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Tank Setup:
Fill the bare-bottom tank 1/2 way. You use a bare-bottom tank because gravel will impede the maleīs ability to pick up the eggs when the pair spawns. The eggs will fall into the gravel and rot -- hence no baby bettas. Put your normal water conditoners (you can also add some Maroxy and Aquirsol to prevent velvet and fungus from attacking the fry) and then place in the plants. Make sure that the tank is heavily planted so that the female will have places to hide since some males can be very agressive. Put in the heater and filter as well. Set the heater to 80-82 degrees. Make sure that only a few bubbles a second are coming out because if the filter is too strong the fry will become exhausted and die. Some males do not like the filter and you may have to turn it off until the male is out of the tank. Finally attached the cup with a little bit of scotch tape in one corner of the tank.
Spawning:
Gently place the male in the tank and then you can either directly introduce the pair or you can float her in a jar in the tank. I suggest that if you are new that you float the female because it is less likely that she will suffer severe injuries during spawning. Cover the tank with the lid (you can either buy a lid or you can use a towel or plastic wrap). This will create humid air which will help the male keep his nest intact and young fry will die if there is too much cool breeze -- especially in the first 2 weeks. Usually within 24-48 hours the male will start building his nest in the cup. At this point the female will probably have vertical bars showing that she is ready to spawn. Now you can gently release her into the tank and watch them closely. Nipping and chasing is normal. A male will chase the female and nip her fins -- itīs not uncommon for pairs to shred each otherīs finnage before spawning. However, you must make sure that the male is not relentlessly attacking the female or the female is not relentlessly attacking the male too much because females (and males) can die in the spawning tank. Just keep a close eye. If you think that the pair is too agressive, place the female back in the jar and wait another day and try again. Usually a spawn occurs within 5 days. If by the 5th day there is nothing, then re-condition and try again. Do not give up if the first 2-3 times they do not spawn.
The spawning dance is something to behold. A betta spawn can have from 25-1000 eggs so be prepared. Young, inexpierenced pairs might have very small spawns because the male did not know how to wrap the female. After the pair stops spawning, promptly remove the female. She will only eat the eggs -- it is up to the male now to watch his eggs. Sometimes males will eat their eggs. It could be that the eggs were not fertilized or that he just is inexpierenced. Try him 3 times, if he still eats his eggs do not try to breed him again. He is most likely an egg eater. If all goes well, 48 hours after the spawn the eggs will start to hatch. You can see little hairlike things hanging from the nest if you look carefully. The male will diligently place all his falling fry into the nest for 3 days. Some males will eat their fry. Try him 3 times, if he still eats his fry do not try to breed him again. After 3 days, the fry will become free-swimming. This means that they will swim horizontal instead of vertical. Now you must take out the male and give him a clean jar with food -- heīs been a good dad. Do not leave him inside the tank he will eat the fry. Also, when you capture him make sure you do not net any of the fry as well.
If you passed all the hurtles so far, you can go onto the raising fry page. If you have not, do not give up. Many first spawns fail. Many second spawns fail. Etc, etc. If you are having a lot of trouble with your fish, try to purchase a pair in their prime (4-6 months old) this is when they are mostly likely to breed. For those of you who have free swimming fry, get ready for the worst :P Spawning is easy compared to raising the fry! |
