BREEDING BETTAS AND JARRING UP THE YOUNG:

There are two basic methods useful for spawning these fish. The choice of which one to use is determined by your goals for the breeding. For producing show quality fish, high numbers of fry are required, so method Number 1 is best because it offers maximum environmental and fish control.

                                                    Method #1 : Controlled Method

The focus of this method is to keep the breeders in the best possible shape and produce the highest number of offspring possible. It is hoped that some very good fry will show up among the multitude produced. These very good ones can be entered in shows and/or used for further breeding.

No live or artificial plants are used in this method and no other living things (other than food organisms) are added to the tank. The female is protected from the male by placing her in a transparent chimney of some sort (a glass kerosene lamp chimney or cut-off Pepsi bottle). She can be released and re-caught with only minimal disturbance. If you keep her in something else and have to net her to let her out or pen her up then she will get flustered and spawning will take a lot longer or may not happen at all.

If she is willing to spawn, she will change from having either a solid colour or distinct horizontal barring to distinct vertical barring of alternating light and dark bars.

The spawning proceeds with the male wrapping himself around the female so that their vents are lined up. In this way, the eggs can be fertilized as soon as they are expressed.  At this point all kinds of things can go wrong, but hopefully things will proceed normally.

It is best to let the male care for the eggs (photo39) as he is usually more reliable. The female should be penned again in the chimney.

Some sort of low-level light should now be provided through the night to enable the male to care for the eggs and nest. Should the light go out, he might fall asleep and not remember what he was doing when he awakens. He might now look at the eggs as a treat and eat them all! I use a small flourescent night light and I tape it up with electrical tape so that only a small hole allows only a tiny ray of light to shine on the nest. Be careful, if too much light gets out into the room from this night light it can disrupt the light cycle of your other breeders and they may not spawn.

This is the biggest reason for spawning failure... improper light control!

This is called photo-period control. You must control the duration of light your breeders are exposed to. Limit this to only 12 hours.

Over the years, when people call me regarding their fishes' inability to spawn, the problem is TOO MUCH LIGHT! Either they have left the room light on too long in the evening (only 12 hours is best eg. sunrises at 7 am. then lights must go off at 7 pm.) or they have not excluded all light coming into the room. Just a bright street light shining in the window at night can disrupt their hormonal balance and throw them off of the spawning. So you might have to install a light-excluding blind on the window in your fish room.

When the fry hatch in three days a good male will busy himself mouthing the fry and return them to the bubblenest. Most males are very dedicated fathers and are unfailing in their dedication to the fry. Some will even refuse to eat at this time but just keep working on rounding up the young. Be sure to rest him well after the fry are free-swimming. A few feedings of live white worms will be a nice reward for him and bring him back into spawning condition.

The fry can be seen hanging tail down from the bubbles. (click to enlarge)

 

                                           TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Controlled Method

Use 1 teaspoon un-iodized salt (predissolved) per gallon of water.

If using municipal tapwater be sure to neutralize the chlorine first using sodium thiosulphate (available at any pet store).

Don't use any gravel on the bottom of the tank, as the eggs will get lost in it and the female may get cut by it as she is attempting to escape the male.

Syphon out wastes and add some new pre-conditioned water every  second day.

Keep the water temperature at 78-82°F (25-28°C).

Feed the fry two to three times daily; syphon out uneaten food immediately.

Start your micro-worm culture early so there will be lots available should your fish produce young.

Do not use live plants, snails or any other live fish in the breeding tank.

The fish require about 12 hours of light per day in order to stay in spawning condition.

Place the inverted bottom half of a styrofoam cup on the water surface in the breeding tank to house the bubblenest.

                                                  Method # 2 : The Natural Method

This method involves the setting up of a small ecosystem/home for your fish and allowing them just to do what comes naturally.  Probably a ten gallon aquarium would be best to use as it would have sufficient space for some of the young to survive.  With this method natural or plastic floating plants are used to almost fill the aquarium space and provide shelter for both the female and the young.

The breeders (one male and one female) are released into this plant-filled tank and the male will hopefully begin to build a bubble-nest among the plants on the surface within a few days. Soon, the female will investigate the nest and be chased away by the male. This will cause her to ovulate and within a week to ten days spawning should take place.

These breeders should be fed live or frozen brine shrimp or live white worms alternating with some high quality, vitaminized flake foods, to keep them in top shape and condition them for breeding.

The heavy cover provided by the plants should protect the female from getting too shredded and exhausted from the male's pursuit. The plants will also serve to anchor the nest, but you still might want to drop the inverted bottom of a Styrofoam cup (photo 44) over his bubbles to stabilize it. Because of the plants, however, it is often very difficult to know when spawning has taken place, so careful observations are required. When the male is hanging under the nest with his snout toward the surface, look for yellow patches in among the silver-white bubbles which would indicate that eggs are present in the nest. When you think eggs are present, some light must be provided through the night. Either a nite-lite or just some light from a street light is enough.

When the fry hatch out and then become free-swimming, they will eventually escape into the plants and begin feeding on the microscopic life found there. Soon, however, you will have to provide some micro-worms and newly-hatched brine shrimp for them as they will pick the aquarium clean of the infusoria (microscopic amoebas and parameciums).

The female betta will eat some of the young bettas as she finds them, but a good male will continue to grab them and return them to the nest site (to the disgust of the little ones), long after they are capable of looking after themselves. 

Even with the female eating lots of the young, quite a few should get to a size where she can no longer catch them.  Lots of excitement results as you spot these growing young ones and notice their changes and colour development. (click to enlarge) The parents are capable of spawning every three days, but will more likely produce another batch of young every week if they are in good condition and healthy.  Soon the aquarium will be teeming with life and colour!

Snails can be used in the tank, but they may cause problems should they become too abundant. They have an uncanny knack for finding the eggs in the nest.  They will, however, help to keep the aquarium clean.  This is important because with the plants in the tank it will be very difficult for you to syphon out the wastes without disrupting things and losing betta fry. Except for pygmy catfish, no other fish should be put in the tank, however, as they will eat the young at a greater rate than the parents.

 

                                             TIPS FOR SUCCESS: Natural Method

I think that a timer for the light on the aquarium is a good idea. Try to keep the light cycle to 12-14 hours and have the dark period completely dark.

Do not use salt or any medications in the aquarium unless you can determine that they are harmless to the species of plant you have chosen. Of course, this does not apply if you have chosen to use plastic plants.

If using municipal tapwater be sure to neutralize the chlorine first using sodium thiosulphate (available at any pet store).

Don't use any gravel on the bottom of the tank, as they eggs will get lost in it and the female may get cut by it as she is attempting to escape from the male.

Syphon out wastes and add some new pre-conditioned water every  second day.

Keep the water temperature at 78-80°F (25-27°C).

Feed two to three times daily; syphon out uneaten food immediately.

Start your micro-worm culture early so there will be lots available should your fish produce young.

The fish require about 12 hours of light per day in order to stay in spawning condition.

Supplemental micro-nutrients (fertilizer) may be required for the live plants. They are available at any good pet store.

Place the inverted bottom half of a styrofoam cup on the water surface in the breeding tank to house the bubblenest.

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON BREEDING BETTAS :

1.         The male will not blow a bubblenest.

Solution: Check the temperature.  It should be 78-80°F.  If OK, then add Bettamax to the water as the male may have some kind of infection.  Even a slight infection will affect the males ability to blow bubbles.  If this works, the fish will spawn right in the medication and the fry will develop normally.  If this doesn't work, the male is a dud and is in danger of being shredded by the female.

2.         The male cannot wrap around the female.

Solution: Sometimes this is a problem that the male has and the only solution is to let them continue trying, but don't watch them as it becomes very frustrating.  If it is the females fault then you will have to try another female.  Don't worry about the female becoming eggbound as she can drop them on her own and will turn around and eat them.

3.         The fish embrace, but no eggs result.

Solution: This problem is usually a result of the female being chronically overfed earlier in her life. The engorged stomach has pushed her internal organs backward to the point that the ovary has stretched and the eggs cannot be released at the proper time.  When the female swims off by herself and relaxes then the eggs come out.  This is usually the result of someone pushing the growth of their young fish in hopes of getting them to market-size quicker and is very frustrating to the breeder. The only solution is to purchase a new female from another source.

4.         The fish spawn, but no eggs hatch even though they are well cared for.

Solution: Often on the first attempt, the eggs do not get fertilized for some reason. Usually when a young female spawns for the first time it is a long time (many embraces) before the first eggs come out and the male has used up all of his sperm before the first eggs appear, so they do not develop. Give the fish a rest for a week, then put them back together again and they should produce a good batch now.

5.         The fish spawn, but the male will not look after the eggs.

Solution: This is usually the result of the males' hormone level dropping and can be remedied by leaving the female in the tank the next time they spawn. Confine her in a  coke bottle with the bottom cut out. This way the male can still see her and be stimulated, but she cannot get over to the nest where she might eat the eggs.

If this doesn't work, you can sometimes pen up the male and let the female look after the eggs and some of them will do just as good of a job as the males. Care must be taken to remove her as soon as the first fry is free-swimming and swimming horizontally.

Sometimes, however, it is caused by something as simple as the male not having enough light at night.  If it gets too dark and the male falls asleep, when he wakes up in the morning, his hormone level may have dropped to the point where he cannot remember what those good tasting little white things are and he will eat them all.

6.         The female beats up the male and he abandons the nest.

Solution: Usually this happens when the female is let out with the male just after the lights have come on in the morning.  The female wakes up quicker than the male and his drowsiness is mistaken for a reluctance to spawn!  She then shreds the male to raise his hormone level. This usually works and spawning proceeds later on with a somewhat modified male, but sometimes the male never recovers and the pair will have to be separated, rested for a day or two and tried again.

If none of this works and the female continues to beat on the male, then she may not be a female but she may be a short-finned male! The other possibility is that the male is a dud and you may have no alternative but to try another.

7.         The female eats the eggs before the male can get them into the nest.

Solution: This is often thought to be happening, when it is in fact not happening.  Usually the female picks the eggs from the bottom of the tank, while the male gathers those that are falling through the water.  When she rises to put them into the nest the male pressures her for the next embrace, so she doesn,t have time to place them in the nest.  Careful observation will sometimes reveal that when this happens she gets the eggs into the nest by releasing them in a bubble and they simply float into the nest on their own.

8.         The fish do not stop spawning after the eggs have stopped coming out of the female.

Solution: The spawning usually is completed in about an hour and a half. If it continues on for three to five hours the male in danger of succumbing to exhaustion and might never recover. To protect the male, the female must be penned up, if this is happening.

JARRING UP THE YOUNG:

If you want to keep your young bettas looking nice you will have to jar them up as soon as you can tell the males from the females. This occurs at approximately 2 months of age. There is no sure way to tell the sexes apart, but the males usually are a little darker than the females and the anal fin of the males is a little more pointed or elongated at the posterior or back end.

Here is a simple system for keeping young bettas in soda pop bottles that I have used for a couple of years now. It offers complete isolation of each fish from the others so disease spread is almost impossible and yet it is easy to drain each jar and refill it with new water.

First you need to collect quite a few 1 and1/2 litre clear, plastic bottles. Just go out around the neighbourhood on re-cycling day and it won't take long.

Now you need to drill a piece of 3/4" plywood with holes just the right size and properly spaced to accept the necks of these bottles. The size of the piece of plywood is dictated by how many jars and how many rows of jars that you want to keep. You will attach this piece of drilled plywood to the wall and install some wooden legs to support it from the floor.

Now to prepare the jars, you will have to cut the bottoms out of each using an exacto knife. Then after roughing up the inside of each neck with sandpaper you glue in a male nipple. Use PVC nipples so that they will glue properly. Polypropylene ones will not bond!!! Seal-all glue is the glue of choice here as it is non-toxic to fish. First, coat both surfaces with a liberal layer of glue and then allow them to dry for a few minutes. Now jam the two together and allow to dry overnight. The next day apply another bead of glue around the edge of the nipple inside the jar. There will be gaps here caused by the glue shrinking as it dries. When this is dry the next day, the seam should be watertight, if the gluing was done properly.

Now standpipes must be made to fit tightly into the nipples so you can drain the bottles at will. I used plastic tubes with soft plastic hose pieces glued onto one end. I filed the edges of the hose piece with a bastard file so that the standpipe would slip easily and tightly into the nipple.

Now you need to prepare the drain pipe by drilling holes in a black 1 and1/4 inch ABS pipe just the right size to allow you to glue in another PVC male nipple. I used a drill press with the pipe properly supported and clamped to reduce the chances of injury... be careful! With some care and concentration you should be able to get these holes in a pretty straight line and have them properly spaced to line up with the holes you have drilled into the plywood.

Threading these holes is done with a steel male nipple. Once it is started in the hole, use vice-grips to screw it all the way in and then back it out.

The glue of choice to attach the nipples is ABS/PVC transition glue. Clean each hole and nipple with solvent and then coat them with glue. Quickly screw the nipples into the threaded holes and let them dry for 24 hours.

Using copper wire or stainless steel hose clamps you can attach a piece of plastic hose to each of the bottle nipples. Now you can insert the hosed bottles into the holes in the plywood and bring the holed ABS pipe up underneath them and attach the other end of the hose to the nipples in it. Now you can clamp or wire the hoses to the nipples. If you have done this properly you should have no leaks!

I have my pipes drain into a laundry tub and then to a sewer line. I have a vent riser at the other end to allow me to flush each drain pipe to reduce smell from any accumulating waste. I put a 45 gallon plastic tub with a heater in it under all of this. I fill it with water, de-chlorinate with drops and add 1 tsp. of salt. Using a submersible pump with a hose attached I can fill all of my jars in no time. I use a toilet float to shut off the water before it overflows and a foot switch to allow me to turn the water flow 'on' and 'off' easily.

I pull the standpipes and drain 1/2 of the water from each jar 2 - 3 times a week depending on the size of the fish in them. When the fish are about 5 months old or almost full grown, I move them to 1 gallon jars. Be very careful when pulling the standpipes, you have to really concentrate because bettas natural instinct is to dive for the bottom when frightened and if they do that with the standpipe pulled... down the drain they go... bye-bye!