What size tank do you got the male in? What about the female? How did you introduce the female to male? Do the babies need to be separated?
Betta babies...no hurdles!
- Thread starter knifegill
- Start date
I bred them in a 3" deep, 28" by 27" plastic drawer I found in the trash. I went with the easy approach and found a male with a nest in his cup and an egged up female. They went into the drawer as soon as I had it heated and put in a live sponge filter. I gave her a day in the chimney and fed them both blackworms a few times. Once he had a new nest, I let her go. They spent about two days mucking about aimlessly. He'd chase her, she'd approach all flirty but he wasn't ready, blah blah. A terrible blind date if ever there was one. But by day three I went downstairs and there was a huge cluster of eggs in his nest. I gave her her own tank and let him guard the nest until I saw the fry were flying around under their own power and then I removed him, too. That's the most common stage where a male might snap and eat all the young, and I wanted to feed him again since he hadn't eaten for so many days straight. Then I watched them and when their yolk sacs were pretty much gone, in went green water and Frozen rotifers twice a day. Either that grew infusoria under the bright lighting and plantwork, or they actually ate those foods. And I also feed them the occasional bit of food dust for the 10% that will eat it and to keep the biology strong in there. Water changes are about once a week with an airline as a siphon. I take great care to shoo the fry away as I suck up the algae wads and excess snails, poo, etc. I do bigger changes than 50% since there's so much life in there. People who keep their tanks sterile are crazy. I let the little bacteria and subsequent lifeforms go nuts and be a 24/7 buffet. They are never hungry. I can even skip feedings and they stay full. They eat the tiny white worms that crawl all over the place, too. Natural/biological method easily beats the flat barren glass of a sterile tank.
Thanks man. Currently I have a red crowntail male. Thinking about breeding him. I'd keep the female in a 10 gallon. Have another empty 5-10 gallon and let them breed in there.
Oh BTW, what do you plan to do with the babies? I'm not counting on making any money off it. Mostly just for fun. But are you going to sell them or give them away?
Fry update: Many are still tiny but a few have really put some size on! I went down to feed them this morning and their bellies were already full. I suspect it's best to just feed more lightly for variety now. They must be gorging themselves on the daphnia eggs and babies I put in there. Awesome.
Finally decided I wanted to be able to see them. Mover the fry to a 20 gallon. Jerry-rigged an Aquaclear for fry service.
Two of them are already light blue in color! None are quite an inch long yet. Some are still teeny but at least five of them are really big now. As in slightly-larger-than-tiny!
Yes, I keep some mulm around to grow worms for the bettas to eat. Works well. Don't knock it till you try it. Doesn't even contribute to nitrAte production the way I thought it would.
And another session of mama and papa pish. The female has grown a bit since the last spawn. She'd be perfect if not for the red wash... And the male's finnage has evened out. I suspect he was just growing when I bought him, or recovering from a wound. All better now. Hoping for some like him.
The brown dot to the left is a betta.
There's the progress report!
Two of them are already light blue in color! None are quite an inch long yet. Some are still teeny but at least five of them are really big now. As in slightly-larger-than-tiny!
Yes, I keep some mulm around to grow worms for the bettas to eat. Works well. Don't knock it till you try it. Doesn't even contribute to nitrAte production the way I thought it would.
And another session of mama and papa pish. The female has grown a bit since the last spawn. She'd be perfect if not for the red wash... And the male's finnage has evened out. I suspect he was just growing when I bought him, or recovering from a wound. All better now. Hoping for some like him.
The brown dot to the left is a betta.
There's the progress report!
theyll do fine with USPS priority shipping!
very nice! i used to have bettas 2 years ago and the layed eggs as well, but i didnt know what to do back then so i just left em in with the parents and well... yea... lol. but if i get bettas again im looking for a half-moon betta, and hopefully i get to breed it. cant wait to find a really good one to buy.
