# Alien Betta Breeding



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Hi! I would like to share my experience.


At first i wasnt trying to breed these aliens because I cannot find a good reference on the internet about success on breeding. Even on youtube there was quite minimal results were found, I couln't take the risk of trying to breed them and have a casualty. But I tried. First 2 days, I tried the chimney method where I put them in the same tank but the female separated by a glass or plastic cup. The 3rd & 4th day come and the male hasnt build a bubble nest still. So I tried to cheat. I get a nest from another breeder and put it in the tank hoping it will boost the male on making his own. Luckily it did. 5th day. I removed the separator. 2 More days and still no spawning but they show some behaviors. I was anxious because I spend a good amount on the aliens and dont want them to die. Sometimes when I check them, they were biting each other tails so I put the female back to the cup. 2 days after, I tried again, its now or never. But then after over a week. I found eggs on the nest and the female was resting on the top of the anubias I added the day before. Thank God. So I tried counting the eggs. I seen around 20 eggs. Not bad I think. So I removed the female and start the waiting game. 2 days and the eggs still not hatched and the bubble nest was starting to break. I waited another days and saw some wigglers. Theyre so tiny, I MEAN TINY and I thought the dad eating the wigglers so I quickly removed him. Maybe its just him taking care or maybe he really eat them. I couldnt take the risk. The 4th day and all were hatched, tried to count them and HOLY SNAP theyre about 50 fry. Then yesterday I moved them in a new tank because their original tank was almost 2 weeks old without water change. And while moving them I tried counting. And guess what, theyre almost a hundred, a hundred! Yessss! Now I am starting the hardest part, taking care of the fry and reach for grow out.


Luckily I had a success on alien breeding.
Copper alien (M) & Blue alien (F)



Will keep you updated on the fry if you want. Thanks for reading!


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Would you like to make a spawn log so everyone can follow you experience/fry development


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

1 week old fry. Been feeding them newly hatched baby brine shrimps.










Size comparison from a 1 day old guppy fry, the smaller one is the alien.


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Quick update. I have been feeding them baby brine shrimps 2 or 3 times a day. I counted the dead fry from the first 2 weeks, its around 10. Idk if its good or bad.


I did a partial water change to promote their growth.


----------



## Aries&Gucci (Jan 6, 2021)

happy to hear that your spawn is a success keep us posted


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Update:
March 2, 2021
The alien fry are on their 3rd week. This is my first time breesing betta so I dont know if theyre really this small. Been feeding them heaps of baby brine shrimps.











Anyone who is a veteran breeder, can you tell me if they're in their right size.


----------



## X skully X (Mar 17, 2020)

I’ve have not bred aliens or wilds, but they do look the same size as betta splendens fry. Congratulations on your successful spawn! I hope you keep posting on this spawn so we can see them grow.


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Will surely do. I love sharing my experience with you guys.


----------



## MABetta (Jan 10, 2021)

Size sounds normal to me.....although I have not bred alien bettas. What will you do with 90 fry? Makes me shutter to think about that many! Good Luck!


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

3-4 weeks should be around 3-5 mm. Some rare individuals may reach 7mm


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

MABetta said:


> Size sounds normal to me.....although I have not bred alien bettas. What will you do with 90 fry? Makes me shutter to think about that many! Good Luck!


I am also very shocked about the spawn and how few the casualties are.


And if I hopefully raise them into adults, I will probably sell most of them and keep around 3 pairs for me. Because here in my country we are still relying on importing alien bettas for around $60 per pair so a local source will be better.


----------



## BettaloverSara (Oct 15, 2020)

Aliens and wilds are something I have always wanted try try but have never done, I’m excited to see them grow ☺


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

March 9, 2021

The alien fry are on their 4th week. Huge growth in the past week as far as I can see. Feeding them baby brines shrimps twice a day and sometimes I add some tubifex worms on their tank to collect the sediments but i guess they're starting to eat them too because every other day I saw few remaining.










I collect some big ones to let you see closely











Sorry about the dirt on the bottom, cant really collect all of them.


----------



## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Would you prefer that a Moderator move this to Spawn Logs?


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

March 18, 2021

5th week of the alien fry
Diet: bbs, daphnia, chopped tubifex worms

They got a lot bigger when I fed them the worms 😊


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Would you prefer that a Moderator move this to Spawn Logs?


Yeah that woukd be a nice idea!


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

The biggest of the batch.

I think its a female.
For my observation, almost 40％ of them are coppers and mostly females


----------



## Mother Of Fish (Feb 11, 2021)

Marlo said:


> View attachment 1028927
> 
> 
> The biggest of the batch.
> ...


Definitely a female. She has an egg spot. Really beautiful fish! Congratulations!!


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Mother Of Fish said:


> Definitely a female. She has an egg spot. Really beautiful fish! Congratulations!!


Yeah. They are really beautiful! I'm so happy about the success of the spawn.


----------



## BettaloverSara (Oct 15, 2020)

The are really neat!


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Theyre about 2.5 month now. Some of them are showing some great colors, and some still need some growing up to do. 

Maybe I will seperate the bigger ones next week for their indivudual jars.




















The only downside for me is I can see most of them are females so it will be harder to sell them. 😅


Will keep on posting for the updates. Cheers


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

May 7, 2021

They'ye on their third month. I can really see their colors to show up. Some of the big ones will be jarred soon. One thing I am really curious about is only few of them got the blue color from the mother and none to the father which is copper. Most of the spawn are probably green aliens.

Here are some sample pictures of them
P.S. sorry for the glare and the dirty tank. Heavily dosed with tannins


----------



## Marlo (Feb 11, 2021)

Quick update. I seperated the big ones into their individual jars. I will start on conditioning them for their releasing size.

And also, I have my guitar smaragdina pair spawned today. Tell me guys if you want to know how it goes. Cheers. 😊


----------

