Betta Breeding

How to breed Bettas

Motivation
This is the most important factor before you begin to breed bettas. Your motivation should not be to make money (which breeders rarely do considering the expenses) or to “experiment”. The motivation for betta breeders is to have fun while bettering the species of Betta Splendens. Any other underlying desires will be the destruction of your achievements, as you will become completely discouraged in your efforts.

Knowledge Is the Key to Success
In order to even consider breeding bettas, you must be prepared to research…a lot! Each breeder has their own technique that is successful to them, so it is best to check all of the possible sources that you can before you decide on an approach to spawning. Techniques are based on what works for breeders, their bettas, and is based on experience. Researching never gets old, and I often review the basic process of spawning weekly. Learning all that you possible can ensures that you will know how to handle even the most unique of circumstances that may surprise you.

Financial Obligations
When you decide to venture into the betta-breeding world, you make a financial commitment to your fish. Buying the best conditioning and fry foods, healthy pairs (in order to improve the species), and medications is very important. Make sure you buy all of your supplies before you spawn your pairs. Although you can be smart with your money (seeking out deals, ect), don’t try to cut corners; quality (not necessarily expensive) items can make a huge difference in the quality of a spawn.

Think Ahead
You must always think ahead when you attempt to spawn bettas. They can have between 1-500 surviving fry, all of which may need to be separated. Five hundred male fry means 500 jars. You must have a way to keep them at a reasonable temperature (at least 70*F), and room for each one. Also, before you have fry, make sure you have pet stores and homes lined up. Quality bettas are easily sold off of the internet, while lesser quality ones can be left at pet stores. You have to keep in mind that most pet stores will not pay for bettas, so don’t plan on making a profit off of pet stores unless you discuss your plans with them first. Again, make sure you have all of the supplies you need for emergencies. Another thing to think about is that fry foods must be allotted a few weeks in order to grow to a sufficient production rate that will feed hundreds of fry. The pair must also be fed high quality foods for 2 weeks prior to spawning, and they should be isolated from seeing any other fish. This is called conditioning which gets them ready for spawning. At this time the water must also be kept very clean.

Spawning Tank Set-Up Supplies
10 gallon aquarium, full hood with lights, submersible heater, plants (fake or real, although real is better), salt, Aquari-Sol, Stress Zyme (to help ease the cycling process), dechlorinator, sponge/corner filter, thermometer, Styrofoam cup cut in half lengthwise, and glass chimney. Required fry foods: microworms/vinegar eels and live baby brine shrimp eggs (you must create a hatchery and hatch them out)

1. Fill the tank with about 5 inches of water (treated with the correct amount of salt, dechlorinator, Stress Zyme, and Aquari-Sol). Place the filter in the back left corner and turn it off. It will be used to slowly circulate the water and keep fry off the bottom of the tank when they become free swimming. Place the plants on the left side of the aquarium, and the chimney marking the halfway point. Tape the Styrofoam cup to the right front corner. This will be used to protect the male’s bubble nest. Place the heater in the middle of the back of the aquarium, and set to 80*F. Place the thermometer in the left front corner. Put the hood on, turn on the lights (they will be left on until the fry are 2 weeks old), and plug in the heater when finished.
2. After the temperature is stable (if you did not use dechlorinator, wait about 24 hours for chlorine/chloramines to evaporate from the water), add the male to the tank. Let him get used to the tank for several hours, if not a day. Then place the female in the glass chimney. This will allow the pair to see each other, but to be separated. This gives the male time to build a bubble nest (which houses the fry until they are free swimming) under the Styrofoam cup (you can also use bubble wrap to shelter the nest). When the male completes the nest, and the female shows signs of readiness (swims head down, vertical stripes appear, belly is round with eggs), lift the chimney so she can be with the male.
3. The male and female nip and flare at each other (if either severely wounds the other, remove and do not continue with the spawn). He’ll continue to build and chase her away from the nest, until they finally spawn. At this time he embraces – squeezes – the eggs out of her. The fallen eggs are then picked up by the male (and also female sometimes) and placed in the nest. Let them continue until no more eggs are released and he chases her away from the nest and won’t let her return.
4. Remove the female gently, so the eggs are not knocked out of the nest. Even if they fall, the male will continue to put them back and will often move them around to prevent them from getting fungus. Take good care of the female for a week, like you would be conditioning her. The male will take care of the fry until they hatch (after 24-36 hours) and become free swimming (after 48-72 hours). When they are all swimming, remove the male and treat him well like the female. Do not attempt to spawn them for a few weeks, and then begin the conditioning process if you want to spawn them again.
   

Rearing the Fry

Warning! The following is a basic technique to rearing fry. You must accommodate the amount of food being fed to the size of your spawn. Do not attempt to spawn without a mature culture of microworms/vinegar eels or without the knowledge of hatching baby brine shrimp. The post will not explain how to culture these foods, or how to harvest vinegar eels and baby brine shrimp (BBS). Research this independently or PM me for more information on live foods.

1. On day 2, the fry have eaten up all of their food from their eggs, and you must feed them their first meal. You only need either microworms of vinegar eels, but can feed both. Microworms are by far the easiest to culture, harvest, and feed. You only scrape up enough to fit on the tip of a toothpick and swish it in the water. For vinegar eels, suction up a small amount of rinsed vinegar eels in a eye dropper and swish them around the tank. Feed this for about a week, and then introduce BBS. Rinse the BBS well also and feed as much as the microworms and vinegar eels. Over feeding will foul the water, so it is best to start off with small amounts, and add more than to add too much. Alternate the foods at each feeding (feed 2-3 times a day). Turn the corner filter on very slow (only a couple bubbles per minute), you may need to purchase a gang valve in order to control the flow.
2. After two weeks, increase the flow of the filter. You should know how strong the fry are at swimming, and what they can handle. At this time you can also perform the first cleaning. Put nylon over a siphon to prevent fry from being sucked up. Vacuum the bottom gently, and make sure the replacement water is the exact same temperature (80*F). Allow the clean water to trickle into the tank gently. Check the dirty water for fry, and return them. I use a turkey baster to suck them up and return them. You can now turn the lights off the lights at night, but leave on during feedings. Clean the tank as necessary, preferably once every day or two.
3. As the fry gain color and mature, watch out for aggressive behavior. Jar those that are aggressive, keeping the temperature at least at 70*F (try to keep it as close to 80 as possible, as they will grow better/faster) and the water clean. Quart jars should be cleaned every 2-3 days. After about a month, you can stop with microworms and introduce finely crushed dry foods. Make sure they are eating dry foods before removing all sources of live foods later on. You should be able to tell which foods are small enough for them to eat.

At 1.5- 2 months, continue to jar all noticeable males and aggressive fish. To sex them, males have longer fins and more pointed anal fins. Females have shorter bodies/fins, ovipositors, and often, round bellies (be sure they aren’t just well-fed males!). They also have more square anal fins. The temperature can now be lowered to 75*F gradually, and dry foods should be a main source of diet. Prepare the fish to be sold, as they are reaching prime breeding age, which will allow them to be easily sold.

source : http://joshday.com/howtobreedbettafish