For my Bettas, I use fresh frozen blood worms, and an once-a-day snack of live misquito larvae. See my Feeding page for more information.
Step 2: Set Up
These are the basic bare essentials. Many people say that you need a filter and heater, I have never used one.
Step 3: Introducing the Pair
Step 4: Putting them together
After the eggs are released the male will let go of the female, and if all goes well, he will swim down to catch the fallen eggs and spit them into the bubble nest, adding more bubbles around them. The female will remain temporarily paralized and just float there. After she comes to, she will help the male collect the eggs. In some cases either the male or female or both will eat the eggs. If this happens you must try again in another few weeks, however bad parents happen in every species :). They will repeat this process several times until the female runs out of eggs. At this point you should remove her, because the male becomes extremely protective of the nest.
Step 5: Raising the Fry
When you can sex the Bettas then you should jar the males and females or keep the females in a large community tank. If they outgrow thier little 5 gallon (which a large batch will) then you should move them to a 15+ gallon tank or individual bowls sooner.
*NOTE: Day 1 begins when fertilization occurs
•May take five days for female to accept bubble nest •Fertilization occurs •Start culturing Infusoria •Fry will remain in nest or near surface •Cover tank
Misquito Larvae: To be used for conditioning of Bettas for breeding, as a healthy snack, and for fry when they are old enough to eat them. Misquito Larvae can be found during the summer months, especially closer to fall when the heat is over with. To get a good batch of larvae you need to get a good clean bucket or 5 gallon tank, fill it with clean water and some dirty tank water (from you fish tank of course). Put the bucket/tank in a place where it will get a little bit of sun but also has some shade. Leave it undisturbed for a few weeks. If you tap the bucket and little squiggly things begin to move around, you are in luck! You've got misquito larvae. I use a net to net them out so you don't get all that scummy water contaminating your fish tank/bowl. Net them into a jar of clean tank water and then feed them to your fish 1-2 at a time using an eyedropper. I find that if you just dump them in all at the same time the fish will often miss most of them and they will hide in the bowl and it may take a while to find them, which will interfere with your feeding schedule.
Baby Brine Shrimp:
Step 1: Conditioning
What is conditioning? It's when you feed your Bettas a high-protien diet for 1-2 weeks prior to mating them. When conditioning your Bettas you have to keep in mind why you are conditioning them. By feeding them lots of protien you are promoting the female to develop a belly full of eggs, and giving both the male and female enough energy to last the length of the courting phase. Keeping this in mind you should understand that it is a very important stage in breeding, so it should not be overlooked. Feed them 2-4 times daily a variety of live and frozen foods.
There are many ways to set up a tank for breeding, but I'll describe the setup I use.
Materials
So you start with the empty 5 gallon tank. Remember you should always rinse it throughly with hot water after you buy it. Do not add any gravel to the bottom of the tank, I'll explain it later. Fill the tank with 1/4 aged tank water, and 1/4 clean conditioned water. This will allow the tank to be 1/2 full, so new water can be added periodically during the time the fry are growing. Place in the half-full tank the plastic plant and the small live plant. You can subsitute the small live plant for branches of a larger live plant form another aquarium. This is only to encourage the growth of the small animal Infusoria (for the fry to eat). The plants also allow a hiding place for the female when the male gets a little too rough. Cut the styrofoam cup in half and place it floating on it's side in the tank. The male will instictivley build his bubble nest here, as it provides the needed shelter for the eggs. Fill the plastic cup half to 3/4 full with the tank water and float it in the water. This is where the female goes. That's about all you need for the setup. If you don't want to heat your entire room to 80-83•F, then you should invest in a small submergeable heater. Also a slow air stone for when the fry get a bit older.
When the pair are ready to mate, (the female will have a large round belly and white vertical lines instead of the normal horizontal fear lines, and the male may build a practice-nest), you can introduce them. It is a crucial step in order to avoid the male instantly attacking the female. You place the female in the small floating plastic cup, and the male in the rest of the tank. Let them look at each other for upwards of 5 hours, or until the male has built a substancial bubble nest. The nest will be big enough when it is roughly 2 inches by 2 inches, however the male may build it as big or as small as he sees fit. They will flare at each other and the male will swim around and around the cup, spreading his fins and flaring. The female will do the same, although most likely less agressive.
When you see that they are ready to mate you can gently pour the plastic glass (containing the female) into the tank. Be sure to watch them meet very carefully to ensure that the male doesn't attack her. However he will occasionally nip her and tear at her fins. They will court for as many as 5 days before the female accepts his bubble nest and they are ready to mate. You must feed them during this time, but make sure to give enough food for both of them so they don't attack each other. When they are ready to mate the female will come under the bubble nest and let the male position her for 'the embrace'. He will wrap his body around hers, and release sperm as she releases her eggs. It make take a few times before any eggs are released, so be patient. These things can't be rushed.
The eggs should hatch 2-3 days after being fertilized. During this period the male has been taking care of the nest by picking up any eggs that have fallen to the bottom, and by making sure there are plenty of bubbles. When the eggs hatch you will see little tails hanging down out of the bubbles. Some little fry may be bouncing around. It will take as many as a few days for the fry to be able to swim horizontally, and until this time they will be feeding off thier yolk sacs. Once the fry are swimming horizontally you should carefully remove the male because he will most likely try to eat the fry, or even spit them back into the nest. The tank should be covered with saran wrap or another tightly sealed lid so there is a humid environment within the tank to allow the little betta's labyrinth organ to develop properly. When the fry are free swimming you can begin to feed them Infusoria, (to culture this see below). After a few days you can begin to feed them Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS) and micro worms. Once they reach a good size larger foods can be given. If you want to sell your Bettas to pet stores it is a good idea to ween them onto commercial foods like Betta Bites, since most people who buy Bettas from pet stores will want to feed them such foods. If you are keeping your Bettas for show or auction then live foods is a must.
Days During Breeding Cycle 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+ •Let pair look at each other for 2-12 hours, until ready to mate
•Early eggs may hatch
•Eggs hatch
•Feed fry Infusoria
•Male should be removed
•Hatch BBS
•Begin to feed BBS or microworms
•Separate when able to sex males and females
