I am having a bad problem :(

[Iman]

Well, I got my Bettas last Friday (1 female and 1 male) from a local privately owned pet store (the man that owns it takes excellent care of his animals especially fish) Here are the profiles of my fish:
1. Male:
a. He is extremely colorful with a bright red body and fins that taper until they are perfectly clear, then there is black that outlines the clearness (beautiful!)
b. He is around 1 inch long in just body length.
2 Female:
a. Beautiful red and blue mix with black spots on her fins.
8. She is well over an inch long probably like an inch and a half.

Well that wraps up their descriptions, so here are my problems:
I got the breeding tank set up as instructed by several people experienced in betta breeding. It has the usual:

10 gallon tank (half filled with water)
Floating plants (hornwart)
Places for the female to hide
And a white egg carton cut in half for the male to build his bubble nest under.

Now onto the real problem...
I put the female in a 1 gallon round class container and I put it on one site of the breeding tank. (P.S. the same tank that she is supposed to normally live in)
I made her water level higher than the males so she doesn't have to see him all of the time. I put the male into the tank and he began flaring (he looked amazing), but the female instantly turned a pale yellowish color with dark horizontal stripes going from her head to her tail. (I have heard that horizontal means she doesn't want to breed and vertical means she wants to.) So here is my dilemma, why wont she breed? They have been in that tank for 1 night and she still looks the same. Is anything wrong? Is she to old? Answers would be greatly appreciated.

~Iman

[MrVampire181]

She seems stressed out. I'd remove her and keep her out of sight from all bettas for a week and then try again.

[Iman]

But, would you say she is to old?

[turtle10]

Well, I got my Bettas last Friday (1 female and 1 male) from a local privately owned pet store (the man that owns it takes excellent care of his animals especially fish) Here are the profiles of my fish:
1. Male:
a. He is extremely colorful with a bright red body and fins that taper until they are perfectly clear, then there is black that outlines the clearness (beautiful!)
That could be fin rot
b. He is around 1 inch long in just body length.
2 Female:
a. Beautiful red and blue mix with black spots on her fins.
8. She is well over an inch long probably like an inch and a half.

Well that wraps up their descriptions, so here are my problems:
I got the breeding tank set up as instructed by several people experienced in betta breeding. It has the usual:
Is this your first time owning bettas? If so I suggest you stick to just taking care of them for a while and wait a few months before thinking about breeding. It is a BIG responsibility.

10 gallon tank (half filled with water)
Floating plants (hornwart)
Places for the female to hide
And a white egg carton cut in half for the male to build his bubble nest under.

Now onto the real problem...
I put the female in a 1 gallon round class container and I put it on one site of the breeding tank. (P.S. the same tank that she is supposed to normally live in). Did you condition the bettas first? Also, If you can afford to breed, you cab afford to get her a better tank (not trying to be rude). I suggest a 2.5 gallon aquarium if you are tight on space.
I made her water level higher than the males so she doesn't have to see him all of the time. I put the male into the tank and he began flaring (he looked amazing), but the female instantly turned a pale yellowish color with dark horizontal stripes going from her head to her tail. (I have heard that horizontal means she doesn't want to breed and vertical means she wants to.)
That isn't a good sign. Those are stress bars, I would take her out now.
So here is my dilemma, why wont she breed?
She isn't ready.
They have been in that tank for 1 night and she still looks the same. Is anything wrong? Is she to old?
The bettas may be too old because they came from a petstore. There they are typically about 6 months old.
Answers would be greatly appreciated.


Could you tell me EXACTLY what steps you took?
Thanks :)

[Iman]

1. Came home from the pet store with my fish.
2. Put the male in a 2 gallon tank
3. I put the female in a 5 gallon tank with a filter.
4. I got the breeding tank set up.
5. waited 4 hours for the water temp to stabilize.
6. Added the male and female.
7. Female has horizontal stripes.
Also I have owned 3-4 bettas (one of which lived 3 years and the others lived 2)

Also how is 6 months old to old to breed? I heard they stop at around 14 months.

[Iman]

I took the female out I just need to know how to solve this problem for next time.

[turtle10]

I hate to say it but you didn't take all the necessary steps.

You should have let them rest for a few days. Pet store life can be stressful. You also should have conditioned them separately for about a week. And you also didn't do the proper steps to introducing them. Are you sure you researched this? (not trying to be mean).

Can you post a pic of your setup?

Also, what live foods do you have prepared?

[Iman]

Well I just took apart the setup, but the foodthat I have are microworms. And what are the correct steps to introduce the fish to each other? I have researched it some what. I am following the shallow spawn method of breeding.
Read this: http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...?articleid=723
I have the breeding tank set up like the shallow spawn in this way, with a few shallow spawn changes added. http://bettysplendens.com/articles/p...?articleid=722

[1fish2fish]

I agree with what has already been said. You need to condition them to breed. Even in a well cared for pet store environment life is still stressful and care is not adequate enough to keep fish in breeding condition.

My recommendation would be to separate the pair and condition them on frozen or live foods for at least 2 weeks. This will give you a chance to not only get them fit to breed but also to quarantine them to make sure they are not carrying any hidden illness.

I'll also second the recommendation that you get the proper set up. You need a separate tank to house the male, female, and fry respectively. You also need a fairly large tank to grow the fry out in. The smallest recommendation is 10 gallons with 20+ being preferable.

What foods do you have to feed the fry? Besides water quality food is the second most important thing in rearing fry. Not only do you need a lot of foods but you need good foods that the fry will want to eat so they can grow.


In well conditioned, healthy fish 6 months is not too old to breed. Many breeders have fish spawning upwards of 2 years old. However there are some theories that the older the fish are the more likely genetic defects are to pop up in the spawn. Many people say that the younger the fish are the easier they breed but I don't think that's necessarily true. A good breeder is going to breed no matter what age.

[Iman]

Thanks, to the live food I have micro worms. Are those good enough?