Breeding Advice.

[Dane]

Okay.. so.. I conditioned the pair.. live foods, freeze dried and such.. i normally never feed them pellets/flakes anyway.. hmm.. My females all bare their vertical stripes.. and prominantly... It's not really my females I'm worried about, it's the aggression of the males.

How long should the male chase/nip the female before he may work on his nest... I've paired of many of my boys and girls.. just never left them longer than 28 hours to actually breed. I wanted to get the feel of it before I actually left them too long together.. I'm deadly afraid of fatal damaging.. once I see a scale nipped i seperate them.. the tails I'm not so much worried about unless there are some serious shredding going on...

So... on average.. how long should the pair be... before they actually stop with the chase... and how much lighting is suggested? I read so many different things from so many different people I'm a bit confused.. I have them in a foam cooler like tank.. it's about as tall as a ten gallon, just a few inches shorter.. so it's got enough room.. it's very well planted.. i have a heater in there, nothing on the ground... hmm.. foam cups.. the works...

 

[bkk_group]

every pair of fish is different so telling you exactly how long it takes is impossible. i can say from my experience that it can take anywhere from 2 to 5 days.
i just released my latest breeders (sibling x from my last ct spawn) together tonight so i can update you as to how long these two take. i have a feeling it won't take long as the female is huge and definately ready. the male seems very aggressive and within the first 5 minutes of being together has already ripped the girl's tail fin.
most important, and i stress important, is having a refuge for the female to get away from the male and rest. for us, a big clump of java moss and a few floating plants in a corner works very well as she can hide underneath.
actually, i just looked at the two right now and the female is under the foam cup inspecting the bubble nest
females are very choosy, once they feel the nest is adequate they are more willing to get down to business. i have never seperated the two once i put them together by the way. it may look rough sometimes but females are fast, they take a few hits every now and then but i think it's part of the game for them, i feel that the excitement of the chase is one of the breeding triggers. an aggressive male is seen as a worthy mate.
as for lighting, i just use a regular tank light above and turn it off at night, just like in nature, i don't feel it's important for it to be on 24 hours a day.
as well, lowering water level to around 4 to 5 inches is important , don't be scared to do it. some thai breeders even recommend 2 1/2 inches.
anyways, best of luck
i'm actually doing two spawns this time round, the ct pair and a pair of doubletail as well. one more thing i will mention is that for me, it's important to find a way of reducing females in spawn, i would love to have a 90 / 10 % of males as females, while nice, are soo much harder to get rid of.
i've done a lot of research and a thai friend suggested heavily dosing the water with indian almond leaf for 3 to 4 days before putting the male in as it's worked on numerous spawns he has worked on. he figures that lowering ph levels has something to do with it. both breeding tanks are yellow with indian almond leaf right now and i'll see what the male female ratios work out to be in the end and let you guys know.

 

[Dane]

Yeah I always have the water 5-8 inches.. and there's a huge plant in there, and a space for the cup where the male has started to build his nest I chose him because he has built an impressive nest covering the ENTIRE opening of his 1 1/2 gallon cylinder, which's surface area is about 8 inches.. the nest was thick and impressed me beyond belief.. in 24 hours he built that massive nest lol, no females were around him, and nor were any other males.. he was next to my aquatic frog tank.. hmm..

Yes I've read a lot about the Indian Almond leaf. Right now I'm literally broke (I'm looking for a job, while I try to keep my classes my number one priority). Once I do get money, I will infact invest in some more equipment.. since I've been alternating my one heater... haha.. but my room is always warm and a bit humid specifically for the fish. All the bettas have great temp. in their containers

I've got this female my aunt gave me because she killed a male and female she had... so I decided to see if she still had the instinct to shred, and so I put a crown male in with her for a while... and she shredding him up a bit.. but he's just fine now. It's a shame, she's a halfmoon too... maybe someone can tame her.. or with some practice I can hopefully. This setup I have right now that I put together tonight seems to be working a lot better for me than the ten gallon. It's a lot more exlusive and the fish aren't visable from the outside unless you remove the lid. The top allows fresh air to enter, while keeping the humidity in. There's a lot of plants, and the female has found many places to rest on/under/beside/behind. This male seems to be a charmer.. we'll see how she goes I changed the copper male to a solid red male. The solid red is.. just an amazing bubbler

 

[Dane]

Wow! Just over 18 hours, he made a full nest, and they embraced about 4 times! She's still hovering under the nest, and he's tending to it.. Just curious how much longer should she stay?