Wanting Babies

[The ultimate_fish MaC dAddY]

I really want to start spawning my bettas, but I want axle rose (my red veiltail) to breed with Aphrodite.

Now, can you put a male and female together in a 1 gallon tank? And if so how do you know if they want to mate? Should I let them listen to Berry White?

Thinking about putting the fry in a tubaware container if they do spawn. Would that be ok.

 

[Elise]

First of all, if you have a plakat female, why don't you get a plakat male to spawn her with? Just a suggestion....plakats will be easier to sell!

In the pinned section of the betta forum, there is an awesome write up on what you will need and how to go about it.

A one gallon is far too small for breeding (such close quarters, the male will kill her). Try a 5-10 gallon with about 4-5 inches of water.

You'll need LOTS of plants in one side so she can hide, and something liker half a styrafoam cup for him to bubblenest under.

Put him in first and let him get used to the place. Then, you can put her in a flute vase or half of a clear plastic bottle in the tank. Seeing her will give him the incentive to nest.

After he's made a sizable nest and she has breeding stripes and eggs, you can release her and let them go to it. You can leave them in there for a few days (unless he's just really beating her up terrible). Check the nest for eggs..usually when the dad is OBSESSED with the nest, that means eggs.

Take the female out and let the dad do his work until the fry are free swimming and he looks like he wants them for a snack.

Once the fry are bigg enough to have a WC (I think...someone correct me if I'm wrong), you can move them, carefully into a grow out tank.

That, my friend is breeding in short. BUT, please go read the pinned topic as it is full of a lot more info than what I've put here.

 

[The ultimate_fish MaC dAddY]

alright, thanks. I don't think I'm ready for breeding yet (not got my 10 gallon yet) plus I don't know if she's a plaket or not. What are some distinct charateristics of a plaket that a veiltail dosn't have?

 

[Elise]

Well, my little plakat girl has points on her tail, not rays with tips that extend out like a crownie. It is hard to tell on females. If you bought her at a lps or lfs and she wasn't specially marked, she is probably a vt or a mix. Although people have gotten lucky before!

Here is some pictures to help:


This is my crowntail female:

This is my plakat female (SHe has a tiny bite out of her tail in this pic ) ):

This is the spawn sister of my plakat girl:

And this is a pretty VT female:

See the slight differences in the tail type?

 

[The ultimate_fish MaC dAddY]

she looks like your plaket girl, but she has a pastel body with maroon fins. Is that a real common color formation for a female betta?

I'm trying to get a picture of her so I can show you guys.

 

[supersixone]

here's one of my plakat girls:

 

[The ultimate_fish MaC dAddY]

Can I get everyone to post pics of their female veiltails and plakets so I can tell the difference?

 

[splashluff]

DONT even THINK about spawning until you can almost definitely tell the tail type of any Betta. That's my advice ... seriously, there is no need at all to ask everyone to post pics of their VT or Plak females. You need to get onto Google, or go to the library or whatever, and look up every piece of reliable information you can get your hands on. There are INNUMERABLE sites that explain the various Betta tail types and how to define them ~ don't start by just comparing pictures, read up about each tail type and discover what their differences are. For instance, a Veil-Tail is determined by mentally (not literally) cutting the tail in half ~ if the tail is not perfectly even on each half, it's a VT.

If you got your female from WM or a pet store that does not exclusively specialize in tropical fish, there is a 99% chance she's NOT a Plakat, rather a VT >.<

And, there is no way in HELL you can spawn in a 1 gal no. way. in. hell. Please don't even try to imagine it. A 1 gal is hardly a sufficient home for one single Betta, much less 2 Bettas, plus 300 fry for over a week!

 

[Synirr]

Best advice I can give is this... when you're ready to spend well over $150 and at least an hour out of every day for the next several months caring for fry, then you might be ready to breed
Read, research, search Google until you can search no more... do this for a couple of months to see if the idea still appeals to you later on when the initial excitement has died down. If so, get ready to purchase a nice pair from a breeder to start you off. Like splashluff said, if you got your female from Walmart or any LFS that doesn't specialize in fish, chances are she's veiltail... and even if she's not, breeding her with a VT will get you nothing but VTs. Look at her anal fin... is it long and pointy? On plakat females the anal fin is more rounded.