Why won't my male betta build a bubble nest?

[Nicki Gaga]

I bought my male and female betta two weeks ago and now they both live together in my 25 gallon tank. Bodylength-wise, the male is 4cm, and the female is 3cm. They don't fight each other. In fact, the male might come up to the female and "nudge" her, and then the female starts following him around the tank, so I guess they both get along fine. There are no aggressive fish in the tank. I feed them twice a day on frozen food, mainly brine shrimp, in which they enthusiastically eat, and maybe flakes and pellets during midday if I feel like it. I clean the tank once a week, changing 10% of the water each time. However, although the female is really bulgy, with her ovipositor sticking out, she still has stress stripes. The male is doing really fine and swimming around the tank. I've been wanting him to build a bubble nest and hopefully breed with the female. I have plants and I recently added four Indian almond leaves into the tank. However, all he did was swim under them and lay on top of them while sleeping, so now they sank. I have straight vallis reaching to the top corner of the tank too. The filter outlet is faced downwards so it doesn't create a strong current on the surface, or any current, and the air pump is releasing miniature bubbles through the airstone.

Am I conditioning them right? How do I get the female to show breeding stripes? And how do I get the male to build a bubble nest?

 

[Delapool]

Hi, so no water flow on the surface? I've found they will try and give up if too strong.

 

[Nicki Gaga]

There is a very weak current due to tiny air bubbles rising to the surface from the airstone. And the current doesn't reach the side where the straight vallis are so I doubt it would affect the bubble nest. I'd call them ripples.

 

[ktomminello]

They don't always build their nests at the surface. I had one male that would only build his nests inside a driftwood cave. I didn't think my betta were spawning until daddy decided to haul them out of the cave. He gave me about 7 cave spawnings before he was retired for killing his mates.

 

[ktomminello]

Oh- also I find raising the temperature, dropping the water level and feeding live blackworms and cyclopeeze helps with conditioning for breeding.

 

[Nicki Gaga]

I don't think I can find live blackworms or cyclopeeze so I guess I have to stick to live brine shrimp, since they enjoy it so much. The live bloodworms sold at the store stink a lot. Maybe I should try the polystyrene cup method as it floats for a long time, as well as raising the temperature. What's the point of lowering the water level?

 

[ktomminello]

Mimmicking dry season

 

[Nicki Gaga]

I can only lower it a bit so that the filter can still filter the water. But I'll try your advice. Thanks.

 

[ktomminello]

No problem. I've bred betta for a few years now and to be honest- there is no exact science behind getting them to spawn and a lot of it is just a waiting game.

I found more success when I dropped the water in the tank to about 6 inches from the substrate raised the temperature in the tank to 84°. I left it like that for a week and fed live and frozen. My male and female were kept separate- my female in a mason jar- I would place her jar in the tank for about an hour a night and left it beside the males tank (with screen covering the mouth of the jar to prevent suicides). Water in the mason jar was switched out several times a day in the males tank. After a week I filled the tank in the rest of the way with water just slightly cooler ( think rainwater temperature) and did a 5% water change. I would then release the female and observe closely. Usually they would spawn within minutes. This is a methodical process, though, and unless you're a science dweeb like me- this will take the pleasure out of fish keeping.... You're probably better off just keeping my pointers in mind and enjoy the serendipity of the betta breeding process.

 

[Nicki Gaga]

Your method sounds really easy and I believe that it would encourage my bettas to successfully breed. I'll try the water level part the next time I do a water change.

 

[ktomminello]

best of luck!! Keep us posted!!

 

[Harry Vysekal]

They also like still water, softer, with lower ph, which can be all done with almond leaf, I had been breeding betas before, quite easy to breed when you get little more practice, I always tend to leave them together, they will flare at each other, chase around, if the male becomes really aggressive I try different female, once the male pick the right partner for him he wont be that aggressive toward the female beta, and she will more likely defend her self


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