Breeding Bettas ???.....

[pigeonkeeper]

Okay, so i was trying to breed bettas, about a month or two ago, and they would not breed. The mail is a Blue Short Tail, and the Female is a Crowntail. They did not breed at all. The Male did not make a bubble nest big enough, so i just decided to let the female out, and they still did nothing. They're both aggresive, but they didn't fight, and my tank set up was : styrofoam cup on the left, some plants on the right. That's all. Am I doing anything wrong?? It was a ten gallon tank filled almost half way, and i didn't put a filter in because none of my filters would reach that low, and there was a heater. I would change the water when some food fell down, and add a little more water. Now they are in bowls, and I want to try again, but i think they got to use to each other. Strange thing is that the female started making bubbles, not a lot, just a little. But i know she's a female becuase i can her stomach and it has lot's of eggs in it!! Do you guys think i should buy a new male for her?? Help!!

[saram521]

When you describe the male as a Short Blue Tail, it sounds like you're describing a plakat betta instead of b. splendens, which is what your crowntail is. I've never seen a male short-tail splendens before; they normally have long tail fins, whereas plakats have short ones. I'm not sure two different species of betta will breed together, that is if you indeed do have 2 different species.

[jpappy789]

Plakats are short fin Betta splendens, the two fish are not different species. I would say generally someone would know if they didn't have B. splendens.

[vanillaXtiffy]

Try getting a flashier male for the female. My friend had the same situation going on, 10g heated and filtered with a divider and both bettas in there. She conditioned them as it says on many websites and nothing. She got a beautiful new male who had longer flashier fins, lo and behold, Suzette (the female) was throwing eggs at the guy, and now she has some very cute googly eyed fry.

[txbetta]

Can we have a picture of the male in question? It would help me indenitify it. The one problem I saw was that you were feeding them. Do not feed in the breeding tank it causes issues, on of which is you having to change water which distrubs them and in some causes will make them unwilling to spawn. It is also sometimes said to cause the male to eat the eggs.

I will share how I successfully breed with you.

Step one is conditioning, male and females do not see each other. Period. During this time. I condition with a variety of live foods, and some pellets, interchangably. I have had the most success with blackworms, live. During this time I will get the male to flare up daily just as a precaution to an unconfident male. Basically I will put two males beside each other in tanks where they can see each other and let him flare for a few minutes at the other. Then I seperate them, in his mind he has defended his terriotory and scared the other male off! I will condition 1 to 2 weeks depending on the fish, mostly the wait is on the females. I wait till I know they are ready. Then I put the male in the tank.

The tank: I use 10 gallons, half full. I have special filters that are perfect for this as half full reaches their min fill line. I run the filter after filling until I put a male in. I use leaves, one leaf per tank a new leaf which each spawn attempt. The leaves can be oak or almond they have to be sterilized though, I use either. I try to get the leaf to float on the top, this isn't aways possible but usually it will.

I do this on the recommendation of other breeders that the decaying leaf both gives the fry infurorsia and helps the water quality in some way I cannot guarentee that its just what I am told and it has never hurt the process.

Then I add a half cup or a piece of bubble wrap bubble side down. Depending on the male, if I have bred in the past and it used one then thats the one I use, othewise I will put both, the more choices the male has the better chance. In every tank are 3 plants of various sizes a heater and a cave to give the female some solace. You will find females are very good at hiding when they want to. There should be no substrate on the tank so that you can easily see if it needs to be clean. A turkey baster is the best way to do this. One that has never been used for anything else.

The male goes in the tank first, usually he will build the nest under the leaf if it stayed floating otherwise he will use cup or bubblewrap. I will note that I have seen a serious reduction in fugus attacks when the leaf is use. I will observe him in the tank over the next 24 hours, once I feel he has decided its his I will introduce not a female, but another MALE fish in a floating container to make him go nuts. If he goes nuts at this male, flaring and charging I know he's ready for the girl. Usually after this incidient he will decide to build a nest if he hasn't already.

I will then add the female, directly, after acclimating her to the tank water. I do not use the method where you put the female in a container where she is protected anymore, I have had a bad success rate with that method. I simply add the female without that waiting period. In every instance of doing it that way I have gotten a nest except 3 and thats pretty good numbers. But for the record I HAVE gotten eggs with no nest built before.

If the problem of no bubble nest is present I will add a teaser male for a few minutes in a protective container. This has worked to get a nest but it has failed to. After 3 days regardless they are removed, unless they are in the the process of spawning.

My success rate is 70% usually. Which is not bad considering how alot of work goes into the process. It helps if the male is similair in size to the female. If either are much larger even if they do spawn the eggs may not get fertalized.

[NoExit]

Wow! That sounds really intense. Thanks for sharing all that info!

[txbetta]

Well the majority of it is stuff I do anyway, exposing males to other males happens frequently here, gives them something to do so in breeding room I just do it daily instead of once or twice a week. Requires little effort, I have them all setup with blinds one beside another, remove blind they flare and fuss, replace blind yay they think they won.

The leaves are not required, by any rite, but I find that they haven't hurt anything and the effort to include them is minimal. The HARDEST two parts is the male building the nest and the female actually accepting the male. And you don't really have alot to do with that lol.

I really think the issue with OP's breeding situation was attributed to disturbing the breeding tank, I try to keep hands off on the tank, until the actual spawning has occured. Since I limit it to a three day window and the fish were well conditioned before hand, the lack of food for three days will not hurt and can be made up for in the day following. The male if successful will not be fed for up to 5 days depending on if it took till day 3 to get eggs, and the young take around 2 days to hatch.

Food in the spawn tank generally is more hassle then anything. Until the fry are born.

[pigeonkeeper]

Here are some pictures. The male is the blue and yes... plakat, and the female is the white red crowntail. They are not in the breeding tank anymore because like i said, they aren't doing anything. I might put them back in the breeding tank though?? !! Now she is in a tank with two black neon tetras, 3 neon tetras, 2 tiger barbs, 2 albino tiger barbs, and a spotted cory. So yea. the male is in a bowl now!!

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/pm180/Animals/kwon.jpg

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x198/pm180/Animals/hyo.jpg

[pigeonkeeper]

When you describe the male as a Short Blue Tail, it sounds like you're describing a plakat betta instead of b. splendens, which is what your crowntail is. I've never seen a male short-tail splendens before; they normally have long tail fins, whereas plakats have short ones. I'm not sure two different species of betta will breed together, that is if you indeed do have 2 different species.

Oh yeah... i meant plakat!! Thanks!!

[pigeonkeeper]

Try getting a flashier male for the female. My friend had the same situation going on, 10g heated and filtered with a divider and both bettas in there. She conditioned them as it says on many websites and nothing. She got a beautiful new male who had longer flashier fins, lo and behold, Suzette (the female) was throwing eggs at the guy, and now she has some very cute googly eyed fry.

yeah, my male is just a plain blue/ greenish color. I think she'll be more surprised if there's a better looking male!! :)

[BELLUM]

Check out this thread it's great.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58582&highlight=betta

[pigeonkeeper]

Check out this thread it's great.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=58582&highlight=betta

Thanks!!

[xoparis]

Just a comment on this one, BE PREPARED FOR LOTS OF BABIES! And most likely some fin damage to the momma and poppa.