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Here is a list of nine things you really must know about breeding Beta Fish.
(1) Learn to distinguish between mature male and female Bettas. Click
here to see several Male Bettas, then click
here
to see several Female Bettas. Note that the males have much longer fins than the females.
(2) Male and female Bettas should not be kept together except for an hour or two in a fish bowl or small aquarium, while they spawn.
(3) Keep each male in its own fish bowl. Click
here to read more about fish bowls. Click
here
to buy a Fish Bowl Kit. Sometimes more than one Male Betta can live together in a large aquarium. But most experienced Betta Fish breeders keep each male in its own bowl.
(4) Female Bettas can be kept together in one aquarium as shown at the top of this page in a picture of a six-gallon aquarium, where twelve Female Bettas live together.
Some experienced Betta breeds keep a few mild tempered males together in large aquariums with or without females. But some males are too aggressive and cannot be kept with other Bettas, except
for a short time for breeding with a female.
(5) Most of the time we feed
floating pellet food
labeled for Betta Fish and
freeze dried blood worms,
which are mosquito
larvae, to our male and female Bettas. Click
here
for more about these foods and feeding fish.
When we're ready to spawn our female Bettas, we feed them the following foods each morning and each evening in the order listed: BettaMin, Freeze Dried Blood Worms, some live
or frozen brine shrimp, then a few live Black Worms. Click
here to read more about Black Worms.
With good care and plenty of food the female Bettas will swell with eggs, and the good food will also encourage the Male Betta to build a big bubble nest. Sometimes I have been
able to see pinkish eggs through the skin over the abdomen of plump females.
(6) Change 20% of the water each day in the bowls with the males and in the bowls or aquariums with females. This should stimulate the males to build bubble nests on the
surface of the water along the edges of their bowls. You can see a bubble nest above the spawning Bettas in the photo just above. Click
here
for more information about how to change water in your fish bowl.
(7) Put your plumpest female in with the male that has built the biggest bubble. They will usually quarrel for a while. The male may rip the female's fins, she may nip
him back, then he'll embrace her, and they'll spawn as shown in the picture above. You can see in the picture above that the male has ripped the females fins. You'll need to watch carefully to
be sure that he doesn't hurt her too badly.
If they don't spawn, you should remove the female and put her back in the aquarium or fish bowl that she came from, or the male will probably hurt her. If they do spawn, you
should still remove the female. |
