Don't want to quit

[ChoclateBetta]

Yes keep trying.

[indjo]

My luck has not been too good the past couple of years. Egg eaters, water source, pests (mainly rats) - you name it. Every time my hopes rises, something happens. But never give up . . .

Take out the parents as soon as they're done. You may not have much, but you will have fry. Even better, move eggs to bowl - you get more fry.

[ChoclateBetta]

I would read up on betta breeding more.

[Oldfishlady]

With egg/fry eaters-I give them 3 chances-then I artificial hatch

With hard to spawn Betta-I move them to separate small containers-so they can't see any other Betta/fish-neither in the spawning tank-I let them see each other for 2-3 min a day. I let the water temp drop to room temp and this can be as low as upper 60F and I don't change the water, however, I do have a sprig of stem plant and a floating plant in the very small container and tannins. I mass feed mosquito larva-3-4 times a day-sometimes 6 times a day. I keep the light on them for 18 hours.

After 4-5 days-I dump both of them in the 80F full to the top with water soil based heavy planted tank-They are both in shock for about 30 seconds. I usually will have spawning within the hour-to no later than first light the next day.
I turn the lights out at night-staying on a 12h/day/PP and feed them if they didn't spawn right away.

Some hard to spawn males-I will add another male to the spawning tank cupped so they can spar between the partition in view of the female. This only works if the male you want to spawn will display aggressive behavior toward the cupped male-If he runs the female might not spawn with him-since the female only want to pass her genes with the strongest.

Hard to spawn females-I will add another female to the spawning tank-but you have to be ready to take her out if she tries to spawn with the male-unless it a sister or it doesn't matter.

[ChoclateBetta]

When I start Betta Breeding your guide will come in handy.

[tpocicat]

Thank you OFL, I'll try your methods.
I've been breeding bettas for a couple of years now. My trouble isn't due to not knowing what I should do or how to feed the adults. I've had trouble before, just not this long a string of trouble!
Thank you everybody!

[ChoclateBetta]

I can wait tell I have Betta Breeding space.

[Oldfishlady]

I know what you mean....sometimes these guys can make you want to pull your hair out...lol.....And I have had my fair share of hard breeders too...its just part of the game....lol....Sometimes we have to get creative and sometimes-no matter what we do....they aint goin do it...laffs....

I have had to leave some together for weeks before I got a spawn from them. I normally wouldn't have done that but I really needed this males lines for what I was working on and he was on loan-Finally got him to spawn-then I had to get his offspring power reared and I don't normally do that either-but I was running out of time and still wanted to spawn him to one of his daughters-Fast track 4 mo-spawned to 3 of his daughters and artificial hatched them-Cupped that male to get him ready to go home and the bugger jumped through a dime size hole..Still never found the body-really felt bad especially since he wasn't my fish-it cost me a bit-plus I gave him several of his offspring-so it all worked out in the end...but still.....these fish can really drive you nuts sometimes.....lol.....

In the colder months with shorter days-I have found extending the photoperiod to help in some case. I will go as high as 20h light with 4 hours black out. Sometimes you have to find that special spawning trigger.
I had one male that wouldn't spawn with the lights on-the second you turned the lights on he would stop-totally frustrated the female...lol....she didn't care one way or the other.
With some, I had to cover all 4 side of the tank-the smallest thing would distract them. Use tannins so dark you couldn't see in the tank, cool them off then heat them up. Change size of the tank with some has helped.

One thing that has always helped-mass feeding live mosquito larva and I mean mass feeding....lol......In nature a lot of spawning triggers are based on the amount of food-Lots of food=food to rear fry-limited food source and they may not want to spend the energy on a brood.

[Creat]

I have tried OFL sparing methods they really do work :) I might have to try the longer photo period my fish have been acting up... maybe its cause the days finally got shorter and darker.... I have had 3 spawns fail lately no idea why just keep reconditioning and trying again.

[tpocicat]

Yes, I love breeding for show bettas to just give up. I'm just very frustrated ATM. As soon as I have a sucessful spawn, I'll get over it.