Do You Have Breeding Advice?

[SashimiBetta]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if you know me or not, but if not, my name is SashimiBetta. I am new to this website, and I only joined because I have two lovely VeilTails and I want to give them a funfilled life, rather than being in a little container at Petco. & I only go on this website for advice. & so far it's been great!

So back to what I was going to say. I have 1 male, and 1 female, and I was hoping to breed them. Now, I want it to be organized, responsible and I want to know everything before I start my FIRST spawn. (sorry, I still don't know my 'betta vocab' )

Trying my best I've been trying to find wonderful homes for my future water babies & I got succesful! Since I now know that these babies will have great homes and I won't have to worry...I need to get started on breeding them. Now, I read as many articles on breeding & watched a couple Youtube videos on Betta Breeding and also found out all the supplies I need.

Before I begin on Monday...I wanted to ask you, do you have any advice for me? (Ex. I would love a list of items I need for breeding..I know them, but I just want to be sure!)

If anyone wants me to make a "Spawn Log" (i think they are called) I will keep you guys in touch, so that you know what is going on with the future water babies! Thank you.

[cajunamy]

Hi Sashimi :)

I'll write up what I've done, but I am by no means experienced. I only have one successful spawn under my belt, with 3 week old fry. I plan to start my next spawn soon.

In my spawning tank, I filled the tank about 4 inches, with a bare bottom. I added 1 Indian Almond Leaf (IAL), a clump of java moss, a few handfulls of duckweed, a half of a styrofoam cup for the nest, and a sponge filter that I set to 1-2 bubbles a second. The sponge was not seasoned, and this is something I will change the next go round. 2 days ago I added 3 smallish mystery snails, that is something I also will change next go round, to have them in the beginning.

Male and female went into the tank for a full day. The male had the run of the tank, and the female went into a glass. She never did bar up like you read in breeding articles, but she successfully mated. I think the reason I went from about a 100 fry clutch to 30+ is b/c she wasn't fully ready/not barred up.

One other thing that I will change is water changes and vaccum clean up. In several articles from respected sources, I read you don't touch the fry tank by adding water, removing gunk, or changing any water for at least the first two weeks. I think this is also a reason I lost so many. So next go round I plan to start adding water, about a gallon a day from the first week on, and also remove gunk at about a week on. I believe a seasoned sponge filter and the snails will take care of the clean up until they are a week old. We shall see :)

[SashimiBetta]

Hi cajunamy (:

Ooooh. I have to use a sponge filter? Hmm, I thought it could be any filter - Never did say. It was just "filter". Yeah, thanks!
Much appreciated.

[cajunamy]

sponge is good for bettas b/c it's very easy to adjust the flow and have it barely bubbling

[SashimiBetta]

That's awesome - I will have to look more into that.

[DarkMoon17]

Remember, you have to condition both your male and female for 2 weeks before you spawn them. Conditioning: Feeding lots of high protein foods like frozen blood worms and live foods while keeping their water super clean...