Some betta breeding help

[AmberC]

Ok.. well... I was going to give it a try. I've got my tank all set up according to bettatalk.com's instructions. Yesterday I put Minty (male) and princess in the tank (shes in the chimney) and he showed intrest and she showed bars. I was just waiting for him to build a bubble nest before releasing her. Hes pretty young.. and still seems to be trying to get the hang of building a nest, but he was trying. Well this morning when I checked on them... his tail was shredded and some of his other fins too. (I think maybe from the plastic plants. I took out the plant I think did it) I removed minty and am treating him to make sure he doesn't get fin rot or infection. I decided to try with my other male (turbo) but he is young too (i think older than minty, but still young cause they are both small still.. just not full grown) So anyways... my prob is... Turbo wont build a bubble nest. He shows intrest in girlie... but wont build a nest. Will he? I haven't even seen him try yet. The female is showing bars for him too. What should I do then?

 

[rollntider]

Let them look at each other for 24 hours. My first spawn the male didnt build a nest until they started spawning. Different fish are different. Good luck ( I am no expert by the way , still a novice at breeding) I also used anachris in my spawning tank and it worked good....

 

[AmberC]

Thank you rollntider! Guess maybe I'm just impatient and paranoid lol

 

[rollntider]

your welcome, My male built the nest as he was mating, he would blow a few bubbles, embrace and then get the eggs and start blowing bubbles again....over and over again. I know he had to be tired LOL

 

[rollntider]

Wuvmybetta , Sorrell can prolly give you some pointers. They are the pros....LOL

 

[shrks1fan]

Nests aren't 100% necessary, I know of many breeders who have had many spawns with no nest AT ALL, Lol The babies just hung onto the surface of the water. They turned out fine, although I imagine dad was pretty tired as they do fall alot more. It's more important that the female be large with eggs, and if she's barring up then she's more than likely producing eggs and getting large.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com/files
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com/files

 

[rollntider]

one thing to note not all females will bar up. Mainly your lighter colored fish wont.
Just an FYI

 

[wuvmybetta]

Nests aren't 100% necessary, I know of many breeders who have had many spawns with no nest AT ALL, Lol The babies just hung onto the surface of the water. They turned out fine, although I imagine dad was pretty tired as they do fall alot more. It's more important that the female be large with eggs, and if she's barring up then she's more than likely producing eggs and getting large.

Agreed!

 

[Sorrell]

Thanks rollin, I don'y hold a candle to wuv, but I'll agree that the size of the nest isn't a huge deal. I also wouldn't worry that they are too young. Bettas are ready at 3-4 months. I for sure wouldn't use plastic plants in there as your female will want to hide some and she'll be wedging in the plants pretty good. Plastic could rip her up pretty good as well.

Something else you may try is releasing her for a bit and letting him get excited, then vasing her again. That may clue him in.

 

[wolfie33]

I have bred betta's quite a few times and i have found that nearly every male after about 6-8 months will build a nest even if there are no female betta's in a tank,infact once i had 1 male betta and i male guppy in a tank and he still built a bubble nest.
And have you definatley got a female? a lot of people put young males or even short finned mature males in with the male betta and all hell broke loose.
Also make sure there is little filtration or prefrebly no filter at all.
and i'd say sperate them for a few days feeding only bloodworm.

 

[the skunk]

yes, wolfie has a good point. plakats can be sold as females and what are you conditioning them on??? plenty of live food help males build nests.

 

[AmberC]

Thanks everyone.. I thought this post had died. I have a small filter that puts almost no flow into the water. I learned the hard way about those plastic plants... although it was my male that got shredded up, not my female I took him out asap to heal his fins (it was pretty bad) and I'm not going to try again until he's healed. YES I am positive I have a female lol. I see her ovipositor. She DOES bar up. I will do without the plastic plants. I didn't know that they could spawn without the bubble nest tho. Thanks for that info! I actually turned the 10 into a hospital tank for right now cause I had an emergency with my female ram. I have to wait for the males fins to heal up anyways tho.

I also read on betta talk that they will only breed up till 6 months of age.. is that really true? They wont spawn anymore after 6 months? And is that just the male? Or females too? Thanks

 

[shrks1fan]

6 months? Hogwash! Bettas can usually breed until at least 1.5 years, however their "prime" breeding age is 5 months to a year.

Linda
http/www.pet-emporium.com/files
http/www.cooking-fanatics.com/files

 

[AmberC]

Oh ok. thanks. I thought 6 months was a little young to never breed again.