gday all, chris from australia here...
iv noticed in the last month or two there has been plenty of questions about spawning and what the process actually involves, as i have a bit of free time these days, i decided to start a spawn log for all the guys who plan to breed sometime or anybody who is interested in general!
k to start with both fish need to be conditioned, its not a scientific process, it simply means to prepare the male and female to spawn, it is a very tiring process and they must both be well prepared, if they are not well prepared, chances are the female wont co-operate, the male will simply get frustrated and will more than likely inflict damage on the female, in more serious cases even kill her. now for those who are thinking "thats ok i can just re-condition her when her fins grow back and try again" WRONG! if a female has a negative breeding experience there is a good chance you will never be able to breed her, bettas are very delicate and must be well prepared and taken care of if you want a successful healthy spawn.
ok straight up you need the breeding tank or container, the larger the better (up to a certain size of course), fill it up with fresh water say 8 - 10 cm high, if you want to de-chlor the water you may, but i dont because i will leave this tank for about a week before i even put a fish inside it so by then all the chlorine has evaporated, the reason i do this is because i try and keep the water as natural as possible with the least chemicals i possibly can. but if you want to be on the safe side theres no harm in treating the water.
the container i use is a 120 liter container which is about 80 cm long 40 cm wide and 40 cm high, i probably wouldnt try in anything much smaller than that, and if you can get an extra 20 cm or so then to what iv got than even better!
first thing that goes in are fresh live plants, try and fill a third or so with plants to give plenty of room for the female to hide, also its great for the water oxygen wise and it creates infusoria which is a small micro food that fry can and will eat if available!
next thing is heater, you will need to monitor the temperature of the water (with a thermometer which is opposite the heater) for the next few days and see if you are getting any variation of temperatures 80 F is ideal but you can get away with 76 - 84, if you are getting too much fluctuation you should consider trying a different heater, too much temperature change can destroy a spawn, but most of the time there isnt a problem with the temperatures.
k now you can get a white styrofoam cup and cut it in half (lengths way) and float it on the water in one of the corners stick a piece of sticky tape on the end of the cup and the side of the container to make it stable, so it wont float away (if your confused about what i mean dont worry as there is a picture below which will show you what i mean), the purpose of this cup is so the male can build his bubblenest underneath it with a bit of protection (dont ask me how the male knows to build under there he just does)
now i put a breeding cage directly opposite the styrofoam cup as this is where you will leave the female until she is ready to be released, allow a clear view of the cup as we want her to keep an eye on the bubblenest as it is being built, the breeding cage costs about 10$ australian so about 7$ u.s i would imagine.
in the direct opposite corner of the cup as far away as possible i have the base of my sponge filter, i dont have an air hose attached nor is it connected to power yet, i wont connect it to power until 2 weeks or so after the fry have hatched. the sponge filter was placed in a healthy aquarium for 3 days or so to get some beneficial bacteria build up before i put it in the breeding tank.
that basically sums up how i set my breeding tank up, of course there are plenty other ways, such as letting them mate in a small container before moving them to the big container, having 2 heaters in the tank 1 on 1 off in case one breaks, having 2 thermometers at different ends of tank, not having a filter at all and so on, im not saying my way is the best but it is what works for me =) ... the beauty of raising and having bettas is theres not 1 set way to maintain them, theres no right or wrong and its up to the owner as to which method works for him / her
here is a picture of my basic set up that is about a week old:
iv just put the fish in about 30 mins ago... the specks on the ground are simply specks of dirt from the plants and isnt anything to worry about.. in fact some people believe that fry will eat eat dirt and the junk that resides on the bottom of the tank but thats another matter
i put the male in first, watch him carefully for the next 5 mins, after that you can put the lid on the container and let him roam around and explore his new environment, after say an hour or so you can put the female inside the little trap, its very important you dont just drop her in with the male as he can and will get excited and chase her around like a mad thing.
now its important to remember you shouldnt release the female until there is a bubblenest of a decent sized built, this indicates that the male is ready and is pretty much the only indication from him. signs that the female is ready is obviously she isnt showing stress stripes, is nice and dark in coloring and more importantly vertical striples around the stomach region should appear, which is direct opposite from the horizontal bars which refer to stress.
its quite normal for the female to show her stress bars as soon as you put her in the water as its a new container, maybe a different temperature, restricted in a small breeding trap and the male going bannanas in the back ground, i leave them there over night and release the female about midday the next day (if the bubblenest is ready) if theres no bubblenest still by the day after chances are your male is not ready yet. likewise if the female still has stress stripes the next day it means the same thing.
if the male hasnt got a bubblenest within 2 days or the female is still showing stress stripes the next morning i would suggest that the betta isnt ready for breeding and to remove him or her immediatly.
its a real pain in the butt to get decent photos of bettas but here is the best i could do... first one is the female which will be her first spawn and second one is my favorite male of all time, and will be his 2nd spawn and many more to come hopefully! ... they are both from very strong fighting indonesian bloodlines
this is a bit of what to expect .. the female will be wiggling and moving around alot in her cage, while the male (this is the best time to ever see him) usually swims around the container like crazy, stopping suddenly and taking off again.. and he will display his fins and show off to the female, its beautiful watching him in this process especially if hes one of ur very own fry from another spawn! i guess similar the feeling mothers get when their sons or daughters get married on wedding day!
this picture just about sums up the process that will take place until the "squeeze" happens, the male will swim up to the female displaying and showing off his fins whilst flaring (sometimes the female will flare back too) and swim away as if to say follow me, when a bubblenest is built he will swim up to the female and away to the bubblenest to try and entice her to come along too.
this picture was taken about 45 mins after the female was put in the container NO LIE! ... now its not common for this to happen so fast but this male is great! hes already proven that hes ready to breed and now its up to the female, as you can see he didnt feel the need to use the styrofoam cup, no big deal i will take it out later =)
even tho bubblenest is underway i still dont release female until around midday the next day, dont ask me why its just my way of doing things
one thing i would like to mention especially is to just leave the lid on the container, i know its very exciting and you wanna check up on them every 10 mins to see what they are up to, but all you do is disrupt the process and make them uncomfortable, in fact if there are eggs in the bubblenest and you take the lid off the male might feel endangered and eat the eggs! so its very important not to disturb the fish, i would suggest 3x a day max you can have a little peek but make sure you dont just rip the lid off, be subtle about it.
id also like to point out now that if you dont have your food ready to set up, than dont bother starting with all this, its critical to have ur food ready before you spawn, take your choice of microworms (what i use), vinegar eels, daphnia and baby brine shrimp.. all live of course.
well im off to sleep now, i will leave the female in her cage overnight and allow the male to work on his bubblenest, if the bubblenest is big enough and the female is nice and dark with no stress lines but rather vertical breeding stripes i will release her between 12 and 1 tomorrow, if the female is still stressed i will remove her, if she is not stressed but breeding lines arnt visible then i will leave them there for 1 more night.
i will keep you guys updated with pictures and more! please feel free to ask any questions you want!
- chris
iv noticed in the last month or two there has been plenty of questions about spawning and what the process actually involves, as i have a bit of free time these days, i decided to start a spawn log for all the guys who plan to breed sometime or anybody who is interested in general!
k to start with both fish need to be conditioned, its not a scientific process, it simply means to prepare the male and female to spawn, it is a very tiring process and they must both be well prepared, if they are not well prepared, chances are the female wont co-operate, the male will simply get frustrated and will more than likely inflict damage on the female, in more serious cases even kill her. now for those who are thinking "thats ok i can just re-condition her when her fins grow back and try again" WRONG! if a female has a negative breeding experience there is a good chance you will never be able to breed her, bettas are very delicate and must be well prepared and taken care of if you want a successful healthy spawn.
ok straight up you need the breeding tank or container, the larger the better (up to a certain size of course), fill it up with fresh water say 8 - 10 cm high, if you want to de-chlor the water you may, but i dont because i will leave this tank for about a week before i even put a fish inside it so by then all the chlorine has evaporated, the reason i do this is because i try and keep the water as natural as possible with the least chemicals i possibly can. but if you want to be on the safe side theres no harm in treating the water.
the container i use is a 120 liter container which is about 80 cm long 40 cm wide and 40 cm high, i probably wouldnt try in anything much smaller than that, and if you can get an extra 20 cm or so then to what iv got than even better!
first thing that goes in are fresh live plants, try and fill a third or so with plants to give plenty of room for the female to hide, also its great for the water oxygen wise and it creates infusoria which is a small micro food that fry can and will eat if available!
next thing is heater, you will need to monitor the temperature of the water (with a thermometer which is opposite the heater) for the next few days and see if you are getting any variation of temperatures 80 F is ideal but you can get away with 76 - 84, if you are getting too much fluctuation you should consider trying a different heater, too much temperature change can destroy a spawn, but most of the time there isnt a problem with the temperatures.
k now you can get a white styrofoam cup and cut it in half (lengths way) and float it on the water in one of the corners stick a piece of sticky tape on the end of the cup and the side of the container to make it stable, so it wont float away (if your confused about what i mean dont worry as there is a picture below which will show you what i mean), the purpose of this cup is so the male can build his bubblenest underneath it with a bit of protection (dont ask me how the male knows to build under there he just does)
now i put a breeding cage directly opposite the styrofoam cup as this is where you will leave the female until she is ready to be released, allow a clear view of the cup as we want her to keep an eye on the bubblenest as it is being built, the breeding cage costs about 10$ australian so about 7$ u.s i would imagine.
in the direct opposite corner of the cup as far away as possible i have the base of my sponge filter, i dont have an air hose attached nor is it connected to power yet, i wont connect it to power until 2 weeks or so after the fry have hatched. the sponge filter was placed in a healthy aquarium for 3 days or so to get some beneficial bacteria build up before i put it in the breeding tank.
that basically sums up how i set my breeding tank up, of course there are plenty other ways, such as letting them mate in a small container before moving them to the big container, having 2 heaters in the tank 1 on 1 off in case one breaks, having 2 thermometers at different ends of tank, not having a filter at all and so on, im not saying my way is the best but it is what works for me =) ... the beauty of raising and having bettas is theres not 1 set way to maintain them, theres no right or wrong and its up to the owner as to which method works for him / her
here is a picture of my basic set up that is about a week old:
iv just put the fish in about 30 mins ago... the specks on the ground are simply specks of dirt from the plants and isnt anything to worry about.. in fact some people believe that fry will eat eat dirt and the junk that resides on the bottom of the tank but thats another matter
i put the male in first, watch him carefully for the next 5 mins, after that you can put the lid on the container and let him roam around and explore his new environment, after say an hour or so you can put the female inside the little trap, its very important you dont just drop her in with the male as he can and will get excited and chase her around like a mad thing.
now its important to remember you shouldnt release the female until there is a bubblenest of a decent sized built, this indicates that the male is ready and is pretty much the only indication from him. signs that the female is ready is obviously she isnt showing stress stripes, is nice and dark in coloring and more importantly vertical striples around the stomach region should appear, which is direct opposite from the horizontal bars which refer to stress.
its quite normal for the female to show her stress bars as soon as you put her in the water as its a new container, maybe a different temperature, restricted in a small breeding trap and the male going bannanas in the back ground, i leave them there over night and release the female about midday the next day (if the bubblenest is ready) if theres no bubblenest still by the day after chances are your male is not ready yet. likewise if the female still has stress stripes the next day it means the same thing.
if the male hasnt got a bubblenest within 2 days or the female is still showing stress stripes the next morning i would suggest that the betta isnt ready for breeding and to remove him or her immediatly.
its a real pain in the butt to get decent photos of bettas but here is the best i could do... first one is the female which will be her first spawn and second one is my favorite male of all time, and will be his 2nd spawn and many more to come hopefully! ... they are both from very strong fighting indonesian bloodlines
this is a bit of what to expect .. the female will be wiggling and moving around alot in her cage, while the male (this is the best time to ever see him) usually swims around the container like crazy, stopping suddenly and taking off again.. and he will display his fins and show off to the female, its beautiful watching him in this process especially if hes one of ur very own fry from another spawn! i guess similar the feeling mothers get when their sons or daughters get married on wedding day!
this picture just about sums up the process that will take place until the "squeeze" happens, the male will swim up to the female displaying and showing off his fins whilst flaring (sometimes the female will flare back too) and swim away as if to say follow me, when a bubblenest is built he will swim up to the female and away to the bubblenest to try and entice her to come along too.
this picture was taken about 45 mins after the female was put in the container NO LIE! ... now its not common for this to happen so fast but this male is great! hes already proven that hes ready to breed and now its up to the female, as you can see he didnt feel the need to use the styrofoam cup, no big deal i will take it out later =)
even tho bubblenest is underway i still dont release female until around midday the next day, dont ask me why its just my way of doing things
one thing i would like to mention especially is to just leave the lid on the container, i know its very exciting and you wanna check up on them every 10 mins to see what they are up to, but all you do is disrupt the process and make them uncomfortable, in fact if there are eggs in the bubblenest and you take the lid off the male might feel endangered and eat the eggs! so its very important not to disturb the fish, i would suggest 3x a day max you can have a little peek but make sure you dont just rip the lid off, be subtle about it.
id also like to point out now that if you dont have your food ready to set up, than dont bother starting with all this, its critical to have ur food ready before you spawn, take your choice of microworms (what i use), vinegar eels, daphnia and baby brine shrimp.. all live of course.
well im off to sleep now, i will leave the female in her cage overnight and allow the male to work on his bubblenest, if the bubblenest is big enough and the female is nice and dark with no stress lines but rather vertical breeding stripes i will release her between 12 and 1 tomorrow, if the female is still stressed i will remove her, if she is not stressed but breeding lines arnt visible then i will leave them there for 1 more night.
i will keep you guys updated with pictures and more! please feel free to ask any questions you want!
- chris
will be interesting to see the the fry i like your setup 
Your bettas are so pretty. Do those live plants work well with hiding the girl?
