Thanks

Question
Hi
Karen,
I am really really greatful to you for helping me with the swim bladder problem. It is working very well. And i have never bred a few fish like cats and bettas. And i am planning to buy a small tank for breeding Bettas. Is it possible to breed bettas?  How big a tank will i need. Bettas in India are called fighter fish and they are sold in aquariums for Rs.10 ($0.5)
The aquarists tell me to grow male bettas in bottles ( Malt drink bottles) So will it be enough if i buy a 6 gallon tank. Please tell me all i need to know about breeding bettas!

....Srinivas ( I hope the doubts are not too big for you to answer)

Answer
Hey Srinivas!

I am SOOOO glad I was of some help to you!!! I try my very best to give the very best information on whatever problem you may have. I enjoy helping people so very much and it is such a pleasure to hear my advice is working for you!!! :)

~Breeding Bettas~
Sure you can breed bettas! They are one of the easiest fish to breed! Just about anybody can do it.

You can probably breed bettas in just about any container but it is best of you have at 5 gallons starting out. Your 6 gallon aquarium will do just fine. It's best if you have it well planted, plastic or real plants are fine. One of the important things is keeping the temperature in the aquarium at least 80 degrees farenheit, or about 27 celcius.

Add your preferred male betta in the 6 gallon tank with the temp set and the water quality good. You must keep the water quality excellent as well. Changing 50% every other day would be great!  It's best if you condition your male with live foods, warm temperatures and excellent water quality. Do the same with the female and she should soon fill with eggs and the male betta will be busy building a bubble nest which he creates by gulping in air and coating bubbles with mucous and then blowing them back out. He repeats this many times until he has a mass of little bubbles which represents his nest. To further help him out, some aquarists keep a floating fine plant such as water sprite on the surface or some use styrafoam cups cut in half and floated on the surface. This is to allow the male to achor his nest to something and prevent it from being torn apart.

It's best to keep the female in a hurrican latern top but be sure it is well rinsed and sink it into the male betta's tank securely. A breeding net meant for Livebeares can also be used. Once the male has built a big bubblenest and is very vibrant and healthy and the female full of eggs and active and both their temperatures are the same (the pair both should be in 80 degree F water) Let the male investigate her and her investigate him. The pair WILL quarrel for a good while. They may both nip and chase each-other. But eventually if they are really ready the male will position himself under the bubblenest and the female will come beside him. The male will wrap his body around the females, turning her upside down while she releases eggs and he fertilizes them. Soon he will let go and start to collect the eggs that are falling. The female meanwhile, will remain in a sort of trance for a few seconds before she snaps back to life. The male will pick up eggs as much as he can and blow them into his bubble nest where they should stick. The pair will repeat this embrace over and over until the female is empty of her eggs. Immediently remove her when she seems to lose interest. Leave the male father who will care for and look after the eggs. Sometimes the first breeding attempt isn't sucessful and you may have to try several times until the pair is truly ready. It's best that you leave the pair together for no more than 1 hour and remove them if the chasing is too rough, such as if the female is head down in the bottom gasping. Fins will be ripped regardless. Use MELAFIX on the female after breeding and keep the water sparkling clean to prevent infections to her damaged fins. Some males can be very rough and very hard on females. One dark red male I have killed one of my cute beloved little females when I had attempted to breed them. I miss her still.

Anyway, now comes the hard part of raising the fry once the eggs hatch. Usually the male can be kept with the eggs and fry for 5 days. You can feed him baby brine shrimp (larger fry eat them also) Smaller fry will require Infusoria (using a clean medicine dropper) and a microworm combination once they are free swimming. The fry typically swim in 2-3 days. Other foods are vinegar eels and you can also feed fresh egg yolk as a substitute. It's best that you remove the male and give him a good rest from all the work and stress of breeding and caring for eggs and fry.

As soon as you see aggression between the young fry. These are the males and you should seperate the aggressors. Probably the most efficient way is to use jars. Even though I really don't like the idea of using small jars with such a small volume of water it is probably the only way to house all the males. Since bettas can produce hundreds of eggs.

~Wow that was a long letter! I hope I covered ecerything.   At the time of typing this I was going entirely off my own knowledge. If you are confused or need more info on anything about breeding bettas, just email me again!

I hope you attempt to breed these ever-so-popular fish soon!

To find even more info, try searching the internet about spawning bettas.

~*For much more advice on breeding bettas probably explained better than I did, please go to "www.petfish.net/betta.htm" Lots of photos too!
If the link doesn't work. Simply go to "Petfish.net" and browse through the articles on bettas! ENJOY!

Take care, Srinivas, good luck!
Happy fishkeeping!
Karen~