Beta breeding

[Swampman]

Hi My wife and I enjoy our Beta. Than we thought about breeding him. I read a few articles about breeding them. Our beta is building bubble nests. So I know he is ready. I saw in UTUBE the "dance" they do. I also saw an interesting way to introduce the female. Put her in a jar in the same tank and let the male get hot for her. Than eggs drop and on and on. But what I can't find is how long is it until you have to separate the males? How do you know what sex they are when they are that small? How do you keep that many male betas? Small bowls. We are in the thinking stage. I have bred Bristal nose plecas. I know many of you bred them. I am looking to increase my hobby knowledge. But I want to have an idea what to do. Thanks

 

[Andy Sager]

Be careful what you wish for.
You can''t sex Bettas when they are small and, depending on what type(s) you breed, you may not be able to tell sex until they are old enough to start blowing nests ( This is mainly the Plakat Bettas). What the pro breeders do is separate the males into 1 gallon containers when they start showing elongated fins (if they are showing them in competitions) or when they start fighting. Usually, spawns that are raised together will usually not fight for a longer period of time so you could wind up with a number of fully developed males that aren't fighting. HOWEVER, once you separate them, the odds of successfully putting them back together with a good outcome goes way down. There is also a downside to raising the spawn for long periods of time together. The more dominant fish of the spawn will release a hormone preventing their siblings from developing so you can wind up with a number of runt fish that won't mature until you remove the other fish and the hormone from the water ( through water changes).
The breeding process is more than just watching for the eggs to drop. I'm not sure what video you saw this on but there needs to be direct contact between the male and female or the eggs don't get fertilized so unless this video showed that, those eggs were not going to hatch. I have had females get so excited while waiting for their males to build a nest that they released their eggs in the jar ( I introduce my females first through visual contact in a separate jar) but again, those eggs will be duds.
Another thing you may not be aware of with breeding bettas is that it can be a brutal experience and tough to watch. Many females are killed in the breeding process. Both fish in the pair can have their fins shredded and they may not always grow back to what they were when they started. I always suggest that if you like your betta the way it is now, DON'T breed them. Get others for breeding purposes.

Now, having said all that..... I strongly suggest you read this article (all 4 parts) before you decide what you are doing. breeding bettas


Hope this helps

 

[Minato]

Hi My wife and I enjoy our Beta. Than we thought about breeding him. I read a few articles about breeding them. Our beta is building bubble nests. So I know he is ready. I saw in UTUBE the "dance" they do. I also saw an interesting way to introduce the female. Put her in a jar in the same tank and let the male get hot for her. Than eggs drop and on and on. But what I can't find is how long is it until you have to separate the males? How do you know what sex they are when they are that small? How do you keep that many male betas? Small bowls. We are in the thinking stage. I have bred Bristal nose plecas. I know many of you bred them. I am looking to increase my hobby knowledge. But I want to have an idea what to do. Thanks

It's always good to consider how are you going to have 300+ containers to keep each young males as they will kill each other, other thing is they are easy to spawn but the fry are so tiny that I could only raise them by feeding them with microworms, as brine shrimp weren't as successful as microworms. Also Indian almond leafs for the water to soften and also it adds tannins to the tank, and provide structure for the nest. Had great success with almond leafs


Peace and Success to your fishes from my iPhone

 

[Swampman]

Thankss

Thanks Andy and Minato; This is the information that you can only get when you talk to seasoned breeder/fish hobbyists. I am not sure that breeding betas are for me. When you view a clip on UTUBE they leave out a lot of info. Or they don't know about it. The hormone that is released is very interesting. 300 containers of betas, I would have fish all over the house. I think I'll try my hand at another fish to breed. Maybe Angels.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks Andy and Minato; This is the information that you can only get when you talk to seasoned breeder/fish hobbyists. I am not sure that breeding betas are for me. When you view a clip on UTUBE they leave out a lot of info. Or they don't know about it. The hormone that is released is very interesting. 300 containers of betas, I would have fish all over the house. I think I'll try my hand at another fish to breed. Maybe Angels.

Just so you know, Angels do require a number of tanks. They are prolific breeders. I use 4 tanks ( 1 small and 3 large) per every 1 pair of Angels. You can read about my setup at "Wigglers2: Birth of a hatchery" or the thread "Wigglers at last!!!" both here in the breeding forum.

 

[Minato]

Thanks Andy and Minato; This is the information that you can only get when you talk to seasoned breeder/fish hobbyists. I am not sure that breeding betas are for me. When you view a clip on UTUBE they leave out a lot of info. Or they don't know about it. The hormone that is released is very interesting. 300 containers of betas, I would have fish all over the house. I think I'll try my hand at another fish to breed. Maybe Angels.

I had build my self drip barrack 3 table size shelf with 4 rows with 30 jars in each row, ended up dismantling it due to lack of space and full time job. Some day I am going to start the project all over again but better than the last one. I am going to buy marble gene beta and some double crown tail female, as marble in their genome makes them change colour which is pretty stunning.

Any way here's my project( drip barrack)3 shelfs, egglayers on the bottom shelf, livebearers in the middle, and top will be shrimps and hopefully bristle nose.


Peace and Success to your fishes from my iPhone

 

[Minato]

lack of space so came up with up this this


Peace and Success to your fishes from my iPhone