Betta breeding concern?

R

Rollerhok

AC Members
Oct 15, 2010
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I purchased a male Betta and a female Betta 2 days ago.The day that I bought them I put the male in my tank at home, and the female in another at home. I brought them to school the next day(where I am going to breed them), and the female is separated in a 2 gallon(undergravel filtration) enclosure inside of a 20 gallon tank. The male shows interest in the female by flaring his fins and wanting to get through to her.

I know that the female is not ready(no vertical lines), and I am keeping the temperature at 80 degrees and feeding them live brine shrimp. My concern is that the male has not started building a bubble nest yet. There is a sponge filter in the tank and it is turned off, so there is no current in the tank. Am I just being impatient? Is it too early? I'm also going to get him a Styrofoam cup cut in half to put in there to possibly trigger him to build one. Is that why?

Thanks for your time. :)
 
give them time! you've bought them, put them in tanks at home, then moved them to a new tank at the school in only two days time. they are stressed and need time to settle in and get conditioned for spawning before any attempts at breeding happen.

i would move the female out of the tank and into her own tank. feed her frozen foods such as bloodworms and brine shrimp until she is good n plump. then you can put her back in the enclosure in the 20 gal. while you are at this you should be feeding the male well too, since he will go without food while tending the eggs/nest/fry.


personally, i would attempt this breeding endeavour at home, not at the school. spawning/breeding/raising fish is a time consuming task and you won't be able to give the tank the full attention it requires at the school, IMO. multiple water changes (most likely on a daily basis) and multiple feedings will need to be done for the babies. as well, fish prefer things to be quiet and calm when they are spawning, and a busy place like a school is not the place for that.

on a side note, if you have bought these bettas from a pet store then they are most likely just veil tail 'mutts'. not worth breeding.

www.bettatalk.com is a great site for betta breeding/keeping info.
 
Well, I'm back. And the betta has started making his nest! It's not very much though. I have also noticed the lines on the female have turned slightly. I am continuing to feed them brine shrimp. Am I doing everything right?

Thank you for the website, but some of the links are missing. And no, I actually have a half-moon Betta. If I had a veil-tail, I would still breed it, because you never know what the offspring will look like when they reach adult size.
 
Well this is peculiar. I released the female and she beat up the male. She's ready all, the only thing is that there is no bubble nest. He's made it two times before, but they disappeared, somehow. And I read somewhere that sometimes bettas prefer to make their nest while spawning. I've also noticed that the female is bigger in the body than the male is. Is there anything wrong here?
 
please re-read my first post in this thread, specifically about breeding them at home, not at the school. that is my advice. too much going on outside the tank for them to be able to feel comfortable breeding.

yes, females can be aggressive towards the males.

pet store bettas are quite often past their breeding prime age when sold at the stores, so i personally would abandon the breeding endeavor.
 
Well I acquired a new male betta, and have now moved the breeding tank to my home. The new betta has started building a bubble nest and alternates between that and flashing to the female.

When I turn the lights off at night, the next day his bubble nest disappears. He is the only one in the tank(that has access to the nest), but I did notice humid bubbles above the Styrofoam cup, could the water be dropping onto the nest, destroying it?
Regardless, he still continues to make nests. Should I leave the light on during nest construction?
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
 
BettaFishMommy,

Sounds like sound advice is falling on deaf ears. All you can do is give your advice and leave it at that.
 
No it's unfortunate to be rude when all I ask for is advice. I did what she said and took everything home. Her advice says nothing about what I asked in the previous post, which I why I posted.

If I want to breed bettas, I will. I'm not harming anyone. It doesn't mean you have to force your opinions on me. :/
 
and i said breeding bettas from the pet stores wasn't good, due to them being past prime breeding age.

we're not forcing anything, just letting you know from research and experience that what you are attempting isn't all that great an idea.
 
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