# my first breeding attempt :D



## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Hey all!

So like the title says, this is my first breeding attempt after literally a year of researching  so excited! I have kept many bettas, males and females, ever since I got into fish.
This is my male, Mike, HM with purple/copper colour (old damage to fins)










This is my Female, Petal, SD with all sorts of random colours










Both bought from E-bay from reputable breeders


This is my set up for breeding, slightly on the small side compared to others but it will do the job. 40 litre tank, 50w heater, sponge filter, almond leaf, polystyrene and some plantage  and yes, that is litres, not gallons. I’m no good at conversions! 










I have been conditioning for 1 week, but pretty sure they didn’t need any longer as they have been fed on high protein food for like forever. So Mike went into the tank a few days ago and I have just put Petal in and he instantly started trying to build a bubble nest. He isn’t very good at it! 

She will be released tomorrow, so I have all weekend to keep an eye on them  

The only thing I may have a problem with (I think) is Mike being too small to wrap around Petal. But I have a bigger male ready. I just wanted to give him a chance cuz I love his colour! 
So yea. Exciting stuff 
Thank god for my bfs camera skills  I see you all like photos!


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

Seems like everything is going great!! I would suggest cramming that tank with live plants that way she can hide and infrosia will grow for fry to eat. Also what have you got planned for the fry to eat? One last thing are you from the uk??


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Yes I have some more plants I am putting in tonight  I decided late on that I need to cram it with plants as its small. For the first week I’m relying on inflorisia (can’t remember spelling!) and then after, micro worms and then after that a mixture of micro worms, and Hiraki fry food (starting them early so they don’t get spoilt) and then a variety of grated frozen food. And yea I’m from the UK


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

It would also be good to get a brine shrimp hatchery (sea monkeys)


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

I am looking at hatcherys as we speak  Plants are in! there is so much coverage I had to set up a mirror so I could see the bubble nest as I can't access the side lol. What are people's opinions about snails in the tank?


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Here's a picture of the tank now, with all its plants


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

The more snails the better i think .I have some ramshorn snails i my breeding tank as a clean up crew. What are your plans to do with the fry??


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Well I will keep as many as I have room for! particularly the females, they are so under rated! Also, I have a lot of pet shops around that would happily take them and sell them on. I'm not intending to sell any myself because they wont be anything special to anyone else apart from me!


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

I would take them to local fish shops and not to big chain stores like pets at home.... they dont care for your fish. You should be looking at 2.00 per male and 1 .00 per female i would say


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Don't worry I have it sussed. Actually down this area, my maidenhead aquatics shop is amazing. I'm friends with a lot of the staff and I know for a fact they will take amazing care with them untill they are sold. My local fish shop round the corner who would give me money for them isnt half as nice. If I think they would sell quick I would give them to him, otherwise the rest I would take to maidenhead. But like I said, I will keep as many myself as I can get away with first


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

Yeah the maiden head aqautics near us sell amazing half moons! . Where about in the uk are you from ? England , scotland wales?? Im from the north east of england .


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Mine doesn't get much more than VTs, but they are perfect VTs. I'm from south east england. Mike isnt very good at making bubbles. He keeps making other ones bigger instead of making new ones! silly fish


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

He will get the hang of making bubble nests soon lol . Who did you get the pair of?? I got a Hm from ebay a while back and i wonder if its from the same seller?


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

The male is from a home breeder called ermmm... dinger(some number) and the female was from a shop owner called dpfishways  I hope he gets the hang of it! I'm planning on releasing the female tomorrow, but if it isn't big enough I may leave her in there for a second day...


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I have found that when spawning smaller males with larger females it can take a bit more time, it took mine near a week with some smaller males, watch the female for frustration too, sometimes the girls can get nasty with the males that can't get the job done fast enough for them....lol......If you really want fry from him I would leave them together for at least 7-10 days unless one is tearing the other up really bad or one seems stressed/panting/hiding more than normal spawning.
It is normal to have some torn/ripped finnage on either breeder, just watch for the signs....

Good luck and look forward to hearing more about your spawns


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Thanks so much for that! If nothing had happened within 2 days of releasing her I was going to call it a failed attempt and try again with my other male. I will take your advice. I have kept Petal in a sorority tank before and there was no fin nipping so it's a good start


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

These girls can have a big personality change when it come to reproduction....lol......but, it is good that she came from a sorority or even a larger tank. I have found my girls that are housed that away tend to be better breeders and a bit more patient with males that have problems with the embrace.

One spawning I had-the female had to drop lots of unfertile eggs to reduce her girth so the male could get a good wrap on her, between her being bigger than him along with the added ripe eggs made her too big/fat
Once the male has some experience in spawning- it gets easier for him even with the big girls in my experience anyway.....


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Excellent! Hopefully when it comes to it he will know what to do. 

With regards to BBS, have any of you made your own hatcherys? Is it worth doing or should I just buy one? I can get one with eggs and food for just over £10


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I made my own hatchery with an old clean plastic 1g peanut container that I drilled a hold in the lid for the airline tubing and airstone and they work great for me. I keep two going when I am spawning starting them 24h apart. I buy the eggs and use regular salt 3Tlbs and start the water temp off at 84-85F-I sit it in my cabinet without lights or heater and will have 90% hatch within 18-24h-100% hatch by 24-28h
I don't start my BBS until the fry are about 6-7 days old (counting day one as eggs)
I only feed newly hatched BBS with their yolk sac intact for more nutrition, once the BBS yolk sac is absorbed they have little nutrition and that can cause growth and development problems with the Betta fry...even sudden death due to starvation
Once the BBS have absorbed their yolk sac (24-32h) I supplement them with HUFA product call Silcon-but my fry don't get the supplement BBS until they are 2weeks plus in age- until then only the newly hatched BBS with yolk sac intact and other live foods

I use natural planted tanks full to the top with water for my spawning tanks and I keep lot of common snails in them for infusoria production for the first fry food and free range feeding, I also cultire green water and other live food for fry.


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Please tell me you mean a 100g peanut container? Wouldn't a 1g only hold like 1 peanut? lol


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## Learn To Fly (May 15, 2010)

By 1g OFL means 1 gallon. OFL lives in the US I believe and that's an abbreviation for gallon, as well as gram :roll:.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Sorry...that would be correct- g=gallon..thanks LTF


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

oh lol! could units of measurement be more confusing? Why can't they all be simple and save me some embarrassment  Lights are out on the spawning tank now. I'm going to leave a lamp on in the room though so that it's not pitch black. Hope I see a bubble nest in the morning!


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## Learn To Fly (May 15, 2010)

Oldfishlady said:


> Sorry...that would be correct- g=gallon..thanks LTF


Lol you're welcome.

It is confusing, isn't it? Too bad all the countries can't use the same measuring systems.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Isn't the US the only place that has a different unit of measurement?


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

I'm not sure!

So this morning I let petal out. She seemed interested when she was seperated from him, but now she is just running away and hiding. She has only been in there an hour. Mike is chasing her and flaring and doing all he can to get at her but she just hides lol. I'm sure this is normal so just going to leave them to it for a while. How long from when you put the female in did it take for them to spawn?


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## weluvbettas (May 29, 2010)

Every thing sounds normal. It is normal for them to hide and when she is ready she will come out.
Spawning can happen from 1 hour of realease to nearly a week.


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Okay thanks! If it takes a couple of days, should I feed them? I want Mike to have enough energy to look after the eggs/fry well


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## Euphie101 (Aug 28, 2010)

MrVampire181 said:


> Isn't the US the only place that has a different unit of measurement?


Yea I believe they are. We US people just make it harder for everyone else lol


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I feed mine when they are together, but I also use lots of live foods to stimulate them...like mosquito larva and guppy fry......


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Okay I think my female seems stressed out. She showed all the right signs before I put her in, her white egg spot thing was visable and she was showing interest, but now she doesn't seem happy or interested at all! She only moves when she is being chased. Shall I take her out?


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

What is the male doing?


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

He is chasing her every now and again, and isn't doing much towards his bubblenest.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

What are you using to condition them with food wise

Is he staying by his nesting site and what is his nesting site-if he is just giving a little chase and then stops and not working on his nest-she may not be emitting pheramone yet and they need more time, also, some male may not even make a nest until he has eggs in his mouth....every spawn can be different in these domesticated man made fish......what makes it fun IMO...lol....never know what can happen
If you have live foods to feed them it will really help.....I can get hard to spawn fish spawning in a few minutes to a couple of hours by just feeding massive amount of live mosquito larva and then dropping the pair in the spawning tank at the same time giving them a bit of temp shock....you have to stimulate their triggers with some and with others it doesn't matter as they are ready at any time......


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Okay. I will feed them some live food. I conditioned with Hiraki betta pellets, daphina and brine shrimp.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

The hardest part with first spawning attempts IMO....is the waiting game......give them time and if nothing in a couple of days I have some more tricks you can try to stimulate their triggers.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

effy said:


> Excellent! Hopefully when it comes to it he will know what to do.
> 
> With regards to BBS, have any of you made your own hatcherys? Is it worth doing or should I just buy one? I can get one with eggs and food for just over £10


 I have a 2.5 gallon tank (I'm not so good with conversions but I think it's 10 liters) with a 25 watt heater (93*F) filled just above the heater. I have two 2 liter bottles in it and I can get hatching within a few hours. I start 1 hatchery 12 hours after the first.


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## effy (Sep 21, 2010)

Update- So they have been in the spawning tank now for 2 days. Not much has changed, apart from the bubblenest which is starting to get better  going to feed them some live bloodworm today. I can't help feeling she just isn't that into him, but i will wait and see


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Give them more time...it can take a week or so with some...


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