Breeding fighting fish?

Question

Want to start breeding fighting fish, any tips?

Answer 1

It takes a LOT of research and preparation, as well as a lot of supplies--breeding tanks, growout tanks, quality stock, jars for separating male fry, etc.  Bettas are a difficult fish to breed.

Also, what were you planning to do with the potentially hundreds of fry you could end up with?

If you really want to do it, I suggest you visit this site for more info:

www.ultimatebettas.com

Answer 2

Breeding Bettas is pretty tough. I havent exactly tried, and probably wont soon because there is alot to think about. Do you have enough room for 100's of baby fry. What if mosty are males they cant be keeped together. Do you know what to do if something goes wrong? Are you experienced with bettas? Do you have Good homes for the baby bettas, ect... Im am not trying to talk you out of breeding the betta's. But just to think about how and what you will do after they have breed. Also make sure you condition them before they breed, and heal the female if she does get pretty beat up.

Pet stores are already over stocked with bettas. And taking care of betta fry is alot of work. Either way hope everything works out.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hey put the female betta with the male betta let them mate separate the female from the male because the male will try to eat the female and leave the eggs with the male.

Answer 4

Oh, I am a breeder and breeding bettas is one of the most lovely things to experience! They are probably the funnest fish to breed, however they are not the easiest.

You must do plenty of homework on the subject if you want to have successful breeding. I will post as much as I can on here. You can also email me through Yahoo! so that I can tell you even more.

Breeding Tank: 10gal breeding tanks are the absolute best for bettas. You will want to place the tank on a dark surface and make sure to have no gravel, decorations, and clean water. You should get a sponge filter and a submersible heater for your breeder tank. The temperature when breeding bettas should always be 80-82 degrees. Bettas need warmer water for spawning. Use some type of material to lock in moisture in the tank. This is good for helping the bubble nest not pop.

Conditioning: There is a period in time for bettas that is called conditioning. The bare minimum for conditioning is 1 week. The longer you condition, the healthier your bettas will be when spawning. High protein diets must be maintained while conditioning to help egg development and it also helps to increase fat content in the bettas, which is greatly needed for spawning. Good foods to feed your bettas at this time are frozen and/or live things. You can feed them brine shrimp, bloodworms (my top choice), betta pellets, flakes, etc. You can also use maggots. Gross, but they are incredibly good for bettas and are great for conditioning. Never use one type of food, alternate the food every time during feeding, which should be twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. At the end of conditioning, your male should now be showing his best colors and your female should be very plump, filled up with eggs.

Spawning Time: During the entire week or more of conditioning, your male should rule the breeding tank. This is now his territory. The female will be in a seperate tank, making sure the two can't see each other. When it is time to spawn, you will need to drop the water level to about 5" deep. Clean out the water, making sure it is good for a while. Place the female in a clear cup/jar so that the male can see her. I prefer to place the female IN the tank instead of outside of it. He will be very frantic, trying to get to her, flaring and doing little mating dances. Your female may flare back at him. If she is interested in him, she will have vertical bars on her body. The male will be very excited, eventually rushing over to make a bubble nest. When he is completed with his nest, you can gently release the female from her container to swim with him. He will take her to his nest and show it off a bit. They may chase each other for a bit, not seeming interested, but when the female is fully ready, she will approach the male in a submissive manner and the two will circle each other head to tail. Beginners are cute and make me laugh because they will have many failed attempts of clutching together. The male will finally 'click' onto the female and literally paralyze her for a while. He fertilizes the eggs, then they drop to bottom of the tank. He will quickly gather them all in his mouth and put them in the bubble nest. You will notice that he will be searching the bottom quite a bit for any eggs he may have missed. He will then return to the recovered female and do it again and again. Do not be worried if you see eggless attempts, it's normal on the first few tries. The spawning will repeat and last about 2-6 hours. You will know they are done when they female is hiding from the male, or he is chasing her about. Immediately remove the female and put her in a small container that you have already treated with stress coat, water conditioner, and fin repairer. Pamper her with lots of yummy food, she's been through a lot.

Parenting: The male will stay with the eggs until they hatch, which is in two days from spawning. He will check the bubble nest constantly, eating any deformed eggs he finds in the cluster. Finally, fry will start to free fall from their nest. They male will pick all of them up and put them back. He will do his job and keep them safe. When the fry can stay in the nest on their own and start to swim, take the male out.

Raising Fry: You will not feed the fry for a week. They eat nutrients out of the nest until they are gone, in a week. You can start off by feeding them micro worms. They are very small and easy for newborns to eat. Fry  grow rapidly, so at about week two you should start feeding the live or frozen baby brine shrimp or vinegar eels. Feed them SEVERAL times a day for 7-10 days. Do 50% water changes every day and remember to fill the water back up from 5". Promtly remove any uneaten food or dead fry. Be sure to cull the fry as well. Culling is when you remove unwanted fish in the tank. Examples of this are deformed fish. If you see any, you unfortunately need to kill them as soon as you see them. It isn't nice, but their lives would be awful like that, so it is better for the fish.

Rearing the fry: After about 3 months, they fry will obviously outgrow the little 10gal tank and you will need to spit up the batches into different homes. Some people claim that males MUST be removed after 3 months because they get too aggressive. Well, males do start to mature at that age, but siblings can actually live together the rest of their lives as long as they are never seperated, even for one day. That's where problems come in because it is hard to keep the bettas together their whole lives. Either way, some fish will have to be separated, as they get too big for their 10gal tank. You can find individual homes or other things you find around the house. I do anything from starting out with a big jar for one to a big storage tub. Both work and are inexpensive household items. You can now pick which of the bettas you will keep and which you will get rid of. You can sell to local pet stores, dentist offices, etc. You can even sell to people in the neighborhood. All are great ways to start out becoming a good breeder. Pick the best of the best fish to keep and nothing more. You have to be overly picky with the ones you want because they will need to be quality breeder fish too. You see one that isn't breeding material, but a cute buddy you want.

I hope you like what you hear and want to breed bettas. It's a great experience and a hobby of mine. It may sound like a lot of words, but once you have all of the supplies and knowledge, it's easy. Good luck to you! Again, please email me through Y!A if you want more info.

Kenzie

----Edit----

Infusoria is actually the BEST thing to feed newborn fry. All you need is a plastic bowl, pieces of potato, and/or grass clippings. I use both potato chunks and grass clippings for the infusoria. Next fill up the water in the bowl, then put in your products. Once this is done, take the bowl over to the window sill in your house that attracts the most light. Set it there and leave it for several days, until the water looks disgusting and green. You now have a huge culture of infusoria in the water. Now get a turkey baster and fill it up with some of the gunky water. Go and drop it in the tank with your fry. They will be satisfied with this and gobble it up. Studies prove that 95% of fry will survive if given infusoria as the FIRST meals instead of other products. It's easy and you can do it at home, not expensive at all!

Answer 5

After the female gives birth, separate the female from the tank. As the female eats its own babies. Leave the eggs with the male. If you want to breed it, put several females and only ONE male into one tank.

Answer 6

Yes, do alot of reading. It isn't for beginners, but it is very interesting. Se sure you are prepared for anything and have all the necessary supplies, including live food for the fry!