My female was barred and ready to breed (i thought) then she just lost her bars, why?

[tmariexo922]

I am new at attempting to breed bettas so i'm certain my initial set up wasn't ideal... I have a red female (sasha) and a blue/red crowntail (chico) that have been going at each other thru the breeding box for 3 days. i released the female on day 3 and she instantly barred (plus her fat belly and ovipostor were protruding) and seemed to take interest (stopped running and hung around the nest) after he took a couple nips at her. i thought i was going to have success but, she seemed to lose interest (relay racing against her reflection on the glass) and started darting around tank and soon her bars faded...what could have happened? what does that mean of my female, is she not a good breeding female?

[dramaqueen]

Were the bars horizontal or vertical?

[tmariexo922]

yea i guess that would make a huge difference. they were vertical bars.

[dramaqueen]

Vertical means that she was ready for breeding. I have no idea why she lost interest.

[tmariexo922]

ok, well thank you anyways for taking the time to reply.

[dramaqueen]

No problem. Were they both conditioned before you tried to breed them? What size is your breeding tank?

[tmariexo922]

I'm going to blame it on me because i think i kind of rushed things. Trial and error....i have others that i will try once i get my tank set up correctly. i dont believe i conditioned them properly either...however it is that you do that. i have a 10 gal tank, by the way. and since i've got you. i wanted to put a filtration device in the tank so that when i do have fry i wont risk complications by adding more water. which means i'll have to fill the tank to compensate the filter...does it matter how far from the bottom the nest is? ive been using a styrofoam cup afloat as a nesting medium

[dramaqueen]

I have never bred bettas myself but I have a book that tells about it. It says you can use a 10 gallon but a bigger tank is easier to keep clean.Fill it to a depth of 6 inches with dechlorinated water. Condition th male and female separately for 2 weeks, feeding them foods like live blackworms, frozen bloodworms or live brine shrimp. I don't really know anything about filters because I don't use any but I would assume that you could use one turned down low and putting pantyhose or something over the intake to keep the fry from getting sucked in.

[tmariexo922]

im glad you mentioned the pantyhose thing. sounds like a good idea. what does your book say about the female recovering from bites? what ive read says that its not a good idea to remove the female from the warmer breeding tank because her bites might become infected. i dont see any physical damage other than what he did to her fins but in sure he got her elsewhere too. does your book say when she is ok to be moved?
I cant wait to get this breeding thing off the ground...i'll make sure i give detailed info about my trials and errors and more importantly what works.

[dramaqueen]

Do you have them seperated now? The book just says that after breeding, to put her back in her own tank, keep her temperature around 80 degrees but doesn't say what to treat her with if she has bite wounds. I have a bottle of BettaFix and it says it can be used for wounds caused by fighting.