To Breed A Pläkät

[kubora666]

quiete simply i have a male pläkät fighter by himself, he is white, with blue top fin, red bottom fin, blue and red tail with some nice red fade on his belly,
absolutely beautiful fish. and hes making huge bubble nests on the surface and i know this is because he wants to breed, i was thinking how would i go about breeding him? or would it be too much trouble?
all of you betta breeders out there mind sharing some secrets?

 

[guppy_man]

I wouldn't attempt to breed bettas until you have read up on breeding. Alot of your time will be needed to look after the fry, and finding homes for over 150 bettas isnt easy.

have a read about before jumping straight into breeding.

 

[kubora666]

not only does my brother work for an LFS but there are many lfs around here that would gladly take them if i cant sell them.
i know how they breed i just thought i would ask here to see wether i get 1 female or a few any particular measures must be taken etc

 

[wilsonnw8]

1 female that suits the colour outcome that you want. Then you need lots of fry tanks ready. Both your male and female in seperate tanks will need conditioning with blood worm and Hikari for weeks and then when your male is nesting up you should insert a funnel with the female inside that way they can see each other. leave them like that for a few days perhaps more. then its a case of releasing the female and keeping an eye on proceedings. But expect a lot of fry that will need housing and first bites. Thats not all the info but its an insight

 

[ThePiggy]

Condition the male and female for some time (at least 3 weeks) each in their own tank. Have a third tank large enough to house potentially 300+ fry until they need to be separated due to aggression. There should be no gravel in the spawning tank so the male can easily get eggs that fall from the surface. The water level should be around 6 inches so the male doesn't get tired from going up and down constantly for days on end. There should be floating plants in the water and something cup-like floating at the surface for the male to build his nest in. Some use a styrofoam cup cut in half. You should have cultures ready for feeding the fry that will come in as little as 24 hours.

Once both bettas are conditioned, the male is put in the spawning tank so he can start building his nest. The next day, you can put the female in a glass tube placed vertically in the water so she has access to the surface of the water. After they are showing interest in each other that doesn't look aggressive, you can try to release the female. The entire breeding should be supervised so you can prevent any serious damage to either betta. When they are finished, you remove the female back to her own tank and allow the male to tend to his nest and eggs.

Keep the top of the tank sealed when you aren't doing water changes or feeding. Some people use clear plastic wrap and a rubber band. Warm, humid air is essential for the fry to develop their labyrinth organ. Some males have a tendency to eat their eggs and fry, so observe and remove the male to his tank if he does this. Otherwise, you leave him in until the fry are free swimming. Once they are free swimming, you remove the male to his tank and you can feed the fry. At first the fry live off their egg sacks, but in a couple of days it will be used up and you will need to feed the fry every 4 hours or so. You will have to do frequent water changes. As the fry grow and start to show aggression, they will need to be separated into their own tank.

There are SO many details that I didn't go into because I'd be writing a book here... also, it's been written out all over the place in this forum. If you do a search, it will turn them up. Check out the FAQ in the pinned section, too.