Help with breeding bettas please

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N

Nabbig2

Fire Eel
MFK Member
May 28, 2007
2,602
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California
Hey, I have a betta who has made a couple bubble nests, so I really would love to get him to breed. I plan to get a 10 gallon tank, along with two females. I'll try to get a rock and probably a couple plants will be good, too. I'll bring the male in after a week, and I guess I'll hope for the best.
Is there anything else I should do? Any special foods to get the females to want to breed? Thanks if anybody could help or give information, I will appreciate it.

By the way, my betta is a red crowntail, very healthy. He eats betta pellets, brine shrimp, and bloodworms, and occassionally a baby guppy.
 
I have bred bettas before, for several years. You should keep the females away from the male right now, in a separate 10 gallon. Only fill the water halfway in the male's tank, have some floating java moss for him to build his nest in, either that or half of a foam cup. Keep the tank bare of substrates, no filter is neccessary in the breeding tank.

You have to feed the females live worms and regular pellets to get them ready for breeding. You can only breed one female to him at a time. Wait until one looks ripe with eggs. Place her in a 1 jar and place her in the male's tank. He will display to her. Keep them like this for a while until she gets these pinkish bars on the side of her stomach. Then slowly let her out of the jar and into his tank. He will flare at her for a while, maybe even attack her, but have some cover for her to run to if that happens. It may take a few more days, but she'll eventually swim up to his nest, and he'll see that she's ready, and they'll breed.

The male will pick up the eggs with his mouth and spit them into the nest. Sometimes the female helps with this. They are not cichlids, the female will be killed after the breeding is done if you do not remove her, only the male takes care of the eggs and young. Put the female back with the other two females so that she can recover from the stress of breeding. The eggs should hatch in a day or two, let the male continue to care for the fry. Once they are free swimming, either siphon them out, or remove the male before he gets too hungry. Don't feed him during this entire time while he cares for the fry.

You basically have to raise the fry on baby brine shrimp, crushed betta pellets, daphnia after a few weeks, and basically whatever they can eat. Be sure to cover the top of the tank for a month to prevent any cold gust of air from drifting over the surface while the fry are developing their labrinths or whatever, lol. But yeah, sponge filter for the fry. After a week or so, you can do small water changes, they are super fragile when young.

And when you can begin to see that some are males and some are females, start getting the males and putting them in 1 gallon containers. Keep the temp around 78-82 degrees. But you're gonna have lots of bettas in little jars, lol. Be ready for that. XP

Just copy and pasted what I wrote for another guy, lol. Gl.
 
Fish on Fire;980056; said:
I have bred bettas before, for several years. You should keep the females away from the male right now, in a separate 10 gallon. Only fill the water halfway in the male's tank, have some floating java moss for him to build his nest in, either that or half of a foam cup. Keep the tank bare of substrates, no filter is neccessary in the breeding tank.

You have to feed the females live worms and regular pellets to get them ready for breeding. You can only breed one female to him at a time. Wait until one looks ripe with eggs. Place her in a 1 jar and place her in the male's tank. He will display to her. Keep them like this for a while until she gets these pinkish bars on the side of her stomach. Then slowly let her out of the jar and into his tank. He will flare at her for a while, maybe even attack her, but have some cover for her to run to if that happens. It may take a few more days, but she'll eventually swim up to his nest, and he'll see that she's ready, and they'll breed.

The male will pick up the eggs with his mouth and spit them into the nest. Sometimes the female helps with this. They are not cichlids, the female will be killed after the breeding is done if you do not remove her, only the male takes care of the eggs and young. Put the female back with the other two females so that she can recover from the stress of breeding. The eggs should hatch in a day or two, let the male continue to care for the fry. Once they are free swimming, either siphon them out, or remove the male before he gets too hungry. Don't feed him during this entire time while he cares for the fry.

You basically have to raise the fry on baby brine shrimp, crushed betta pellets, daphnia after a few weeks, and basically whatever they can eat. Be sure to cover the top of the tank for a month to prevent any cold gust of air from drifting over the surface while the fry are developing their labrinths or whatever, lol. But yeah, sponge filter for the fry. After a week or so, you can do small water changes, they are super fragile when young.

And when you can begin to see that some are males and some are females, start getting the males and putting them in 1 gallon containers. Keep the temp around 78-82 degrees. But you're gonna have lots of bettas in little jars, lol. Be ready for that. XP

Just copy and pasted what I wrote for another guy, lol. Gl.
Click to expand...

Oh, thanks, it helps getting info from somebody who has experience. So I should put the male in the tank, and then introduce one female?
 
Yes, introduce her slowly though, use the divider method utilizing the jar and wait until she shows her breeding bars. Then you can let her out. Have one side of the tank with hiding spots for the female so that she can get away from the male when needed. Make sure it's a bare bottom tank our else you'll likely lose a lot of fry/eggs. Keep the 10 gallon only half full, makes it easier for the male. Hope that helped. XP
 
Yeah, it helps, thanks man. One more question though. Should I get 2 females so that the male won't concentrate his harrassment on one female and kill her?
 
It wouldn't really make a difference cause you'll be putting in one female at first only. If you were planning to have them all in one tank, it would be best to have like a kiddy pool and keep the bettas in there with lots of java moss and java fern and stuff. Then you could keep both in at once.
 
Okay. So I'll get the 10 gallon, I guess one of those medium size decorative rocks with holes, for cover, and half a styrofoam cup. And the female ofcourse. I have the heater and the male already, so I guess I'll post when I get them.

Would a plastic breeding trap work to keep the female in in the male's tank until she shows stripes? It's only about 5 or 6 inches, it might be too small. What else could I use to contain the female in the same tank as the male? Thanks for the advice again, it's great getting help from somebody who is pro at doing this.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I hear I should use some anti-fungus stuff for torn fins, and the eggs. Should I get some?
 
I never used any anti fungus stuff, but a breeding trap would work as well as a jar I suppose, as long as they can see each other and still keep the male from harming her before she is ready to breed.
 
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