Betta breeding

[betta lover22]

I am planning on breeding my 2 bettas within the next 2 weeks. I would like to figure some things out before I start. I have done A LOT of research- I know what to look for etc.

- Can I feed the fry boiled egg yolk? (good idea or not) I do not have access to BBS, or anything else like that right now. Check this site for more info BETTAS by Jim Sonnier/feedingfry

-How often should I do water changes? I have heard daily, once feeding the fry boiled egg yolk or BBS.

-Any tips/tricks?

 

[Newman]

Perhaps my breeding vids may help with some of your questions about the process itself. My youtube channel is robotron5000. there are two groups of vids- the first spawn attempt and the second one.

The yolk is only a bad idea if you dont do those water changes. if you do daily water changes make sure that youre not sucking out the live fry and that you match the water change water exactly to the params in the breeding tank.

I will send you some good info via PM that a member of this forum once sent me. he was a breeder.

 

[ValRasbora]

You can feed egg yolk, but it's messy so feed in very small quantities so they eat all of it. It's about the same as liquid fry food without all the added vitamins and it's much messier.
For water changes, you should do as many as possible. Try at least 2 a week once the fry are eating.
I bred my betta imbellis by accident (a happy accident, none the less!), so here are some of the things I was doing.
-lots of live food, bloodworms and mosquitoe larvae. Also freeze-dried krill.
-low water level, about 6-8"
-teasing/flaring the male with a mirror for about 5 minutes a day.
-lots of live plants! See my paludarium thread in my sig to get an idea of how many.
-tannins, I used driftwood and they seemed to really like that. Indian almond leaves are great as well.
-pH 6.8-7, soft water, no ammonia or nitrItes.

You may also want to look up thai betta breeding. It sounds very interesting to me.
Good luck with your bettas! It's very fun breeding them.

 

[Meleemaker]

I did a log on my betta breeding attempts recently that did not work. Everything was promising until about 40 minutes after they tried embracing...and 3 days later the female was showing a lot of fin damage so i removed her

As for feeding, microworms. You should NOT try to attempt a betta spawn until you have a culture or microworms. You can not count on egg yolks to be healthy for them continually. Microworms are best and are very easy to culture. You should have at least two forms of live food to feed them. LIVE being key. Two meals a day after day 3 for 2 weeks before trying other foods. Maybe longer

Water changes should be attempted during feeding time for the fry so they dont become curious to the end of the siphon. And you should drip add water. I like to use air pump tubing for air pumps, I set up a gallon of aged water and siphon it into my tank with the hose along the side of the tank. That gives the least amount of water disturbance

 

[Newman]

FW rotifers are another good source. but culturing them is harder. I found that my fry would never accept the microworms; unfortunately none of them made it...
I hope your fry are not as picky as mine

 

[OrangeCones]

Vinegar eels are smaller and easier to culture, from my experience. And being aquatic, will not drown over time and foul your water.

 

[betta lover22]

Frozen baby brine shrimp? (Defrosted of course)

The male (orange one) is flaring at the female, but has no nest. I do have a cup in there, and many plants near the top. They have been in the tank for more than 24 hours. I tried taking out some of another males nest (blue one- he saw the female last night, but she freaks out when she sees him-She likes the orange one ) but the one that I am breeding with (orange one) broke it. The male that did have the nest (blue one) has seen the female only a couple of times, and when she sees him she develops a horizontal line (stress). When he is not there, and she can see the orange one, she is fine, and has vertical bars.

I have read that some males will not build a bubble nest until the actual spawning has started. And that some will not build a nest, and the fry are (usually) fine. This just makes it harder because there are fry everywhere. Also if he does not build a nest within the 24 hours in the tank, release the female (only if she is ready- mine is) and he will usually make a nest as they go. I guess I am doing this.

 

[Newman]

the frozen baby brine doesnt move and its too big for the fry to swallow. wont be a good choice.


I cant quite understand your problem aside from you male not building a nest. try to put a rival male into the breeding tank with them (contained of course) and let them flare at eachother for a hour or so. that should get the male to build the nest. are you using the styrofoam cup?

 

[betta lover22]

Done or not?

I figured the frozen BBS wouldnt work, but I figured I should ask.

I did put another male in there, and that didn't work either. I ended up just letting the female out, and he realised after getting the female over to the cup that he didn't have a nest. He started right away. I had to put the female back in her jar because he was getting distracted, and chasing her. I ended up spawning them today, and there are some eggs that I can see in the nest (was not there for the end... (did take her out when it was time- dont worry *thumbsups)). He was chasing her away from the nest, and flaring at her.

I read that when they are done, he will hang around the nest, and chase her away when she gets too close- looks like they are doing that. But I still don't think she is done- still looks filled with eggs. I am going to put her in again, and watch the whole time- think I need to. She looks really full of eggs. Sad that I didn't see it when I took her out- was in a hurry. I also didn't want him hurting her when I was gone.

 

[Newman]

if there are numerous eggs in the nest, its ok to move her away from him. getting greedy might result in the male being too defensive and attacking her too much. she will reabsorb or simply shed and eat the eggs still left inside her. you can always condition them again if the eggs dont hatch. good luck. it sounds like it went smoothly for the most part.
I would leave the tank lights on all day and night now so that the male can care for his nest.

 

[betta lover22]

I figured. He was really going at her when I took her out. She only has a couple bites, and they are small. I didn't want a problem with the eggs because I read a little while ago that if she has them long enough, it can hurt her. I think she will be fine.

 

[Newman]

wont hurt her as far as i have read. I've seen mine just shed them when the time comes. I think I've noted the re-absorbing part too because once I totally missed with mi conditioning and bred her when she already started to get thinner (so not a lot of eggs were in the nest)

 

[betta lover22]

They hatched this morning! They are way smalller than I could imagine. Mr betta is doing his job, and they are keeping him busy.

 

[OrangeCones]

Congrats!*BOUNCINGS

 

[Newman]

congrads! any pics of the nest with the fry? if not possible then thats cool, you actually dont want to be disturbing the aquarium in any way during this stressful process.

 

[betta lover22]

working on 'em.

 

[ibsys2562]

FW rotifers are another good source. but culturing them is harder. I found that my fry would never accept the microworms; unfortunately none of them made it...
I hope your fry are not as picky as mine

Vinegar eels are smaller and easier to culture, from my experience. And being aquatic, will not drown over time and foul your water.

 

[Meleemaker]

I hope you have at least TWO forms if live food to feed the fry, and remove the dad after day 3 when they are free swimming

 

[Newman]

yes a smaller form of live food to start them on and then in a few weeks when they get bigger, most people use live baby brine shrimp. theyre most nutritious. microworms, and vinegar eels (a pain to separate from the vinegar. I ended up just culturing them for fun cuz i was too lazy lol) are less nutritious so you wont see your fry grow very fast. with BBS they will. live foods are key to raising your fry.

 

[OrangeCones]

Vinegar eels are very easy to culture and seperate from the vinegar! Just pour some of your culture into a thin necked bottle, just above the part of the bottle that gets thin. Stuff a chunk of filter floss (pillow stuffing is cheap and works well) in the neck, then top off with dechlorinated water. Wait an hr or so, and the eels will work their way thru the floss. I use a turkey baster to siphon off the water/worm liquid and put directly into the fry tanks.

This link shows the method of harvesting:

Killifish Australia :: View topic - My first hatch


Variety is the key for raising fry, but for some fry (especially those that are too small to eat newly hatched brine shrimp), vinegar eels are a good next step after they have outgrown green water and infusoria. A good bonus is that they can and do live 2 or 3 days in the aquarium, so will not quickly polute your fry's water.