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When i put my Bettas in together in da breeding tank, how long do i leave them in? how i know if they aren't ready? Sorry for all the ?'s, im new at breeding them.

What came first? the chicken or the egg? No really.....

Make sure the male has been in the tank ALONE for about a week. He needs to get to know his new territory and get over the stress of a new home before you introduce his lady friend.


Once it comes time to introduce the girl, there are a few methods that work pretty well, and all are variations on the hurricane lamp method. Pick whichever makes the most sense to you, or the one you have the equipment for

1) THE CUP JUMP METHOD
Have the male in the tank for about a week, and then add a beer cup to the tank. It can either float or have its bottom on the base of the tank, but it has to be pretty full. Add the female to the cup. The idea is that when she is ready, she can jump out of the cup herself to be with him, and that takes the guesswork out of it for the breeder

2) THE SNIFFY HURRICANE LAMP METHOD
Hurricane lamps are hard to find in this part of the world, so we came up with something better You take a large soda or water bottle (something with straightish sides) and cut the top and bottom off it so you have a tube. You then melt holes in the tube with a soldering iron. This lets the water circulate through both the tank and the lamp, meaning that the male can 'smell' the female as well as see her, and vice versa. If you are woried about the 'lamp' tipping over, silicon some stones or glass gems to the inside wall of the base to keep it steady.
Leave the female in there for around 7-14 days. I know it seems like a long time, but it minimises damage when you release them, and gives you a good shot at getting a spawn straight away.


Those two methods are the ones that breeders I know have had the most success with. The first one lets the girl pick when she is ready, and the second one is the ultimate in teasing so gives you a better chance of getting the result you want even if your timing is a bit out.

REMEMBER:
Condition both fish seperately first. Feed meaty foods like bloodworms and if you are used to seeing each other all the time, take them away so that they can't see each other. This builds excitement and is VERY important if you are doing a brother/sister mating.

Don't be impatient. They will flirt and run around and do all sorts of things that can be stressful when you first release them (if you use that method, and even if the female jumps). The female will probably hide and the male will probably flare a lot. That is normal. They might also have some fin damage, and that is normal too.

RE-JAR the female if the male is biting and marking her body. Fin nipping is normal, body bites are just plain mean and nasty and the male is obviously not ready. Pop her back in the jar and give her another 4-7 days of teasing.

TAKE THE FEMALE OUT if her colour bleaches out for too long, or if she has very few fins left. I can tell you now that there is a big likelihood that she'll get beat up, but there is a point at which you have to remove and treat her for wounds, and try again another time.

The key here is PATIENCE

Patience with teasing.

Patience with the spawning.

Every time you go to change something, maybe to release her or take her out, ask yourself "should I give them a little bit longer?"

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

As above or give em a 30 gallon , loads of plants and let them sort themselves out after heavy livefood infusions. Mine live together indefinately, and breed as and when they feel like it. I find it gets round the 5 gallon introduction/punch up scenario rather nicely. And before anyone mentions it, yes you can keep bettas at 2 females to one male in a 30, but dont do males together, as in ever. Slow flow rates, moss or riccia floating on the surface a definate advantage.

Sometimes if you give a male a brief introduction to a female he might start nesting, then introduce her again and bingo. Pre-breeding conditioning is everything.

*psst* you can do males together, but there are so many conditions on it that it isn't very worthwhile. I'll get hung, drawn and quartered here for even suggesting such a thing *hides*

Do you get any fry from that method Git? I know that leaving the male in to care for the fry can increase the chances of a high number of offspring, but I'd be concerned about the second rogue female, as they don't tend to be very loving towards other couple's fry. Would love to know how that all works

There is also another method that the Thai breeders use, which is to 1/4 fill a 55 gal, toss in some Indian almond leaves, and introduce both fish. They don't use plants or substrate as they don't like the female to be able to get away. That method takes a lot of skill with identifying readiness and temperament etc, so it isn't recommended.


I have done my last 3-4 spawns without more than a scratch. I think one male blew his tail while displaying, but that was it. You get an eye for it. I hate seeing girls get the tripe beaten out of them, so I do all of my spawns over about a month, and tease them until they are just ready to mate with anything that swims. I'd drive really serious breeders crazy, but it works, and I get really great results with minimal, if any, damage.

I've also left the male in indefinitely with my last ones, and that works wonderfully too. Still haven't figutred out how to get the female to play nice, but I think that the males get so protective that pushing the envelope on that could just end up with her being munched on.

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

Wow! You all put in so much work to help me! i really appriciate it! I'll try the different ways, and i'll hopefully keep an update about how its going. Keep up the good work!!!

What came first? the chicken or the egg? No really.....

Psst, yeah , I know that too

Don't tell anyone. Seriously though, anyone reading this should really disregard what calla and I just said- as 90% of the time it leads to injury and death. Folks who dont literally live and breathe fish should not be trying it. As calla says you do have to be one of those weird people like us who know their fish so well we can pre-empt behaviour.But then I used to be able to read reptiles, and I find fish pretty expressive by comparison. Its not a thing for beginners though.Calla probably reads crayfish.lol.

The multiple female thing works out primarily because of the dad and the presence of a complete carpet of XMAS moss in my case, and the tank is a 25 , and its so densely planted that there is literally no real open space, and the fry stay alive plenty long enough to be segregated, Ive had fry literally grow up in that tank with no probs, and the survival rates are high, not least of which is probably because of all the forage freely available.

Oddly enough its the girls in my tank that are the most aggressive, on the first day the male was introduced he sustained quite a bit of fin damage, but now he's a little bigger and wiser he fights his own corner well, and you never get more than a flare up without contact and he and the three females all rush back to their stations.lol.

Now they all have about an 8 inch territory each, and they dont leave it unless they feed, after which they all flare and co back to their area, or somebody fancies a bit of the other, and they go and visit his bubble nest, either mating and laying, or tearing a bit out of it and swimming off with him flaring behind them. I dont think being protective about fry has occurred to him TBH , he just doesnt want the nest torn up, and keeps the females away sometimes, and the fry coincidentally benefit. Generally he ignores them, and if eggs drop they hit the moss and get obscured, and sometimes they hatch anyway.

It keeps them amused i guess. I think because of the bigger tank im seeing more natural behaviour. I assume this is pretty much how it goes in the wild, with a few females keeping a half eye on a likely male while shrouded in heavy vegetation, just dropping by for a bit of hows your father when they feel the need and like the look of the nest. Beats a 5 gallon to hell anyway.

Bettas arent so mean when you get away from little bare tanks. Feisty yes, but not half so murderous.

I know im a begginer at this, but, at one point ou were, so.... i gotta start somewhere, dont i?

What came first? the chicken or the egg? No really.....

Lol yes , of course, but just dont start by putting two males together is all . Everything else is fair game .