since the breeding tank is inside should I keep the light on or shut it off?
Was really confused about that since he probably couldnt see them falling.

 

[CHJ]

Sometimes you get a bad dad.
I had a spectacular crowntail who couldn't care for the nest/babies to save his (their) lives. So a guy at the LFS got a free spendy fish because I lost my patience after 4 runs (not going to try for success again if that will get passed on to the young).
The guy really wanted a crown and couldn't find one locally at any of the 3 dedicated betta shops.

 

[PeachesAndGypsy]

This is my first time using Fish Lore so here I go! I have a rare extra large Peach Dalmatian veiltail male betta and a large blue veiltail female betta. I know how to breed bettas and I have almost everything I need. But, I have a some questions!


What should the fry be priced at? Online peach Dalmatians are about $65 for females and $75 for males. But, these fry will be large-extra large! So maybe size adds to the price.‍


If some of they fry aren’t peach Dalmatians, how much should the non peach Dalmatians be priced at? Again they’ll be large-extra large and all of them will carry the peach Dalmatian gene!


If I’m breeding a peach Dalmatian male to a blue female, will roughly half the fry be peach Dalmatians? This gene and coloration is rare and it’s not researched so I couldn’t find anything online about it.


My female is quite large so does that mean she’ll hold more eggs and possibly give me more fry?

What are the best and cheapest containers to house the bully fry and the male fry in when they’re older? I don’t want to spend a fortune on temporary betta containers so they have to be really cheap.

And what is the recovery process like for the adults after breeding? Like what should I use to heal their fins, what should I feed them, etc?

Sorry for all the questions. This will be my first time breeding any fish in purpose! I can also send pictures of the hopefully soon-to-be parents!

 

[PascalKrypt]

I'm not sure if you know how betta genetics work, but it is complicated and can be much harder it seems to get the colours that you want. That female blue veilteil has very dominant genes. It is highly likely that all fry will be blue, and there will be no dalmatians or peach coloured fry, let alone a combination of the two.
"Dalmatian" in itself is not clearly defined, so it is hard to say what kind of genes your male has. He might breed true and he might not. So even if you'd get two bettas sold as peach dalmatian, unless you bought them from a trustworthy breeder the odds are high their fry will be all sorts of different colours. And some colours (I'm not aware if this is true for dalmatian or not) don't breed true which means the pattern just appeared by luck on the betta you breed with, and its fry has about the same odds of getting it (which is usually quite low).
All in all this pairing is pretty sure to give you solid blue veilteils nearly 100%, which aren't worth much.

In any case breeding bettas to make money is a pretty pointless endeavour, it is almost impossible, especially for someone who breeds as a hobby and does it small scale. If you want to sell your fry rather than give them away you should probably not breed with veilteils, which are worth the least out of all the tail types and are commonly available in all large and small pet stores for a cheap price.

I'm not really sure how the large/XL gene works, so I'm not sure if crossing large x XL guarantees large offspring (I believe it's only an increased chance with a large portion of fry normal size, but I'm not 100% sure).

The recovery process is pretty much like conditioning (warmth, isolation, frequent feedings with 'power food') because you have to get their strength back up. Dosing with a mild antiseptic or something similar (like methylene blue) is advised to keep their injuries clean. Do lots of water changes to keep the water pristine for this same purpose.

Most betta breeders I know have 1/4 - 1/2 gallon plastic containers they put on heat mats or in heated rooms/cupboards. The containers cost a few cents each but it is labour intensive as you have to do daily water changes on all of them.

I realise you are quite invested already, but I wouldn't really recommend betta for your first fish to try breeding with. The spawning process is pretty violent (you may occasionally lose a fish) and anabantoid fry are all pretty vulnerable and stay very small for quite a long time. It is easy to screw up in their care and kill your entire batch. Many other species with larger fry, or fry with parents who show much larger degrees of broodcare, are much more forgiving of mistakes. It would be a shame to invest money and effort to lose all your fry after a few weeks. Moreover (as you've already noted) separating all of the fry is labour intensive and costly.

 

[Truckjohn]

In terms of prices - miscellaneous bettas sell for $3.99 at Petco and miscellaneous baby bettas sell for $2.99..... That includes the bowl...

I would say that sort of sets the floor for the ones that are otherwise good healthy fish but don't look like you think they should...

You could probably push it up to $10.00 with the assurance of a good healthy miscellaneous fish that should go at least 4 years vs an 18-month Petco fish.....

Then sell the high quality picks for more.

 

[Repolie]

If you're planning to breed them and sell them for profits, I wouldn't suggest it. The blue colouration isn't very desirable because it's common and since blue is a dominant colour, I would expect all the fry to be blue. Mixing lineages also isn't desirable if you don't know the backgrounds of your breeding pair which leads to unwanted results. Even if they carry the peach dalmatian genes, people are focused on the appearances and if they don't present those genes then they still aren't worth as much. The pair you have are both veiltails, it's the least sought after tail type which drives down the value. I'm sorry to say this, but they would be worth as much as a regular big chain pet store betta.

If you're still determined to breed, then I would suggest that you continue only with the male. Find a different female similar in colouration to him which would give you a higher possibility of his traits being presented in the fry.

Demeter is an experienced breeder who can give you more insight and suggest what types of females you can pair with him.

 

[Demeter]

I think everything has pretty much already been said. Blue would be the more likely color you get from spawning a blue betta with an orange dalmatian. I would expect the orange dalmatian genes to be very recessive so the female would need to be recessive for the gene as well or you have next to no chance of getting that gene. Let me get a good link that gives the results of certain dalmatian pairs. This breeder has very nice fish and keeps fantastic records of the spawns.
Spawns 2017

Your pair may not be the fanciest but IMO it is a good pair to gain experience with. If both are a good match, size and personality wise, then see how it goes. My first successful batch was a cross between a marbled male double tailed HMPK and the run of the mill natural colored female PK. It resulted in about 14 natural/wild colored plakats. I decided to continue the line by crossing one son to two store bought females, luckily the recessive "fancy" genes from male resulted in lots of fancy marbled babies but also several natural colored young. History repeated itself and after using a sibling pair I ended up with a very nicely colored, robust male who now has a lovely new female with good fins. This is my breeding thread Baby Betta Progress Log - Betta Fish 280398

The main problem with breeding bettas is selling them off. I've had a heck of a time getting rid of mine, thankfully the spawns have been on the smaller side.

 

[PeachesAndGypsy]

I think everything has pretty much already been said. Blue would be the more likely color you get from spawning a blue betta with an orange dalmatian. I would expect the orange dalmatian genes to be very recessive so the female would need to be recessive for the gene as well or you have next to no chance of getting that gene. Let me get a good link that gives the results of certain dalmatian pairs. This breeder has very nice fish and keeps fantastic records of the spawns.
Spawns 2017

Your pair may not be the fanciest but IMO it is a good pair to gain experience with. If both are a good match, size and personality wise, then see how it goes. My first successful batch was a cross between a marbled male double tailed HMPK and the run of the mill natural colored female PK. It resulted in about 14 natural/wild colored plakats. I decided to continue the line by crossing one son to two store bought females, luckily the recessive "fancy" genes from male resulted in lots of fancy marbled babies but also several natural colored young. History repeated itself and after using a sibling pair I ended up with a very nicely colored, robust male who now has a lovely new female with good fins. This is my breeding thread Baby Betta Progress Log - Betta Fish 280398

The main problem with breeding bettas is selling them off. I've had a heck of a time getting rid of mine, thankfully the spawns have been on the smaller side.

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it! I want to breed this pair just to gain experience. I did find another Orange Dalmatian veiltail female online but, it’s $65 plus $25 shipping! And she is an import. I don’t have the kind of money right now and veiltails are not desirable. If I were to not breed this pair, and I decided to go with a pair that has more desirable traits, colors, and a nice tail type... what should I breed that I might be able to sell fairly quickly? I’m thinking a long fin Halfmoon koi because I already have a marble male Halfmoon koi. Who was an import. And he’s 8 months old. So maybe if I get a marble koi Halfmoon female, I could breed them and they would hopefully produce desirable fry that I could sell for more and they would have more desirable traits... right?

 

[PascalKrypt]

I think everything has pretty much already been said. Blue would be the more likely color you get from spawning a blue betta with an orange dalmatian. I would expect the orange dalmatian genes to be very recessive so the female would need to be recessive for the gene as well or you have next to no chance of getting that gene. Let me get a good link that gives the results of certain dalmatian pairs. This breeder has very nice fish and keeps fantastic records of the spawns.
Spawns 2017

Your pair may not be the fanciest but IMO it is a good pair to gain experience with. If both are a good match, size and personality wise, then see how it goes. My first successful batch was a cross between a marbled male double tailed HMPK and the run of the mill natural colored female PK. It resulted in about 14 natural/wild colored plakats. I decided to continue the line by crossing one son to two store bought females, luckily the recessive "fancy" genes from male resulted in lots of fancy marbled babies but also several natural colored young. History repeated itself and after using a sibling pair I ended up with a very nicely colored, robust male who now has a lovely new female with good fins. This is my breeding thread Baby Betta Progress Log - Betta Fish 280398

The main problem with breeding bettas is selling them off. I've had a heck of a time getting rid of mine, thankfully the spawns have been on the smaller side.

Just hijacking a post to thank you for this, that is all super helpful!

 

[Demeter]

Thank you all for your help! I really appreciate it! I want to breed this pair just to gain experience. I did find another Orange Dalmatian veiltail female online but, it’s $65 plus $25 shipping! And she is an import. I don’t have the kind of money right now and veiltails are not desirable. If I were to not breed this pair, and I decided to go with a pair that has more desirable traits, colors, and a nice tail type... what should I breed that I might be able to sell fairly quickly? I’m thinking a long fin Halfmoon koi because I already have a marble male Halfmoon koi. Who was an import. And he’s 8 months old. So maybe if I get a marble koi Halfmoon female, I could breed them and they would hopefully produce desirable fry that I could sell for more and they would have more desirable traits... right?

After gaining experience with the VT pair then you can think about the HM koi pair, which does sound like a good idea. Koi and marbled bettas are always in good demand. Online I seem to notice that HMPK are often in higher demand than long finned HM too, but locally (for me anyways) it seems the HM is more popular. I tend to stay away from ling finned types simply because they can have more fin issues. The last time I had long finned males was by accident when I bred a copper HM to my PK. Fun fact, long fins are a dominant trait

 

[PeachesAndGypsy]

After gaining experience with the VT pair then you can think about the HM koi pair, which does sound like a good idea. Koi and marbled bettas are always in good demand. Online I seem to notice that HMPK are often in higher demand than long finned HM too, but locally (for me anyways) it seems the HM is more popular. I tend to stay away from ling finned types simply because they can have more fin issues. The last time I had long finned males was by accident when I bred a copper HM to my PK. Fun fact, long fins are a dominant trait

So I plan on breeding my veiltails as soon as I get the rest of my supplies just to gain experience! Which will be a few weeks. After I breed them and if I decide to breed koi and marble bettas... I will. But, right now I’m having a hard time finding koi Halfmoon female bettas online. All I’m finding are HMPK. And so what would happen if I bred my koi Halfmoon male to a koi HMPK female? And would that be desirable? Sorry for all the questions!

 

[Demeter]

If you cross a long fin type with PK you will get mostly long fins. All kois are pretty desirable so you shouldn’t have too hard a time finding homes for any koi offspring.

One thing that should be mentioned is culling, or removing/euthanizing fry with undesirable traits. Not all fry will be healthy, strong babies and removing those that don’t meet the standards is rather important. By removing fry that will be sickly or have a hard time being sold you keep them from suffering their entire lives. It’s a necessary evil that also prevents the spread of disease and poor genetics. Be sure to research culling and what to look for. I feed my culls (provided they are not diseased) to my axolotl or cichlids so nothing goes to waste.

 

[PeachesAndGypsy]

Okay! I think I might get a HMPK female even though I’ll most likely end up with long fins. Halfmoon koi females are really hard to find! In my area, long fin koi’s are rare in big box pet stores and in LFS. So I think the koi babies will be easy to sell! And when I decide to breed my orange Dalmatian, my LFS said they would take some of the full grown bettas for $5 a piece!
This is my Orange Dalmatian veiltail male btw. His name is Peaches!

And this is my marble koi hm male! He marbled quite a bit from the time I bought him to the time I got him shipped to me! His fins are also a little messed up from shipping. I think he tail bit a little.

I know I’ll have to cull fry. I know it’ll be hard to as well. I do know someone in my area that is a betta and fish rescuer and she will take in culls that might have a quality of life. The ones that might not have a quality of life, I’ll cull. But, she doesn’t breed her fish so if she ends up taking some culls that I might have, I know they won’t pass down their genetics. I’ve done a little research on how to cull fry humanely but, I haven’t done much research about what to look for in fry and what to cull. So I’ll do that right now.

 

[Benji5050]

If I introduce the female to the male in a breeder box. How long would it take her to actually become ready and have eggs inside her? It is the first time ever that she has seen a male.

 

[FinalFins]

Yo need to slowly introduce them a few times before you releases the female. Every day or so, net out the female and make sure that they can see each other. When the male makes a bubble nest and it stays intact you can release the female. Monitor them closely

 

[david1978]

Hopefully its a really big breeder box. Like 5 gallon or so.

 

[Benji5050]

david1978 the male is in a 10G. Any tips on how to introduce them?
Neither of them has ever spawned before. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
PS the female is currently in a 7.5G self-made planted tank.

 

[Repolie]

If you're planning on breeding, then shouldn't just be introducing them. You also have to condition both the male and female for several weeks before either can spawn. It's to help the female produce eggs and it prepares the male for the strenuous spawning and egg rearing process.

Demeter can be of more help.

 

[david1978]

Tips? Not really in 3 years of keeping them together have had exactly 1 born in my tank.

 

[Demeter]

After conditioning with high protein food (I use live white worms), set up the spawn tank with some leaf litter.

I always use a tank divider in a 10gal. Keep them on separate sides and move the female to his side when she gets plump and he has a nest. A willing female will be trying to get to his side from across the divider. If she wiggles at him then you know she is receptive.

 

[Benji5050]

Thanks a lot Demeter.
What exactly should I do in conditioning them? Is it basically feeding the high protein foods ?

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Do they need to go into a breeder tank or can you not use the existing tank - just either remove divider or put her in his side?

He has a nice bubble nest in there now. I’m not actually fussed onthem breeding (would be cool to see what fry looked like) but they both seem keen and who am I to stop young love!

 

[Demeter]

Depends on how the existing tank is set up. Generally the breeder tank should be half full, bare bottom with a heater, weak sponge filter and some leaves and plants. But...

I actually just use a fully established and decorated 10gal completes with drift wood, live plants, snails and shrimp. It has produced many little bettas this way. I usually start conditioning them separately for a week or so, then put them in the divided tank and keep conditioning till the female is interested and the male has a nest.

If they are already interested in each other then let the female out and see what she does.

Hope you have live food cultures for the fry. I use micro worms and baby brine shrimp till I can wean them onto micro pellets.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Thanks. That’s what I did. She’s been on the other side of a clear divider for a couple of weeks eating well. He’s built a nest which is uncommon but it’s thicker and studied than usual. I’ve not seen huge interest from her yet so will wait but was hoping to “open the gates” and then close them when need be. She’ll then go back to original home. If I get fry great and will try best but if I don’t - not the worst thing: wouldnt know what to do with them anyway hahha

 

[Benji5050]

Thanks. That’s what I did. She’s been on the other side of a clear divider for a couple of weeks eating well. He’s built a nest which is uncommon but it’s thicker and studied than usual. I’ve not seen huge interest from her yet so will wait but was hoping to “open the gates” and then close them when need be. She’ll then go back to original home. If I get fry great and will try best but if I don’t - not the worst thing: wouldnt know what to do with them anyway hahha

Could you maybe post a pic of them?

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Could you maybe post a pic of them?

Urgh! That was hard lol

it’s nighttime here so I can't get the light right. This is best I could do. She was hiding a fair bit - but watching him and interested in his actions. He seems to be peacocking for her and tending to his nest (though I may well be mistaken)

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

Shes watching him through the gap. I just got a pic. Still blurry

 

[Demeter]

With a girl her color you should be able to see breeding stripes. They are vertical bars that appear when the females are receptive of the male. Not all dark colored bettas will have them but most do. Forgot to mention that earlier cuz most the bettas I spawn are light colored where you can’t see the bars.

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

I’ve been looking for them. She’s keen to watch but not wiggle no interest in the next step. I’m off to work so she’s been put back into her home and he’ll just have to make do alone.

I have no plans on getting any more betta so maybe we’ll try again in a few weeks after some more good feed for her

 

[AcuarioAmazonico]

So I was talking to a few people at work today about my failed attempt with match making - I’m no yenta.

Anywho a guy at work who lives down the road from me said he had heaps of fish (nice to know) and female bettas. He said he liked the colour of mine and the size (she’s small) and that she was a half moon (she was?!). He offered to swap for one of his. I stopped off at his and swapped (he collected mine straight after). His set up was amazing and QT tanks etc. pleasant surprise.

Anywho: I have full qt tank atm (had to buy extra!) so I took a gamble and put her straight in. All I have is the split tank with the male (she will not go into community tank like the other without qt - that’s too much of a risk).
I put an extra layer or two of egg crate to minimize visuals and disturbance of the other betta - but she seemed very interested immediately and he of course did too. Are these those breeding lines you meant? She is wiggling all over (poor fella has no best as I disturbed it. I’ll be doing nothing for a couple of weeks but if they seem keen should I seize the day?