Betta Breeding

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
L

Liz Sagara

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2011
714
0
0
Texas
I have a couple questions.

1. On a light colored betta (white) how can I tell when she's ready to breed? THe vertical stripes on a dark colored Betta tell me but I can't tell on my white Betta. She doesn't LOOK ready to me... but I don't know.

2. Will the male be just as conditioned if he can't see her but I'm still feeding him well and such? It will be a week or two before I put them in the breeding tank. but I wanted to know if he needs to SEE her before he get "conditioned".
 
On #1: I would think her belly might look a bit more rounded out then usual.

For #2: He doesn't have to see her the entire time. Maybe just the last two days (I feel it helps a bit)
 
OOOh, man. Those are some deep genetics questions. For the DT:ST ratio, I'm getting 3:12. But I'm not the best with that sort of thing. I know there are a few on this forum that are great with genetics questions. Hopefully some will hop onto this.

Just by looking at the videos, I really wouldn't be able to say what you would get out of those two specific fish breeding. I really only learned of the dragon scale a few months back.
 
1. You will need to start food cultures for the fry like micro worms at least two weeks in advance.
2. Purchase a breeding tank of no less than ten gallon, an adjustable heater, a light hood, and a sponge filter. Fill it until the water is no more than six inches deep and start cycling it. Do not add the fish at this time.
3. You need to start conditioning the male and the female separately for a week before letting them see each other. You do this by feeding then rich diets consisting of high quality pellet food, frozen bloodworms, and live brine shrimp. Other foods may be used this is just what I have used.
4. Your tank should be cycling though the processes. Add half of a Styrofoam cup some bushy plants and a piece of new driftwood (optional on the driftwood but it leaches tannins that help) these will provide hiding spots for your female when she is introduced. Your heater should be set to 80 degrees. Add the male and let him get to know his new surroundings for a few hours. After this you may add the female to the tank in a clear container. Hurricane chimneys work, as do breeder traps. Leave her in this.
5. Watch over the next several days and continue the high quality diet. Your female should start showing vertical bars and have a plump abdomen and prominent egg spot. If she does not she is not ready so don't release her. Your male should start to make a bubble nest under the cup you provided. When he has a good size nest going release the female (if she is ready).
6. You will need to be present throughout this process to insure that your female is not killed. He will chase her. This is normal. She will act as though she is running for her life. She will hide. He will continue to build his nest and chase her. If she is being harassed too much you will need to separate them and try again later. He will nip her and her fins will be a little ragged.
7. Eventually she will approach the nest head down in a submissive manner. She will check out the nest. At this time spawning will commence if your male is receptive to her attitude.
8. They will wrap. The first few will not result in eggs and may not last long. These will get stronger. Eggs will be produced and hopefully fertilized. The female after being released from the wrap will look dead. SHe is not. The male should recover first and will go in search of eggs. He will pick them up in his mouth (don't worry he's not eating them) and will blow them up into the nest. When the female recovers she may help. (mine have)
9. After they are done you need to remove her immediately and place her in a clean tank of her own and continue feeding her a rich diet. The temp should be set to 80 degrees. You will know when they are done because your male will chase her off. She will hide. Remove her carefully so as not to disturb the nest.
10. Do not feed the male. The light in the aquarium should not be turned off at this point to help the male locate and retrieve fallen fry and eggs. You can place a dimmer light near the tank so that he will get some hours of lesser degrees of light.
11. The eggs should hatch in 48 hours. Sometimes this is less. 24 hours happens but it is better for them to incubate between 36 and 48 hours.
12. He will constantly be moving the eggs and retrieving any that fall to the ground. He will eat bad eggs (eggs that have either started to grow fungus or have not been fertilized)
13. After the eggs hatch your male will continue to care for the fry for 3-5 days until the fry become free swimming (swim horizontally) at this time he should be removed but only after they are free swimming.
14. Now comes the hard and labor-intensive part.
15. You are now parent to 50-1000 fry though 50-500 is more common.
16. Your fry will need to be fed every four hours. Micro-worm, infusoria and egg yolk are acceptable first foods for the fry. After they are about 2 weeks old newly hatched baby brine shrimp can be used and should be used.
17. You will need to start doing water changes daily. 50% while they are small and up to 90% as they continue to grow to remove waste and dilute the growth inhibiting hormone. You will now need to start adding water to the tank. Be aware that a ten-gallon aquarium will not sustain them until they are ready to sell. You will need several or a much larger aquarium for this.
18. As your fry mature scuffles will happen these will not be serious yet and will only be practice. When it becomes serious you will need to separate the male into their own tanks until they are ready to be sold or given away.
19. Congratulations on your new fry.

If you have further questions e-mail me at anime_lover_kikyo@yahoo.com I will be happy to help.


That's a ROUGH idea... not at all fool proof and needs some revising actually.
 
I'm going to try it out and see what I get. I'm going to spend the day googling "Betta Genetics" since I'm out of money to buy books and our library here is tiny.... They had an outdated goldfish care book on how to keep them in bowls.... Here's an updated video where you can see the fish better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1elP9KLgJnA Lady Elizabeth and Sebastian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom