Wow Wow Wow Wow!!!

[Dan Steveo]

oh my god. i cant believe it. i read the sticky and thought id give betta breeding a go.

my male was in a 10g with 6 swordtails. i removed the swordies and he was lonely. nothing to chase. but then i cut off the bottom of a 2 litre bottle and cleaned it. added some java moss and water(from the tank). then i floated it in the top and added my younger female.

immediately the male started flaring at her and after 3 mins she had vertical lines down her body. i was amazed. she looks soo pretty and so does he. theyere diff colours but they like each other.

he constantly swims from the front right corner(where i have a setup for his nest) and the female flaring at her then going back blowing bubbles. all in five minutes its turning out great.

im gunna wait a while before i let her out. he may still be aggressive.

im soooo over chuffed... man its great. *thumbsups *SUNSMILE* *twirlysmi *BOUNCINGS *SUPERSMIL yay!!!

 

[MissFishy]

I'm assuming you didn't take the time to condition either male or female. The female may not be ready to mate. Don't let the male beat up on her.

 

[Dan Steveo]

shes in a floating bottle base. he cant touch her. flaring at her stimulates him to make the nest which is almost half done. im feeding them bloodworm as they have also been fed bloodworm every other day for the past 2 weeks... so how are they not ready?

assume that if i have not mentioned it that i could have done it.... not that i havent.

 

[Dan Steveo]

also. does anyone know what the signs are for me to release her?
its just that. im not sure its just yet but what about when the time comes. how will i know?... thanks loads.

 

[Dan Steveo]

ok so i just had to destroy his nest. he had built it on some foam and it wasnt working well. it kept popping them. i found some polystyrene cups and im now using those. he seemed to get bored with making the nest. maybe he only makes it at night. ive seen him choose 2 places but he hasnt blown a bubble in them yet.

will he make a new nest tonight? or will he just not care?

 

[Helena21]

yeah he'll probably make a new nest soon. Is the female fat? if she is than thats a good sign thats shes ready.

im not trying to put you off but if i were you i wouldnt breed bettas because they are very hard work and you will need hundreds of jars to put the baby bettas in once they all start fighting, and your parents probably wont like it lol.
plus, if you still doing your GCSE's then this is gonna be VERY VERY hard work. You'll be cleaning out hundreds of jars each night instead of studing. Just IMO a really bad idea until you've finished your GCSE's

 

[Dan Steveo]

thanks again helena. my gcse's over the next 3 weeks wont be close to cleaning out jars would it? i thought it was like 4 months before they get aggressive. either way i had to destroy his second nest =[. he started building it and there were about 10 bubbles. but then some of them started popping. i then decided it could be that the pot has a lot of air at the top and only small amounts of water. it looks a bit like an upside down cup...

does the whole inside have to be filled with water or is trapped air allowed?
shes a very young female only got her a month ago. even now shes tiny. i only expect 60. i could work around that... lol =]. well. i have one put submerged but floating.(inside has no air) and one with trapped air but a ring to stop escaping bubbles.

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

I would make it so surface agitation is at a minimum, so the bubbles can't pop. Also, take a Styrofoam cup and cut in half, and tape one half to the side of the tank. This will be a good spot for the nest.

 

[Dan Steveo]

there is no surface agitation at all. everything stays still. i put the old foam back in and over night he made a beautifull half-finished nest. then this morning when it was light he started making a new one at the back. the new nest has a 2cm gap from the filter(its turned off). im afraid he wont manage picking up the eggs if he has to constantly swim round it. also hell have to be carefull with her fitting in that gap to spawn. or will he make it so its sooo big its not near filter? could it just be the edge?

oh well. this time i decided to leave him to it. i will not disturb him. ill just observe =[ lol. which is still good =].
like i said the female is sooo small i doubt ill get much eggs. but shes getting fatter and his nest should be done soon and she still has vertical bars.

does anyone know what he acts like when he wants to spawn with her? does he flare nicely(without gills) or is it something else.

Thanks. Dan.

 

[Dan Steveo]

ok so this morning when i noticed he'd made his bubble nest that they were a bit slow and tired. so i got my bloodworm and put in about 6 worms for each of them. 6 in her bottle bottom and 6 in the tank for him.

after 5 mins he was busy building a new nest at the back. i tipped the females bottle sideways to let some water out into the tank and then submerged it a little to let more in. she didnt escape.... i made sure of it lol.

the male is busy right now making a new nest and i hope itll be better.

 

[drake53]

ok its almost time be careful now.

 

[Dan Steveo]

ok. thanks. i will. the female is ready. she has the white dot between her fins and shes big. she has vertical bars. the male however after moving his nest is not finished. he wont stop changing his mind but now hes building it like 1cm more an hour. it should be ready by tomorrow. im really excited. but my mums electricity bill was like 500 pounds since christmas. thats tooo high. shes not happy with lights on all the time.

i just hope i can get some microworms lol. im going there today. i have a temporary food for now... but it might not work. its liquifry no 1 and 2. for all baby fish. im sure theyell be fine for a while.

 

[SANND]

Sounds exciting! The liquifry will be fine for them, I wouldn't worry about getting something else. If you don't have enough of that then you can also boil an egg and then add water to the yolk only to make a thin paste. It doesn't keep so toss what you don't use and be aware that it can fowl the water quickly (but then so did liquifry when I used it) so you'll need to be diligent with the water changes.

Good luck!

 

[Dan Steveo]

ok. thanks very much. i might get some microworms just to be sure. but ill start with liquifry.

yesterday the males new nest was bigger than his first one. but. there was a problem. when he went to make more of it he kept swimming over the filter and destroying some of it. so then i took the decision to intervine...

i very very carefully removed the foam. then i moved the filter to the other side of the tank. his nest was ok.

this morning i woke up and saw his new nest.*twirlysmi
it was huge. 3 times the size of the previous one. its like 3-4 inches in every direction. its amazing. the only problem is that it looks done to me but i dont think hes ready. i dont know how long they can both stay in the tank like this. does anyone know how i can tell when he is ready? will he signal the female? or do i have to keep watching to see when hes finished the nest?

 

[Dan Steveo]

ok. so his new nest looked great.. until... he looked ready. all close and done. huge nest being nice to female. so i thought ok theyere both ready. i knew she was. egg tube ready. nose down vertical bars(these were white are they supposed to be? ill post some pics soon.) so i let her out. straight away he went nuts. he chased her around till she hid. him chasing her meant that his un-protected net was destroyed. falling apart. holes everywhere. i felt gutted.

i was going to destroy it and add some foam when i thought about helping him to remake it. i got a metal knife and moved the bubbles gently with the tip of it. it worked. they never popped and they stuck together. the bubbles even attatched to the knife so that i could take them out and fill some holes.

so his nest was remade and he liked it. but.. i wasnt going to let it destroy itself again. i got the styrofoam cup and put a hole in the top. this was so that new air could get in.(bubbles wont just pop.) the nest lasted the night and hes not building more of it. i dont know why. the cups surface has not been filled and she looks ready to go. im scared he will chase her and kill her.

should ik wait 1 more night or just let her out? i dont know if he wants her out yet but he keeps swimming back to the nest and coming back out to her without blowing bubbles.

i will get some pics now and post them tomorrow.

 

[jessey]

so what's happened, dan? i just read this thread, now i want updates

 

[Dan Steveo]

well... he got bored and stopped doing anything sooo...... i turned off the lights and put on filter and air pump. im going to leave it for tonight and start the process again tomorrow... that means returning my female huh???... lol. ill have to take her out for 3 hours then re-add her when hes looked around. then he should build a new nest...

ill keep you updated... pics soon.

 

[Dan Steveo]

im afraid the whole things off. he got bored and stopped making any nest at all. it had been soo long that the female was getting whitespot. i treated her and him and ill try again after my bn plecs have a go.i will continue a new thread when i start them going again. and i will have pics =]