NEW TO BETTAS SO PLEASE HELP ok i want to start breeding bettas and stuff like that i need to know the important things about them. I already have a female betta i am planning on getting the male later. I have bred swordtails before is it any different than that? This might sound dumb to you guys but are bettas livebearers or do they lay eggs?
I read a little about bettas and heard they make nest or something like that so im thinking eggs?
If they lay eggs will they still get gravid spots and start to square around the stomach like livebearers?
So if you know anything about betta breeding or any other helpful tips please do tell. thank you
Welcome to bettas.
While I reccomend getting to know bettas a bit more before jumping on the breeding bandwagon, I shall be the first to welcome you to the betta addiction!
Some basics about bettas - Bettas are abantanoids - They breathe surface oxygen using lungs. They're labyrinth fish (so called for their lung organ). So a high oxygen environment isn't necessary unless you are treating for a disease, and the medicine you are using deoxygenates the water. They're a colorful, vivacious fish with lots of personality to share!
Bettas are an
aggressive species that originates out of Siam (Thus Siamese Fighting fish, another nickname), and males of the Betta Splenden variety (That's the one's you find in petstores with all the pretty colors)
should not be kept together under any circumstances.
Female bettas, on the other hand, can be kept together in a tank large enough in a group called a Sorority - You should have at least 4 female bettas in a tank to prevent fighting, but 6 is a much better number.
Sexing your betta: Do not rely too heavily on the idea that male bettas have long fins, and girl bettas do not.
One tail type of bettas called Plakats are all short finned - Male or female.
To sex your bettas, look between their ventril fins (that's the one's beneath their face on their belly) and check for a small white protrusion from the belly.
If there is a small white bump, you probably have a female. As with anything, this is not always going to apply, as sometimes male juvies's rectums can stick out and look like an ovipositor.. But of course, that doesn't make them female.
Another thing to look at is their ventrals - If their ventral fins are long, they ARE more than likely a male, but it's a combination of short ventrals and ovipositor (small white bump) that would signal female without question.
Never mix female bettas and males bettas unless you're spawning them, and the female is going to be taken out. They will fight, and one or both will suffer injuries.
Feeding your betta: Bettas enjoy a wide variety of food, as they are carnivores, so giving them a mix of a staple diet (Hikari bio gold, for example) and then a variety of live and frozen foods will greatly assist in his/her wellbeing.
Bloodworms,
Daphnia,
Brineshrimp
Small live shrimp such as ghosts provide enrichment and entertainment by giving them a live food to chase.
Black and tubifex worms, when given live, are also enriching and a definite favorite.
Overfeeding should be avoided as it can lead to disease and death. A good thing to do is to have a fast day for your betta, one day of the week, and then give him a thawed pea, deshelled and cut into pieces, to help with constipation issues.
Housing your Betta: Bettas, being tropical, enjoy water of 74 - 82 degrees F. Temperature fluctuations can lead to stress which leaves them open to disease, so one should get a heater. It's reccomended that you get
2 - 5 gallons per betta (unless you're doing an all female sorority), and get some nice silk plants and a little cave of some kind so that they can hide when they dont' want to be seen. It is not acceptable or advised to keep your betta in anything under a gallon, and even a gallon would be stressful due to ammonia buildup and the constant waterchanges he/she would be subjected to.
Bettas prefer still moving water, so it is not reccomended (but not against the rules, per say)to have filtration. If you have a filter, try to adjust the amount of current/flow it's putting out by adjusting it with sponges, etc. Too much current can rip their fins and stress them out quite a bit. The use of aquarium salt is a debated practice, but I reccomend getting yourself some Aquarisol (This prevents alot of diseases in bettas when used properly) And as always, dechlorinator is a must as with any other fish. IAL/BWE is a useful tool in keeping bettas that simulates their natural environment and produces slime coat production.
Being that bettas are aggressive tropical fish, they will and do attack any other species that reminds them of other bettas - This includes the long flowing fins of colorful guppies. There are lists on this website that discuss suitable tankmates for bettas.
Breeding bettas : can be hard, and we dont' reccomend that you breed veil tails (the common tail variety found in petstores) because of the overabundance of taht tail strain. They are indeed egg layers, not livebearers, and they have no gravid spot.
If you can find some nice crowntails at the pestore, those would be fine to breed.
You need a 5 - 10 gallon tank ready with IAL, some live plants would be okay, and a styrofoam cup cut in half would help with building the bubble nests.
Bettas blow bubbles that stick to the surface of the water - This is where the eggs go after they mate. Males will do this on their own, without the influence of a female, but once the nest is blown, you introduce the female. Watch carefully for unnecessary aggression - They sometimes do attack and hurt each other badly during spawning.
The female should be eggy (which you can accomplish with a process known as conditioning), or look like she swallowed a small marble.
Once you release her, she should stripe and they will wrap. If successful, she'll drop eggs, and he should return them to the nest for them to grow.
Beware, sometimes the males are goofy and won't pick up the eggs, or they'll decide the eggs are a tasty snack and eat them instead.
If all goes well, you leave the male to care for the eggs and remove the female. In a few days (2? I'm not sure) the eggy should hatch and yeild little bitty betta fry. Sometimes Daddy betta makes a snack of them, too, though.
I don't know a whole heck of a lot about breeding, but again, I dont' suggest you jump right into breeding just yet.
Oh, here are some resources for you to welcome you to betta care.
http
/bettas.fishjunkies.com/types.php - Tail types, though not a complete list, it has pictures.
http/joshday.com/bettafaq.htm - Basic FAQs.
http/www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cl...;articleid=2340 - Basic care, again.
I hope I'm not missing anything.. But that's all I can think of for now.
Hope this helps! Hope this wasn't overkill..
