Friday, July 31, 2009

How do you breed bettas?

How can I successfully breed my male and female betta. I was feeding them well for a week and the male sees the female. I want to breed them already but the male still hasn't blown a bubble nest.
Answers:
When the bubblenest is fair size, and she displays vertical stripes and stands "on her head" in the globe, you release her. Also look for her breeding tube to be protruding. It is visible behind the pelvic fin. There can and will probably be some nipping and chasing during this time. As long as they are not sparring too badly, leave them alone. If one or the other is being torn up very much, they are not ready. Put her back in the globe. Some sparring will occur as this is the ritual of their mating but should not be permitted to last for great length of time.
The process of the pair "being ready" can take from l hour to 4 or 5 days.
When they are ready, he will entice her to the nest, and she will eventually follow. The mating process can take anywhere from 1 hour to 4 or 5 hours. He will "embrace" her, squeeze the eggs out, and the eggs will fall to the floor of the tank. She will look like he has killed her, being very still and motionless for a few seconds, like in a trance. He will catch or pick up the eggs from the floor of the tank and "blow" into the bubble nest. (I had one pair in which the male would not have anything to do with the eggs, and the female was the one who picked up the eggs and put them into the nest.)
When the spawning is complete, she will swim away from the male and hide. He usually won't bother her as he is busy picking up eggs that fall from the nest. When spawning is done, remove her immediately (taking care not to disturb the nest) as she may become interested in the eggs and start eating them. The eggs are white and are a little bigger than a grain of salt. You will probably need a magnifying glass to see them hanging from the bubble nest.
a "breeding tube"? this sounds like its getting a little freeeaaakkaayyyy..bow-chica-ow...
Maybe the female isn't ready to breed yet. She might not be full of eggs yet. Have you noticed if she gets vertical lines on her sides when she is near him? Go to www.bettatalk.com and Faith will explain everything you need to know about Betta's. Good luck! I have about 300-400 betta fry!

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