Spawning

[haleystropicalfish]

YAY! I have had my male betta in a ten gallon tank with my female, Saphire in a chimney with him. Here is the setup I did.

Here is an upside-down tupperware container that I placed in there for his nest. I taped string to it and then to the side of the tank, just to make sure it wouldn't sink.

I put some fine netting around the suction area and part of a 2 leader bottle around the place where the water comes out to reduce current. I also make straw-booies to help stop the waves. This is only untill I get my sponge filter.

This is a little colorful statue that I've had since my very first betta. That is where saphire can hide when she's all tired out.

Fluffy has been in there for about 36 hours, and he has begun his bubblenest. Here are some pictures of it:

The while thing:

Close up:

My only problem is that he didn't build it in the tupperware container, and it's touching the edge of her jar. Just barly but still. Do you think it would be a good idea to make a booie circle to put between her jar and his nest befor it gets bigger? That was he can attach his nest to the edge of that and I can safley remove the jar. Sounds good to me, how about you? I will continue to post the news and new questions on the topic so long as people keep comming back to this one. Please keep checking back for updates. Trust me, you will be the first to know.


UPDATE:
The nest has fallen apart!! I managed to resque part of it and fluffy is back to building. Aiming for Monday to spawn. Keep checking back, things couold change!

 

[nemosworld]

i wouldn't touch a thing. just make sure the fan in the room is off or keep the cover on so no drafts get in.

 

[haleystropicalfish]

i wouldn't touch a thing. just make sure the fan in the room is off or keep the cover on so no drafts get in.

I only took the cover off to take pics. And I'm very careful about the fan. And you know how I said the nest was barley attached to the jar? Well, I went back in the room and it had borcken away from the jar (big whoop, a few bubbles, right?) Wrong. It went in the one possible way where it broke of and floated all as one big bubble over to the filter area and byebye nest. I was so sad! It might have had something to do with my taking the top of and breathing and all that stuff, lol! Well, I took the last of the bubble and nudged them under the tupperware container and he has continued to build his nest there. He is being very dilligent about it, and is not giving up. I'm so proud of him! Well, he should be finished by sometime tomarro, and I will probably go for spawning them on monday of next week. Tomarro I have to go to something at 2:00 and he might not be done by the time we get home, and I would do it on Friday, but my dad is comming to pick me up (hopefully) to go camping, and I couldn't be back until late sunday. So just to make sure I have plenty of time to supervise them, I'm aiming for Monday.

 

[haleystropicalfish]

Saphire keeps dropping little white dots from her underside and then eating them! Are those eggs? Is it okay if she eats them? Is she still ready to breed and just overflowing? Is this natural? PLEASE Help!

 

[nemosworld]

yeah those are eggs. it's normal when a female gets rid of eggs that are no longer viable. i would wait until she's done getting rid of those, feed her some high protein food for 2-3 days and try again (need some more eggs to mature).

 

[haleystropicalfish]

yeah those are eggs. it's normal when a female gets rid of eggs that are no longer viable. i would wait until she's done getting rid of those, feed her some high protein food for 2-3 days and try again (need some more eggs to mature).

Aww man! I'm tired of just feeding her. I want them to breed. How long am I going to have to keep doing this?

 

[nemosworld]

you can stop soon lol. if you're going away for the weekend, i suggest you don't let them see each other as she may let too many eggs mature and go bad. just feed her and spawn them when you get back

 

[Lynda B]

I'm confused about the tupperware nest thingie? Have you ever had a male build his nest in something like that before? It just seems pretty unnatural. I'm fairly sure my males would shrug their little fins at it and swim away. I've laid squares of wax paper and let them float on the water and the males will attach their nests to that. But I've never had them get into a container before.

If you're going away, definitely do not leave her in the tank with him unattended.

 

[haleystropicalfish]

Okay, I took her out and started feeding her again and I figured if I'm taking her out, I'll take him out to. So I did, I'm going to condition them a little more, then, heck, i don't want to do this again. It's just not my thing.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

You can't give up so easily! That's like saying you wanna have a baby but when you don't get preggers after a week just giving up!!
When you come back from you break give them some bloodworm etc, put some floating plants in the tank and some IAL's. My boys always use the IAL's, helps the nest stay in one place and not drift apart. Plus the plants will add in that too. Also means he can rest himself while looking after the nest after it contains eggs.
It all takes a little time and alot of patience! It took me 4 months from first try to actual success. Once you get the hang of it you learn what works best for your own bettas.
P.

 

[nemosworld]

You can't give up so easily! That's like saying you wanna have a baby but when you don't get preggers after a week just giving up!!
When you come back from you break give them some bloodworm etc, put some floating plants in the tank and some IAL's. My boys always use the IAL's, helps the nest stay in one place and not drift apart. Plus the plants will add in that too. Also means he can rest himself while looking after the nest after it contains eggs.
It all takes a little time and alot of patience! It took me 4 months from first try to actual success. Once you get the hang of it you learn what works best for your own bettas.
P.

so true, it took me 3 months to condition and mate my pair. they just didn't mate until i moved them to a smaller tank (5 gallon). IAL works wonders. it's all worth it once you see the little fry and they'll look at you with their giant eyes and you'll go awwww

 

[haleystropicalfish]

My mom wants to partner up with me an help me finantially! YAY! And what does AIL mean?

 

[nemosworld]

IAL=indian almond leaf. look at the links in the topic by wuvmybetta. there's a good explanation there

 

[haleystropicalfish]

I'm back from camping! I got a betta book from my sister that says a little more about everything from history to the actual breeding. I've read the entire book, and I now have my spawning tank set up(right) and my male betta, Fluffy, adjusting to the water temperature.
Thanks to my mom, Saphire isn't going to be breeding with Fluffy right away. I came home and she was pale and had horisontal stripes. I found out from mom that on top of the stress and lack of food that comes with being in the chimney for a couple of days, she forgot to feed her! I fed her several times last night, and she has all her color back, and her stripes are gone. She looks all better, but I don't want to put her through that again just yet. I want to give her some time to recover. So instead, Ruby is taking her place. According to my plan, I will release her eather thursday or next monday. I'm leaning towards next monday because it will take Fluffy 1-3 days to build a nest, 2-3 days for Ruby to ripen her eggs and what not, and several more days for them to spawn. I can't wait to see what the fry will look like!