Bettas My New Obsession

Anyone ever try and breed them? Very trippy! We got a pair to breed successfully but the babies all got caught in the bottom of the tank and died because we had gravel in it. I guess you're not supposed to put anything in the bottom...? Anyway...not sure what we would have done with a hundred baby bettas...

I had one named Gilbert, he was staying at my friend's... She forgot to clean his water for 2 weeks :( he was a pretty boy.

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Originally Posted by sho220

Anyone ever try and breed them? Very trippy! We got a pair to breed successfully but the babies all got caught in the bottom of the tank and died because we had gravel in it. I guess you're not supposed to put anything in the bottom...? Anyway...not sure what we would have done with a hundred baby bettas...

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We had a pair of copper mustard gas halfmoon plakats we got from Thailand that used to breed like rabbits lol... we fed the fry vinegar eels, microworms and golden pearls... we got two pairs of copper crowntails from the same breeder and they never bred :(.... its definately addictive we started off with one our daughter lost interest in and ended up with over 600 at one point

I don't see any heaters, are they in a warm room? I love bettas!

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Originally Posted by dragonmoon

We had a pair of copper mustard gas halfmoon plakats we got from Thailand that used to breed like rabbits lol... we fed the fry vinegar eels, microworms and golden pearls... we got two pairs of copper crowntails from the same breeder and they never bred :(.... its definately addictive we started off with one our daughter lost interest in and ended up with over 600 at one point

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Yeah...I nipped the whole betta breeding thing in the bud quick...it was very cool but I didn't need to get wrapped up in another hobby that eats up so much time...

I bred bettas for a few years.

You let the male build his bubble nest in a bare ten gallon tank that's about 1/3 full of water, with some plants preferably. You can put in a small bubbler, but it's not required, change some water every few days if it gets dirty looking. Once you put in the female and they breed successfully, he will take the eggs to the bubble nest and spit them in, then tend them. Take the female out.

Once the fry hatch, he will keep spitting them back into the nest if they fall out. When the fry get big enough to leave the nest and try to swim around, remove the male. Otherwise, he will continue trying to keep the babies in the nest and might even eat them as he gets frustrated(Darn kids never do as they told! *gulp*)

Start feeding the babies with microworms and vinegar eels OR ground up trout chow. I had very good results with the microwroms and vinegar eels, and those are nearly free to culture once you get them started with small cultures. You grow them in oatmeal and apple cider vinegar, so it's cheap.

At this point you can add more water until the ten gallon tank is 2/3 full, and to clean it, you can siphon the bottom carefully. I used a gravity-powered siphon made out of a 18 inch long piece of rigid airline hooked to a long piece of regular airline. I started a siphon(suck on the end, then lower the end into a bucket) and then held a section of the airline bent in my hand. Bend it more to make it siphon slower, pinch it off entirely to stop the siphon.

The babies will swim over trying to commit suicide by siphon, so pay attention.

Once the babies get big enough, you can divide up the group by colors, sexes, sizes, etc. I removed the bigger babies first, trying to keep all the same size so there would be a minimum of bullying. You might need to cull out babies if you don't have space for up to 300 bettas. They make good feeder fish too.

Once the male babies get big enough to ID, you can start seperating them into their own individual cases. The females will often do fine together much longer, and I kept up to 6-8 adult females in a single 10-20 gallon tank together(with plants).

Hope this helps. Bettas can come in AWESOME colors and patterns. Mustard gas is one of my favorites. Aquabid.com has a lot fo auctions for bettas and you can check out all the colors and types in pictures there, even if you don't want to get into buying the pricy ones or paying extra for international shipping.

Those tanks are beautiful! I miss having a betta!