SuperCichlid
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- Aug 17, 2002
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First of all, you need a male and female betta. You also need two seperate tanks for them. I reccomend two 3 gallon tanks.
In these tanks, there should be a cheap air driven sponge filter, a heater (unless your water is at 75*F already) and a live plant or two. Gravel, lighting, rocks etc are not needed, but can be added to make the tank look more attractive.
Second of all, a 10 gallon tank is needed. This is the spawning tank.
For this tank, you will need the following:
Air driven corner filter.
Heater
Light
Live plants for the female to hide in.
Thats it for the spawning tank. There should be no substrate in the tank, this is so when the female is releasing the eggs, the male takes them to the nest, and sometimes he may miss a few, and if there is gravel on the bottom, he may not be able to find them and take them to the nest. The temperature should be around 80*F.
Ok, so now what? You have a male and female betta, each in their own tank, and a ten gallon spawning tank.
Ok, you need to condition your pair of bettas, still in their own seperate tanks of coarse.
This conditioning should be done with as much live food as possible, for around two weeks.
I reccomend feeding lots of live bloodworm and brine shrimp. Feedings should be three times a day or so, with as much live food as they can eat.
Ok, two weeks of conditioning has passed, its time for them to spawn.
Place the male in a bag (the kind you get from the lfs, not any old carreir bag!) and float the bag in the 10g tank for 20 minutes or so to allow him to adjust to the temperature. After 20 minutes has passed, slowly release him into the tank, just like you would if you just bought a new fish.
A few hours later, put the female in the bag, and float her in the tank. The bag should be 75% oxgen and 25% water.
At first, the male should flare at the female, and try to attack her through the bag. Don't worry, this is completly normal behavoir. Leave her in the bag until everything is settled. By now, the male should be constructing a bubble nest, and the female should be taking on her verticle spawning stripes, and should be looking slightly more rounder than usual. Thats the eggs inside her.
Ok, release the female. Do exactly as you did with the male.
When the female has been released, the male will chase her round the tank a bit. Don't worry, again, this is perfectly normal behavior.
The male will now coax the female towards his bubble nest that he has built. If she dosnt like it, she will destroy it and make him build a new one. This could take minutes, hours, or even days...it just all depends on how picky the female is!
Ok, she has accepted the nest. She will now swim under the bubble nest with her head almost facing the gravel. This is letting the male know that she is ready to spawn. He will then embrace her, squeezing her untill all the eggs are out, he will fertelize them as they are being squeezed out. When this has finished, the female will look almost dead from the spawning. Dont worry, again, this is perfectly normal. The male will now begin taking the eggs to the bubble nest. This is why there should be no gravel or substrate on the bottom, because if there was he might not be able to see all the eggs and any that he drops.
When they have finished spawning, the male will chase the female away from the nest. You should now move the female into her own tank again.
The male will begin caring for the eggs now. He will keep moving and fanning them. This stops them getting fungas on.
When the fry are free swimming, move the male back to his own tank again.
Feed the fry baby brine shrimp and infurisa (sp?)
Hope that helped someone,
James
(p.s. - no, i didnt copy that from another site)
In these tanks, there should be a cheap air driven sponge filter, a heater (unless your water is at 75*F already) and a live plant or two. Gravel, lighting, rocks etc are not needed, but can be added to make the tank look more attractive.
Second of all, a 10 gallon tank is needed. This is the spawning tank.
For this tank, you will need the following:
Air driven corner filter.
Heater
Light
Live plants for the female to hide in.
Thats it for the spawning tank. There should be no substrate in the tank, this is so when the female is releasing the eggs, the male takes them to the nest, and sometimes he may miss a few, and if there is gravel on the bottom, he may not be able to find them and take them to the nest. The temperature should be around 80*F.
Ok, so now what? You have a male and female betta, each in their own tank, and a ten gallon spawning tank.
Ok, you need to condition your pair of bettas, still in their own seperate tanks of coarse.
This conditioning should be done with as much live food as possible, for around two weeks.
I reccomend feeding lots of live bloodworm and brine shrimp. Feedings should be three times a day or so, with as much live food as they can eat.
Ok, two weeks of conditioning has passed, its time for them to spawn.
Place the male in a bag (the kind you get from the lfs, not any old carreir bag!) and float the bag in the 10g tank for 20 minutes or so to allow him to adjust to the temperature. After 20 minutes has passed, slowly release him into the tank, just like you would if you just bought a new fish.
A few hours later, put the female in the bag, and float her in the tank. The bag should be 75% oxgen and 25% water.
At first, the male should flare at the female, and try to attack her through the bag. Don't worry, this is completly normal behavoir. Leave her in the bag until everything is settled. By now, the male should be constructing a bubble nest, and the female should be taking on her verticle spawning stripes, and should be looking slightly more rounder than usual. Thats the eggs inside her.
Ok, release the female. Do exactly as you did with the male.
When the female has been released, the male will chase her round the tank a bit. Don't worry, again, this is perfectly normal behavior.
The male will now coax the female towards his bubble nest that he has built. If she dosnt like it, she will destroy it and make him build a new one. This could take minutes, hours, or even days...it just all depends on how picky the female is!
Ok, she has accepted the nest. She will now swim under the bubble nest with her head almost facing the gravel. This is letting the male know that she is ready to spawn. He will then embrace her, squeezing her untill all the eggs are out, he will fertelize them as they are being squeezed out. When this has finished, the female will look almost dead from the spawning. Dont worry, again, this is perfectly normal. The male will now begin taking the eggs to the bubble nest. This is why there should be no gravel or substrate on the bottom, because if there was he might not be able to see all the eggs and any that he drops.
When they have finished spawning, the male will chase the female away from the nest. You should now move the female into her own tank again.
The male will begin caring for the eggs now. He will keep moving and fanning them. This stops them getting fungas on.
When the fry are free swimming, move the male back to his own tank again.
Feed the fry baby brine shrimp and infurisa (sp?)
Hope that helped someone,
James
(p.s. - no, i didnt copy that from another site
)
