# Should I change my breeding pair?



## TougeBetta (Jun 13, 2011)

My male is a half-moon(slightly bigger than the female) and my female is a crown-tail. I have put them together(female in a breeder tank) for about 2 weeks now and the female's stomach is getting really big and no vertical bars yet.

I have also put in Indian almond leaves in the tank, feeding them both frozen bloodworm for about a week. The male already built a big bubble nest and often swim/flare around the female.

Yesterday I was trying to see how they would react to each other so I put the female into the tank. She swam underneath the bubble nest and started looking up, the male came by and started chasing/nipping her a bit under the nest. She fought back and bit off a big long piece of his tail(the poor thing now have 10-15% of his tail missing) and ate it!:shock:

I quickly separated them and put her back into the breeding tank. Now I always see the male rushing toward her with his beard fin open then the female would get really aggressive and look like she wanna break the wall and get in for a fight..


----------



## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

What does your spawning set up look like? How many gallons, how deep, what temp, is there anywhere for the female to hide etc... Pics would be great.

How did you condition the pair? How long did you condition them? 

Do you know the age of the female?

As a side note, it isn't advised to cross CTs and HMs due to the the undesirability of CTHM fry... I wouldn't breed them personally.


----------



## TougeBetta (Jun 13, 2011)

The tank is 10 Gallon, temp is at 84，about 5-6 inch water depth, no live plant but one artificial one. Have one piece of almond leaf - about 9 inch big. I actually have a video in my phone but I can't upload it at the moment. I can't find any half-moon female in my local stores. So I purchased a crown-tail instead. The female has very shiny purple/blue scales and very lively, eat well, about 1 -1.2 inch in length, stomach is getting bigger each day but no vertical bar,I am guessing she is about 4-5 months old. She has seen the male for over 2 weeks.

The male is white /w blue fins about 1.5 inch to 1.6 inch in length, I am guessing at least 7-9 months old, very picky eater and recently won't eat pellets but just bloodworm. Always in the mood to build bubble nest unless he is not eating. In the main tank along building bubble nest under the foam cup.


----------



## DarkMoon17 (Apr 16, 2011)

Well, I would reconsider breeding them. There are a number of online sources where you could get a halfmoon female. You will have trouble finding homes for HMCT fry (more likely SD/CT since the female is not a 180 spread CT)...

Otherwise, there are 2 things that pop out to me. You need LOTS of hiding places for the female. Without hiding places you will have serious trouble with them tearing each other apart as you saw. Pack half the tank with live plants.

I'm not sure how you conditioned them? You should condition the pair for 2 weeks. Feed the pair 2-3 times per day with high protein foods like frozen bloodworms/glassworms/brine shrimp and a high quality pellet food. Water changes are also very important. If conditioned properly they "should" breed and the fry "should" be healthy....


----------



## RobertTheFish (Jun 6, 2011)

VangsPlakat sells some darling HM female at a very reasonable price. I have 3 of his in my sorority.


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

To start off there are a lot of reasons that stand out to me and need to quickly be corrected.

First i say (dont breed them), only because they are two different tail types and will create really unwanted fry. This is not good because many Breeds with crossings have really bad fins and some of them dont look like halfmoon/crowntail bettas they look like monsters. IMO. Also with them having bad fins they will be not wanted by almost anyone that actually has an interest in bettas or a pet store. So finding home would be a huge problem.

If you do decide to breed them two anyway, then my suggestion is to (recondition) them again because im not sure if you already conditioned them, but i would start all over and recondition them for 1 1/2-2 weeks tops with really good food like another member has said.

Then you SHOULD buy real plants, but many breeders dont breed their bettas with live plants. I would definitely use real plants because it creates infusoria which is a micro organism that feed the fry at an early stage.

You need to have a lot of hiding places like another member suggested.


If it was me, i wouldnt breed them until i get a HM female to breed him to so i know that when i breed them and have about 30-40 fry (if im lucky) i will know where to put them and who to sell/give them away to.


----------



## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

I agree with everyone above plus:
You don't condition them that way. If the female were ready/willing to breed and could sense the males hormones, she would have released her eggs by now. They are supposed to be in separate water and preferably can't see each other. After they are conditioned and you're ready to breed them, then let them see each other. You can even place them in the same water (breeding trap). If both do not flirt, cancel and try again later. 

From your explanation, I conclude that the female wants to fight not breed.


----------



## TougeBetta (Jun 13, 2011)

Thanks for the input guys, I actually went to couple other stores today after work but no luck with the female. I am considering to buy a breeding pair online now or just get a crowntail male. 

The female is very fertilized. I can see egg hanging under her ovipositor spot. I tried putting them together for a bit tonight for like a minute the male actually led her under the cup and nipped/dragged her body a bit, then she flapped him in the face and escaped . So I guess I will just separate them for now. Until I buy another crowntail male or HM female.


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

TougeBetta said:


> Thanks for the input guys, I actually went to couple other stores today after work but no luck with the female. I am considering to buy a breeding pair online now or just get a crowntail male.
> 
> The female is very fertilized. I can see egg hanging under her ovipositor spot. I tried putting them together for a bit tonight for like a minute the male actually led her under the cup and nipped/dragged her body a bit, then she flapped him in the face and escaped . So I guess I will just separate them for now. Until I buy another crowntail male or HM female.


I suggest buying a pair online, because you will know that you are getting a pair from a responsible breeder. Also if you buy online you are getting quality fish and fish that people WILL definitely want to buy from you.:-D:-D


----------



## TougeBetta (Jun 13, 2011)

bettalover2033 said:


> I suggest buying a pair online, because you will know that you are getting a pair from a responsible breeder. Also if you buy online you are getting quality fish and fish that people WILL definitely want to buy from you.:-D:-D


I actually like your fish, is that your fish in your avatar? :lol:


----------



## TougeBetta (Jun 13, 2011)

btw is the sign of the egg hanging out from the female belly means I have to wait for the next cycle?


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

bettalover2033 said:


> I suggest buying a pair online, because you will know that you are getting a pair from a responsible breeder. Also if you buy online you are getting quality fish and fish that people WILL definitely want to buy from you.:-D:-D


This is not always true....just because it came from aquabid/online doesn't mean they are good, quality or better and you don't always get any more information than if you bought one off the shelf at a pet shop...just because it cost more doesn't mean it is a better fish

Not all breeders online are honest, however, most are....but you still have lots of people selling poor quality and/or unknown genetic back ground....it can be a crap-shoot either way......

By spawning two different tails types it will take you longer to get what you want...but this also depends on your goals....IMO...nothing wrong with mixing tails types or using pet shop Betta for spawning...again it depends on your goals....if you plan to show fish...then you don't want to start with unknown genetic...you should join the IBC and get a breeding pair and a mentor and start studying IBC standards....if you don't plan to show and are wanting to spawn for the experience and to gain hands-on experience...get what you like and spawn....but know that you could end up with anything.....with that said....IMO this is the exciting part.....you never know what you will get/create....its easy to buy a sibling pair from known genetic lines from a breeder to continue their lines.....to create you own special line to call your own....you have to think outside the box and experiment mixing tail type and colors...but to do this you also have to cull hard.......I have found that I sell more of my unique line and can't keep up with demand than the pure known line....but it didn't happen over night...it has taken years......

When you mix CT with anything other than CT....IMO/E- the fins look fine on nearly all the offspring...all you generally get is reduced webbing and not messy at all, however, you do get a few that look pretty odd and this is when you cull.....


----------



## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

TougeBetta said:


> btw is the sign of the egg hanging out from the female belly means I have to wait for the next cycle?


This is most likely the ovipositor and not an egg..

I like to wait 3 days between spawns while mass feeding them with live food in their own container that is placed in an area so that she can't see the male...provided that she had been conditioned properly the first time...

I also like to have the male in his own container (not the spawning tank) and mass feed him live foods during this time as well....


----------



## bettalover2033 (Feb 17, 2010)

TougeBetta said:


> I actually like your fish, is that your fish in your avatar? :lol:


Yes he is.:-D:-D


----------

