Let the Courting begin

I will be using this thread to track the progress of my first attempt at deliberately breeding 'Any' fish!

I have had a few guppies and other live bearers reproduce in tanks in the past but i've never actively attempted to initiate the process. Im using my two betta's for this as i've always had a softspot for them, along with my plecos (which woulda been my first choice for breeding but struggling to determine the sex of one of them >_>)

So about 30 minutes ago i setup a 3rd tank, which i usually keep as a emergency tank - should i need to quarantine a fish or something.

I changed the water in my betta's tank last night and did a 150% or so change, so i changed the water one, siphoning out what i could and then refilled and siphoned some more to get the tank as near to pristine as possible. I also cleaned out the filter thoroughly (Sp? lol). So this morning i cleaned out the new tank with boiling water wiping it out with an unused J-cloth making sure there was no dust inside etc. Then placed the tank on the shelf of my built in closet like thing, ontop of my bedside cabinet. (the closet is in the middle of a revamp which has been suspended for a long time due to my botching the frame -cough- lol) So they've a lot of shade and are in a low traffic area without direct sunlight on them.

I took the top off a used juice bottle (which is..5''x5'' in diamater all the way from top to bottom) and filled it halfway with water from my other tank. I then filled up the new tank with water from the other tank as well, and left it bare as far as media goes. ((The point of taking water from my other tank was that i hoped by giving it a night and best part of the morning in my other tank it'd pick up some of the helpfull bacteria needed, allowing me to skip cycling.))

I placed the female in the juice bottle, and placed the male in the tank and then wrapped the tank in a towel, leaving the top exposed for oxygen exchange. **** Should i cover the top with something? If yes please make suggestions regarding house hold objects i could use****
I haven't used a styrofoam cup as my betta has always built huge nests without objects to attatch them too, other then the side of the glass. (he was in my 10gal tank with plants and big leaves available but he always opted for a corner of the tank.)

I fed them both a minute amount of tetramin flakes and then left them too it. The male went straight for the female and began flaring and is still at it 20mins later, the female is keeping her eyes on him for the most part.

A sidenote regarding the male; His fins got ripped to pieces a few months back by my old female as they were sharing the 10g - they had lived in harmony untill a weekend where i was away. So his fins are a little bit from being full bloom. Though other then that he is in full health, not had a single sickness in a year of ownership \o/. And yes he is about a year and 4months of age if the shop sold him at 4months, so i know he is past his supposed breeding peek, but he is still building those nests so i've hope

Will get pics soon as my phones done charging

The Tank


Look at the hood on him! he'll have her in his embrace soon enough im sure xD



Heres my boy - Pic shows his fins and colouration, as ya can see his tail is still half transparent due to it regrowing - though it is healthy.

Woke up this morning to find he had made a start on a bubblenest spanning the length of the tank towards the front, about...an inch odd in width.
He is still swimming at her showing his finnage and continuing the act as he circles her Jar. She tracks his progress but as of yet i haven't witnessed her show a submissive stance.

I am unsure about the production of eggs though - When would she begin producing? How long does it take for her to do it? I am now feeding them livefood (bloodworms), 2 worms each, morning and night.

Tips anybody?

Note: Yes they are storebought bettas, i would rather nobody criticise me for breeding them. I love my fish to pieces and it not being of pure heritage means little to me. There is higher and lower tiers in everything, and i wont prevent my fish from breeding just because its not 'perfect' :]

Thanks
I didn't think he was a VT the veil tails i seen have all been quiet narrow and the tails the same - where as my bettas fins have only the tiniest gap between them when errect..i just thought him a 'normal' betta. lol

Yes i agree the female may not be ready, but i've live food on hand as well as high protein pellets to her up some more to help prime her. Also added a heater to the tank now that ive washed the dust off and adjusted it to the right temp in another spare tank of the same size.

Howd you know the know females breed outa curiousity? so i know what im looking at for differentation between species

Sweet!

Well an update on their progress;

They're in a clean tank with a steady water temp of 28degrees (80-82f i believe). doing water changes every other day, as i take out 1 cup of water, i add 1 more simultaneously in an attempt to keep the water level more or less the same to prevent ruining his nest.

The male has made a nest, not a huge one admittedly but i cant really handle a HUGE spawn anyway. the female had darkened up and was showing her vertical bars and had began angling herself downwards whilst in her jar so i decided to set her free last night and see what happened.

About an hour or two of constant flaring and total attention from the male, with him swimming by her side, infront of her and any other way he could get himself near.
The female seemed interested to some extent, though i got the impression she wasn't happy with the nest. She swam over when first released, looked around at it (the male allowed her too, though he had his hood up the entire time and was close by) and then swam away.

I left them to their own devices - happy with the knowledge they wasnt ripping each other up, and returned to check on them when i heard little taps from inside the tank. This happened to be the female zipping away at what could only be described as 'top speed'. lol. I wasn't sure if this was part of the dance she is supposed to do; she didnt bolt in straight lines, it was a zig-zag kinda pattern, and the male followed as close as possible, not hurting her at the end of the run, just swimming away.

Though i noticed her bars change once or twice too fear bars and then shortly back to verticals.

Anybody have some input for me?
As of this moment i intend to leave them in their till sunday morning or so and at that point if they're not closer to breeding ill seperate them and try again at conditioning them.