Betta Not Blowing a Bubble Nest

Question
Hello,
I love breeding bettas and am yet to be succesful. I have a tan/white male betta and i am breeding him with a blue female. Anyways, i have her in a breeder net in my 10 gallon breeder tank and i have my male with her in the same tank. I have half a styraphone cup that he is supposed to build his nest in. Well, the good news is that he is blowing bubbles, the bad news in that hes blowing bubbles all over the tank. And not in bunches eaither, he just blows them in a thin line across the top edges of the tank. He is useing the cup but when he blows the bubbles they just pop within 5 minutes after he blew them. He is flareing at the female and she is flareing back. He also flares at the sides of the tank to his reflection. Am i doing something wrong here? ive had him and the female in the tank for about 2 days now and i heard that there supposed to blow a nest in 24 to 48 hours of being together. I NEED HELP FAST!!
Thanks in Advance
Kyle  

Answer
Hi Kyle,
Hmm... this is interesting. Usually the male bettas are very wanting to spawn. I have bred bettas many times and I have not had any problems so far. There can be a few problems: The female is completely uninterested in spawning or the male betta is too old.

Put them in a separate jars and try it again in a couple of week or so. Females are females. They don't do it when they don't feel like it, but you do not have to worry. They are girls. They will change their minds :]]]

You mentioned that your male betta is making bubble nest all over the tank. That usually happens when they are in a separate jar. That makes me think that he is a bit old. When bettas grow older than two years, their reproduction organ is not as, active, I shall say, as when they are younger. Did you buy them from local petco or petsmart? Many times, they have older bettas that are almost unable to spawn and they might not be in the best condition. Did you get a betta that had long and beautiful flowing fin? Unfortunately, the long, flowing fin means that they are older. If you really would like to try breeding bettas, try getting new pair of them. The best would be when you buy them from a breeder, but that is too much trouble. I purchased my first breeding bettas from petco/petsmart and it was a big success. When choosing a betta, get the smaller ones with shorter fins. For male, about one or one 1/2 inch in body length and fins with no more than an inch long. For female, get the same body length, and the fins should be no more than half inch long. I was lucky when I got my first bettas- I did not know any of that. I just thought shorter fins looked neater :) After getting your pair, keep them in a best condition possible for the next, at least, two weeks. Feed them live/frozen food.

Anyway, I will tell you the correct procedure to spawning bettas. I don't really know, from your description, how you are using your net breeder. You do not need net breeder for spawning bettas.

-setting up the tank-
1. Decorate the tank with 1 inch of fine gravel and lots of plants. The female bettas need to hide and the frys will feel more home.
2. Fill the water only up to half way. When the babies are just born, they cannot swim all the way up to the top to breathe.
3. Put the half  cup. The edges of the cup (all the way around)should be inside the water! otherwise the bubbles can float away. This could have been one of your problems. You can tape the cup to the wall of the tank.
4. Let the tank sit for at least a day.
5. You should not have a filter- the babies will get sucked in. If you do, then get a weak one, but I did not have my filter when I spawned my bettas for the first time :]]
6. Heater is recommended, but I didn't need it for my first spawn. If you do have the heater, put it on the other side of the tank as the half floating cup. Make sure there is lots of plants around it. It prevents burn.

-Putting the bettas together-
1. Put the male betta in the tank. Put the female in a transparent cup (like the ones the petshops use to put the bettas) and let it float. or you can attach it to the side of the tank. The female should have vertical line running across the body. That means she is ready to spawn. If she does not have the stripes, you can keep trying, hoping that she would change her mind after seeing the male for real. or you can take her out and try again next time. Your choice.
2. The bettas will flare at each other, but don't do anything. The male betta will begin to build his bubble nest after flaring at each other for a while.
3. If he does not start making his bubble nest, release female. The male will chase female and possibly attack and nip her fins. It is ok, as long as you have your tank heavily planted. After chasing a while, the male will begin building his nest.
4. If the male starts building his nest while the female is in the cup, YAY! that would be awesome! In that case, do not release the female until the male is done (the whole cup is filled with bubbles and is very thick.). If he stops in the middle of building nest, you can release the female to get his interest back.
5. They will chase each other for another set, then they will begin to spawn.

-During Spawning-
1. Your male betta will wrap his body around the female and female will release eggs. The male will catch the eggs with his mouth. Do not panic! he is not eating it :]] He will spit it back out in his nest. the female will float, but she is not dead X]]
2. Procedure will repeat for 2hrs to 10hrs. You can tell that they are almost done when the female only releases a few eggs. After spawning, the female can be in danger so you can take her out when you think they are done.
3. Male will guard the eggs until they hatch.

When the frys hatch, some will fall, so the male will have to go after it and get in, then put them back in their nests. It is a full time job for him. So make sure you take really good care of him after the spawning is done. When the frys are free to swim, the male's job is done. You can take him out of the tank otherwise he might think that his frys are little shrimp.

I hope everything works out well!!
Feel free to send me another follow up if you have any more questions! I would be happy to answer!!

Best of Luck,
Barb