Male Fighter Issues!

Question
QUESTION: Hey,
I have few questions to ask about my Male Fighter Fish. First I kept him along with a female but i removed female after 2 days from the tank as he was harrasing her too much. She was damn tired of hiding herself and now they are seperate. What I see now is strange. Male stopped eating. I feed him Tropical Fish Flakes which he used to gobble before but now he just stopped it at all. Female is fine and happy. She is eating flakes properly and seems to be very happy alone. What should I feed my male? Should I put my female along with male once again? My room temperature is, 74-75 Degrees.. Looking forward for ur favorable response.

Regards,

Yusuf :)

ANSWER: Hi Yusuf,
Never, ever put a female betta, and am male together.  They could kill each other.  They are siamese fighting fish.  The betta whether male or female must never be together in the same tank.  I can imagine just how terrified the little female must have been!
Bettas should be fed 2-3 times a day in small amounts.  2 pellets, or 2 flakes for one meal.  The betta's tummy is the size on one eye, so we must be very careful not to overfeed them.
Here is a list of food the betta should have:

One frozen cooked pea a week with the outer layer removed, and cut into tiny pieces.  Feed the pieces to your bettas one at a time making sure they eat them, and that they do not fall to the bottom of the tank.  On the day you choose to give them the pea, feed them nothing else.  This is so they can clean out their system, and avoid Swim Bladder Disease to which the betta is prone.
Daphnia...this food is very important because it helps the betta with his digestive system
Betta Pellets....this is also very good for bettas
Plankton Flakes
Betta Flakes
Bloodworms, now, and then as a treat.
Glassworms
Mealworms
Frozen Brine Shrimp
Vary their food as much as possible so that they will have all the vitamins they need.

Bettas are tropical fish, and need 80-82 degree water.  When bringing up the water for a betta, you must do this very very slowly.  Do not bring up the temperature quickly.  One degree every two days.  Under 80 degree water, the betta is cold, and will get sick.  Adding aquarium salt to their water will help them with stress, and parasites.  (One teaspoon to five gallons of water)  Dilute the salt first, before adding it to their water.
Bettas should be in five gallon tanks.  In their habitat, the betta may live in shallow water, but they have lots of room to swim.  Never keep bettas in small containers, vases, or small tanks.
I hope this information will help.
Lynda


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much for ur quick response..
confusion is that, if I dont keep male n female together how they will mate? :P
another thing is that I live in Middle East.. too hot in summers so have to put on AC almost whole day.. Room temperature is always 74 so how to keep them in warm temperature? Is that okay if I use Aquarium Heater?
My question may sound strange but am very new to this and I am very excited to know the details.
Your previous repy was quick and I appreciate that..

Regards,
Yusuf:)

Answer
Breeding bettas is not easy.  I will give you some information, but cannot write everything down here.  Your female must be pregnant.  You know this when she is chubby, and has a little white dot near her anal fin.  You then prepare a 5 gallon tank with lots of hiding places for the female.  You put the male, and the female into the 5 gallon tank at the same time.  She will hide, and he will blow his nest.  She will try to go to him, but if his nest is not ready, he will chase her with intent to kill.  This is why you must have lots of hiding places for her.  When the male is ready, he will give her a sign, and she will go to him.  He will wrap himself around her to squeeze out the eggs.  The eggs will float into the nest, and the male will arrange them.  Some will fall to the bottom.  As the little female goes back down, she will pick up the fallen eggs making sure that the male does not see her do this.  When the male is ready again, he will give her another sign.  She goes back to him, and as he wraps himself around her, she will blow the eggs she picked up from the bottom without him knowing.  This may go on from anywhere from one to four hours.  You must never take your eyes off them during the spawn.  The male can kill the female in a fraction of a second.  Be ready to take her out at any given moment.  After the spawn, she will be very weak.  Put her back into her tank, and provide good food for her to regain her strength.  The male remains with the fry for about three days, after this time he must be removed as he will eat his spawn.  Here is a list of food bettas should have to keep them healthy, and strong:
Daphnia
Betta Pellets
Betta Flakes
Plankton Flakes
Bloodworms
Glassworms
Mealworms
Brine Shrimp
One frozen cooked pea a week with the outer layer removed, and cut into little pieces.  Feed the pieces to your bettas one piece at a time, making sure they eat it, and that it does not fall to the bottom of their tanks.  This is so they can clean out their system, and avoid Swim Bladder Disease to which the Bettas are prone.  On the day you feed them the pea, feed them nothing else.
On the other days feed them 2-3 times a day in little amounts.  Example:  2 pellets, or 2 flakes for one meal.  We must always remember that their tummies are the size of their eye when feeding them.
To raise the fry, you must have a microworm culture ready.  You will find how to do this on the web, or maybe your pet store can help you out.  Baby bettas are so tiny, they cannot eat anything else.  You begin to feed them once they have left the nest, and are free swimming.  Breeding bettas is hard work.  The fry are slow growing, and once they can recognize each other, you will have to house them separately in 8-16oz jars, as they will begin to attack each other.  You will have to change the water in the jars everyday, and you will have to do water changes in the tank also everyday.  
I do not recommend breeding these little fish.  The main reason is that they are so mistreated on the market, having to live in those horrible little cups.  The second reason is that you will make no money with them, as the vendors buy them for about 25 cents each, which means you will be lucky to get 10 cents each.  The third reason is that the little female always comes out of a spawn weak, and sometimes sick with torn fins.
If you still want to breed them, then watch them carefully while they are spawning.  Read up on "How to Breed Bettas" on the web, or in a book.
In their habitat, the female will stay away from a male, until she is ready to spawn.  This cannot be done in an aquarium.  You must never leave a male, and female together in the same tank.  One will be killed, and more often than not, it is the female who dies.
You will need to heat the water they are in with a heater.  Bettas live in 80-82 degree water, under this temperature the betta is cold, and will get sick.  Bring the temperature up very slowly.  Bring it up one degree every two days.  Bringing up the temperature too quickly will cause death, so do this slowly.
I hope this helps
Lynda