betta breeding

[temull2]

My female betta is getting really really old and I'm afraid she's not gonna be around much longer. She's starting to slow down, but other than that, I haven't seen any signs of sickness, I'm just worried. So of COURSE I want her to have a legacy!

I bought a male betta today for her to breed with, and my question is, are they a good match?

My female betta is at the beginning of this video:

YouTube - Molly - Gender? Pregnant?


This is my new male betta (I just put him in a new tank so that's why he's so stressed... poor guy):

YouTube - Male Betta


Also....

Since I'm planning on breeding them, should I take out the rocks at the bottom of the tank? I'm not sure if that would affect the male in being able to pick up the eggs or not.


Any comments/ideas/suggestions?

 

[Moshi-Cat]

I don't know. Have you read the thread of betta breeding basics? I was going to try breeding (I've got 4 females and 1 male) but my females started being agressive to eachother and I don't have a tank for the babies anymore. Do your two bettas have the same sort of color?

 

[RexyTexel]

Betta spawning can be pretty tricky. It may not even work for you, honestly. Only having this one female for him to choose from may end with you flushing one of your fish down the toilet. Male bettas, like humans, like choices with their females. It's best to house him with 2-3 other females. I'm assuming you purchased your bettas from your LFS. This plays another huge factore as a lot of pet store bettas are just way too aggressive to even breed. They're "man made" and if you've ever seen a true wild betta you'd know what I mean. I suggest putting them into a divided 10 gallon tank and see how they both react to eachother. If he starts flaring his gills and acts aggressive(jumping at the divider or slamming into it) chances are they wont spawn together.

If they do accept eachother and are showing characteristics of spawning leave about 6 inches of water in the tank(with the divider out, obviously) and keep the water at about 80ºF-2ºF. It's best to take the rocks out so he can pick up the eggs easier in case they fall out of the bubble nest. Keep lots of surface cover so that his bubble nest will stay together better. I'm just wondering though...are you ready to house 500 betta fry? That's the average size. Are you able to seperate the males from the females in time?

Nice betta, by the way. I was never one for crown tails. I have three veil tails. He doesn't seem stressed at all. He seems quite content.

 

[temull2]

Yeah, I've read a ton of different things about breeding bettas, and they seem to be responding really well to each other... He'll flare at her, but won't attack the cup she's in (I float it around in his tank and tape it to the wall so it won't tip over).. he'll flare and turn sideways and shake his fins at her, and she'll turn sideways and make black lines down her side.

After that, he rushes over to the styrofoam cup i've but in there and blow and blow and blow, but none of his bubbles stick... When I bought him, his cup had a huge bubblenest... :/

 

[RexyTexel]

You should buy fake/real floating plants. They'll hold the bubbles better. Hopefully he isn't too juvenile and will know what to do. Some males have no idea what to do when it comes to the actual act of spawning.