Zidonya Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 I have just recently aquired some Bettas, and am interested in breeding them as a hobby for my own amusement. I have done a fair bit of research into this but its always nice to get some reassurance directly from more knowledgable people. (I have access to reputable petshops that will happily source good homes for the offspring) My older males, both orange (I am not familiar with correct lingo just yet xD), are well adjusted and nesting nicely so I'm not too concerned about them. My girls are happy, content, and appear to be fattening up with eggs. My newest male, a halfmoon (best way to describe him would be white/blue, but that does him no justice at all), was purchased Friday. Today I have placed him in a decent sized tank with a Flame Dwarf Gourami who will be leaving for his home tomorrow or xmas as he is a gift. I only put them together because this tank is the only one I have with a filter, and the Gourami needs circulated water. The halfmoon is puffing up to him but they do appear to be amiable for the present time. The Gourami is a placid fish and stays away from him for the most part. As long as they aren't aggressive, my only guess is they are okay for the 2 days the Gourami is in there for? There is space enough for them and a hiding place. The next thing is, the girl I intend to breed the halfmoon with has been placed inside the tank in a decent-sized floating guppy-breeding tank. I am content with the size, she is comfortable. My only concern is that he is not amiable towards her. He puffs and skirts the sides of her tank. He has been kept beside the girls' tank since Friday and appeared to be nesting and had stopped puffing at them. Now it has started again, but she isn't fased atm. I have no intention of releasing her if he does not become amiable soon (a week? more?), and definitely won't do so while the Gourami is still in the tank but I'm in no hurry. Am I doing everything right so far? For further information, I am feeding them bloodworms and Betta flakes. They are eating well. All fish are healthy. Any help you can give me is fantastic, I realise I'm not the most knowledgable but I'm willing to work at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Hey Zidonya, welcome to the forum you are pretty much on the right track, the aggression from the male is normal, what you are waiting for is the female to start showing aggression back, you want to see her trying to bust her way back out. When she is, that's when you release her in with the male. The mating process will get pretty violent, it is the second most violent courtship of all animals, as long as you supply sufficient hiding places the girl will be ok. Once they are ready she will go under the nest & they will start circling each other, then they will wrap each other & the female will drop her eggs & the male will pick them up & put them into the nest. They will repeat this for a while, probably spawn between 50 to 500 eggs, best spawn I ever had was about 350 which can be a pain when jarring. Hope everything goes well with you breeding program & don't hesitate to ask any questions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pk333 Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 Are you attempting to spawn your pair in a filtered tank? Most hobbyist breeders spawn their pairs in tanks with no filters, or a sponge filter turned down to very low. Basically you want little to no surface water movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted December 23, 2012 Report Share Posted December 23, 2012 This can also be achieved by having floating plants in the tank, the plants diffuse the surface movement from the bubbles. I've always had better success hatching & raising fry in a filtered tank I forgot to mention that after the spawn you remove the female & leave the male in to tend to the eggs & fry, you can leave the male in for a few weeks after the fry hatch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaninja Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 If you have some surface turbulence, and have trouble breaking it with plants, you can try a polystyrene cup cut in half. People talk about them a lot, but my fish don't really like them - they prefer to nest around/under a leaves breaking the surface. When the girl starts flaring, gets the vertical bars, and pushes at the edge of her box, she's ready to play. I have one female who is very violent. She grabs the males by the fins every time. If he fights back, she gives in. If not, she'll let go after a few minutes then ignores him and that's the end of that! Don't be surprised if your beautiful halfmoon gets torn fins - it's all part of the process! I'd suggest having a tank waiting for the female with an almond leaf and maybe a little salt in it. Will help her fins repair. She will start eating the eggs, so when she's finished, scoop her out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unheatedtank Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 I believe that you can learn from all experienced ppl here as I did. just search in the forum and give them a try. I just got one spawn and my male betta prefered the foam, which I made many scratches on one surface using my finger. I also put a bottle of gravel in the middle of the tank to block all the horntail (heap to provide as much infusia as possible) and the airstone on the other side of the tank with 10cm of water. This also provide the female a lot of places to hide. If the male so aggressive, put another bottle (coke cut in half and filled with gravel, can be used as a base for BBS hatching later). Hope this help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 I've also used a 5-10cm square of bubble wrap as a place for the male to make his nest under, I usually put a wet almond leaf on top of the bubble wrap as well, works pretty well for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unheatedtank Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 I've also used a 5-10cm square of bubble wrap as a place for the male to make his nest under, I usually put a wet almond leaf on top of the bubble wrap as well, works pretty well for me Sound much better than my scratching foam, will try it next time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betta Posted December 25, 2012 Report Share Posted December 25, 2012 Sound much better than my scratching foam, will try it next time I have to credit twolittlerevheads with that idea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaninja Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 I tried bubble wrap, but I think the bubbles were a bit big. He kept swimming underneath it, but stopped blowing bubbles. Never thought to put a leaf over it - he probably would have liked that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pk333 Posted December 26, 2012 Report Share Posted December 26, 2012 I'm not sure if I read it on another forum, or if it was discussed at a Betta Australis meeting, but I recall some one saying that some bettas prefer to spawn under a floating object that is yellow in colour. There was a bit of a discussion about what colours bettas seem to prefer as well. Seeing as I have mainly kept wild types, I tend to use natural products. In my tanks, whether they be wild types or CT, I add a dry IAL that will float. Always find a nice bubble nest the next day. I've also had both Mahachaiensis and Smaragdina spawn under IAL's only to move the bubble nests in to black, floating drainage piping by the next morning. Mahachaiensis bubble nest. Crown Tail pair spawning. In my tubs, a Java fern leaf at the surface appears to be the preferred choice. Mahachaiensis bubble nest Smaragdina bubble nest under a broad leaf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
