Am I giving the right advice (in betta breeding)?

There's so much more to it than just putting two fish together. I've bred bettas for 2.5 years back in highschool and I've done a LOT of research. So here's a few of my personal thoughts and experiences.

First of all, the breeder should have a goal in mind. Is he breeding for a specific color? Finnage? Body size/shape? Do the male and female protray these ideal types? If they are multi-colored and bought commercially, there's a good chance the babies may look nothing like the parents. Also there's the fact that a lot of inbreeding happens in commercial betta fisheries, hence why a lot of bettas you buy at Wal-Mart or Pet-Co are weak, dull, and prone to dropsy, popeye, fin rot and fungus. Their genes aren't as diverse as they should be. So one must be responsible in thinking: "Is it right for me to continue this betta in a breeding line? He's pretty, but will his babies be beneficial or detrimental to further breeding endeavors and the fish species as a whole?"

Yes, it's silly to think that one little breeding should be taken so seriously... but one betta can have up to 200 betta fry and if even 50 of them live o adulthood, who is to say they won't be passed on to people who want to breed bettas, and their babies and their babies and so-on. What if your fry end up contributing to the lowering of healthy, quality stock available in the US? We're seeing issues of this sort with a lot of fishes. Guppies, cichlids... many fish that people allow to breed and inbreed without thinking and then sell to the unknowing, telling them how easy it was to make more. So take a moment to consider being part of the solution instead of part of the problem. If you love the breed as much as I do, you'll consider this before EVER putting a boy betta with a girl betta.

SUPPLIES YOU'LL NEED: Phase One

Plastic cup and 1 piece of electric tape
Blackwater extract/almond leaves
Water conditioner
1 5-10 gallon tank
Hurricane glass or clear lidded container
Submersible sponge filter
A submersible heater (controllable thermostat preferred)
Java moss (for additional filtration. optional)
1 Apple snail (for tank cleaning. optional)
Table lamp (to extend over the top of the tank)
Steady supply of infusoria
100 cc hypodermic (needle removed)
Turkey baster


Now then. You've picked out a viable male and female. Both are healthy and ideal with good temperament and conformation. Now it's time to prepare them for breeding. Both male and female should be power fed on a protein-rich diet. A good fat belly on mom and dad indicate that the female will be carrying her most optimum amount of eggs made to the best of her body's capabilities and that the male will have plenty of nutrition and fat stores to fertilize the clutch and nurture them during the fasting period of the breeding process.

In the meantime, you would prepare a 5-10 gallon aquarium with about 4-6 inches of water, a submersible heater, and a sponge filter (turned off). You should place the hurricane glass the female will be going into towards the center of the tank and positoon something like a half a plastic cup taped so that the circular rim touches the water's surface in one corner. This cup will provide a structure off which the male betta can build his nest. You'll also want available supplies of infusoria, baby brines, and waterfleas. Brig's snails are another good addition as they will help keep the tank bottom clean, won't bother the tiny new fry, and their slime trails naturally create and attract infusoria to supplement the baby's diet. The tank should have an overhead lamp (not a hood) and you should have saran wrap available to cover the tank top to remove the chance for cold drafts over the water's surface.

Optimal temperatures would be 78-82 degrees, acidic pH, and preferably treated with blackwater extract or steeped almond leaves as this mimics the breeding environment of Betta Splendens. Introduce your male into the tank and allow him a week to grow accustomed to his new territory and build his bubblenest. If he hasn't made a proper, thick nest by 10 days, remove him and continue to condition them for breeding. If he has then it's time to place the female in the hurricane glass. Make sure it's tall enough or lidded so that she can't jump out. The male should dance and flare for her. She may flare back or display horizontal stripes to show submission. Let them get accustom to one another for a few days. The female is ONLY ready to breed when she displays VERTICAL stripes... not horizontal ones. She will also 'bow' her head to him. If she doesn't within a week, then again remove and condition them further.

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Crap... I've gotta run. Emergency. I'll continue this later. Hope it's been helpful thusfar. :)
 
Woah, that's comprehensive :)

Thanks Kyohti, I'll pass this on to him, ultimately it's his decision but I agree with your point on conservation, many of the breeds of fishes we see today are shadows of their former selves.

I might have to bookmark this for future reference, it's better than anything I've read about betta breeding yet.
 
And I will always say---anyone ever have questions about bettas on any kind SHE IS THE LADY WITH ALL THE ANSWERS..and like I will say again...She is the educator here for bettas mommas and poppas,,,,,

BTW...Kyohti, how is little Dante doing....
 
:) :)
 
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Dante is doing beautifully, Mee-Mee. The tetras have been pestering him, but he's nipping right back so I'm sure he'll whip them back into submission. ^_~

Continuing...

NOTE: I forgot to mention that the breeding tank should be bare-bottomed and the outside of the tank bottom painted black to reduce glare and make any filth on the tank bottom more obvious.

So now the female is showing submission to the male and readiness to mate. It's safe to remove the container she is in and allow the male access to her. He'll chase her around and possibly nip her fins. This is normal. He's making sure she knows who is boss, essentially. She may nip back in retaliation a bit before settling down and allowing the male to herd her toward his bubblenest. If the fighting is too severe and neither one is backing down you must again consider removing them, allowing them to heal, and then recondition them for breeding once more. You may also have asituation where the male or female is too old or too young to breed and may need to choose a new one.

Once the female is under the bubblenest, the male will curl his body around the female. They will shivver as he squeezes the eggs from her, fertilizing them as they pass. The female and possibly the male will be stunned initially and will be immobile for a moment. The male usually recovers first and swims down to collect the eggs and spit them into the nest. The female may help, remain stunned and quiet, or may eat a few eggs. It's thought that she's eating the ones that weren't fertilized to basically return the nutrition she put into making them back into her body. They will mate several times until the female is no longer releasing eggs. He will then chase her from the nest. At this point, remove the female as gently as possible to keep from damaging the bubblenest, apply maracyn treatment if she has damaged fins, and feed a high protein diet to help her recover healthily. This is also a good time to add the java moss to the opposite corner of the tank. It will be useful to help bio-filtrate the tank while the fry are young, but it's helpful to position it as far away from the nest as possible. I'll explain why later on.

As for feeding the male, it's best to feed sparingly while he's building the nest and when the female is in, don't feed at all. You can feed sparingly while he's tending the nest, but it's not suggested. It's too much hassle to clean up uneaten food and water quality is a MUST while the fry are young. Bettas can go a month before they starve to death, so a week without eating shouldn't affect your betta either way. The choice is yours, but there should be no interference with the nest or the water's surface whatsoever until the fry are free-swimming. Feeding may cause more trouble than it's worth.

The eggs usually take something like 2-3 days to hatch. You'll want to cover the tank with saran wrap once the java moss is in and the female is out, but definitely make sure it's covered once the babies are hatched!! This prevents cool drafts from touching the water's surface. The baby bettas are so fragile that vibrations to the water's surface or a cold draft of air can cause their labrynth organs to become damaged or rupture, causing instant death!!

The fry will be tiny and helpless. If they fall from the bubblenest, they will simply sink to the tank bottom, so for the first several days the male must remain with his brood or else they will fall out of the nest, be too weak to get back to the surface, and will drown. The male may eat some of his young and not spit them back into the nest. It is thought, though unknown for certain, that he's culling any weak babies from the hatch. Once all the babies are free-swimming the male can be removed, his finnage treated with maracyn if damaged, and you can recondition him back to health with a good diet.

Until now, the babies were living off the egg yolks still attatched to their tiny navels. Now they are free-swimming, food will be vital to their survival. Pick one location to drop the infusoria in so your babies will know where to congregate for food. Also stick to a regular schedule so they know when to expect it. This way fewer babies lose out and starve. You'll need to feed them several times a day initially because they can starve in as little as a few hours!! Use the turkey baster to remove uneaten food and any unfortunate babies that happen to die. There will always be a few casualties... usually weakly fishes that would've been cull specimens if they'd reached adulthood. Don't feel discouraged. Most people only have about a quarter of their very first hatch reach adulthood.

HANDY TIP: Crumbled egg yolk can also be used as a first food. Mash it into hot water and shake to blend. Allow to cool room temp before adding to the tank.

Once the fry are large enough to make out some of their physical features with the naked eye, they are big enough to upgrade to baby brine shrimp, micro worms, and thawed frozen daphnia. Always try to feed until you can see their bellies. If you feed mostly brines, the belly will show up orange, if mostly egg yolk it will be yellow or if mostly microworms it will be white, etc. Keep those bellies colored!! :) Any uneaten food should be cleared away after a few hours and water changes will be a painstaking process involving the turkey baster for sucking it out and cleaning the baster and using it to return water to the tank. It's not as big a deal once the babies are big enough to see finnage and the tiniest hints of color, but you should continue to have a gentle touch.

At one month of age, you can use the sponge filter to aide in keeping up with water quality. I personally firmly taped the cup top I'd used for the bubblenest to the area where the bubbles came up from the sponge filter to continue to stifle the ripples as much as possible. Cleanliness and frequent (if very difficult and tedious) water changes are vital not only for the overall health of the babies but also to expedite maturation, maximize growth potential, and prevent common diseases and breed faults known to be associated with bacterial growth and poor water conditions with young bettas. So pain that it is, once the babies are about 7-10 days old it's time to buckle down and do 20% WC at least every 2 days or so.

Once they are about 6 weeks old they are big and strong enough to go into phase 2.

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Again, I'll continue later on... Hope this has been helpful to you.
 
Sure has! It's made me realise that there's a lot more to it than first appears, I've cut-pasted this into a Word document for future personal reference, it is first-rate stuff :D
 
SUPPLIES YOU'LL NEED: Phase Two

40 gallon long tank (short,broad reptile aquariums are good)
sumbersible heater
internal filter
gravel siphon
2 buckets
live/fake plants, clay pots, rocks, etc.
50+ one-gallon containers
microworms
waterfleas
bloodworms
betta pellet/flake food

Congratulations. Your fry are now big and strong enough to be transferred into the grow-out tank. If you have more than 70 estimated fry in your surviving hatch, you may want to have more than one large aquarium for your brood to grow in. They are strong enough to withstand normal filtration by this age and still need good water quality to prevent stunting, disease, and loss of fin growth. Siphoning into a bucket will help to prevent losing any babies that might not think to dart away from the suction. Just scoop them out of the bucket with a cup and place them back in the tank. DO NOT USE A NET!! They are still much too young to handle that kind of rough treatment.

As males become aggressive and flare, you'll want to segregate them into their own containers. Anything too small and they won't grow to a proper size. 1/2 to 1 gallon size is best. Whatever room you keep them in will need to be temperature controlled. Any temperature cooler than 72-74 degrees F could cause stunting and illness in your jarred males. Feed them a good quality, varied diet high in proteins to promote good finnage growth along with some pellet/flake foods which will provide fiber to maintain good digestion and prevent constipation as well as extra nutrition to round out their diet.

The females can be kept together in the grow-out tank as long as they aren't exhibiting any overly aggressive behaviors (which may indicate the 'female' is actually a male with stunted finnage... or a girl with a nasty temper!!). Provide plenty of natural cover for them to duck and cover if the bossier sisters get too rowdy. After this point it's basically just waiting and seeing how they grow. You'll want to have plenty of pre-planned homes for all your lovely babies, so I hope you will have looked into it long before you began. Considering that a well-raised batch of bettas can leave you with up to 200 bettas to place in homes, that's a little more than what most people can give out to friends and family!! It's normal for your first hatch to be a much much smaller yield, though, so don't despair. Larger yields come with experience. Congratulations on your first brood!!!

Once you have the breeding tank open again, you can time it just right so that when you breed your betta pair again, you'll and a continuous flow of bettas. 6 weeks in the breeding tank and about 6 more in the grow out tank means your bettas will be 3 months old and ready to move out completely by the time the next batch of babies is ready to move to the grow-out tanks. Just make sure your breeding pair is up to the task and in good breeding condition and you're good to go and on your way to being a top-notch betta breeder!!


*** CULLS -- They happen.

Inferior fish, like a blind dalmation or a cocker spaniel puppy prone to seizures, are genetic culls. It's easy to do the sympathetic thing and keep them or give them to friends... it's hard to do the truly responsible thing and end their lives for the good of the species as a whole.

What if little Dorky or Mongo ends up in some inexperienced person's breeding program? It's bad enough that people haphazardly breed petshop fish together without thought to color strain purities... but breeding a fish that is stunted, prone to dimpled or dysfigured finnage, ulcerous growths, dropsy, with weak immune systems or that are prone to fungal infections or 'betta depression'? Downright WRONG. You would be contributing to the DETRIMENT of the species.

So do the right thing by your breeding program and pull any inferior fish out and eliminate them by any humane means necessary. It's tough and upsetting... but in the end you are being a true breeder and seeing that the needs of the species outweighs the needs of the few. And though it's the toughest thing you'll have to do when breeding bettas, know that it's he right thing to do.

~~ END
 
I've read over it all, thank you so much Kyhoti!
There is a lot more than just sticking a male and a female in a tank together...
 
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