# Spawn log and questions



## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

This is my first time breeding bettas. I have been a Guppy breeder for a while until my heater malfunktioned and killed all be two of my fish ( don't worry no longer have the heater). I have spent a lot of time resurching about betta breeding. I thought I would try it. I now it is a lot of responsibillity. Well I have a CT red male betta and some sort of female don't know what kind. I am in the process of conditioning them at the moment. Will post pics when I can find my camera. Also when do males start there bubble nests about. I have him in my breeding tank so he can claim it as his own. All he does is flare at his reflection, does a wierd dance, blows two bubbles (which pop under the cup I have in there) and does the same thing over and over. Is this normal??
Sorry about all the questions I am new to this.

Sorry about spelling.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Hello animalfreak  

Once you put the female in with the male, he should start building his nest. Sometimes the male needs a push in the right direction. Once you have finished conditioning, you can add the female into the spawn tank inside some sort of clear container. A lot of people use a chimney (a candle lantern). 

May I ask what you are feeding them with and what their temps. are at?


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I have been feeding them freeze dried bloodworms in the morning, two small betta pellets for lunch, more fdb or mosqutos larvae for diner. She is in a container that is about room temp.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Stop feedign the freeze-dried, they don't have much protein in them. I'd start just feeding massive amounts of mosquito larvae and a couple pellets. Try feeding just twice a day instead of three. 

Also, the temp. *needs* to be at the 80F rang as much as possible.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

How can I get the temp to 80. And Also in my breeder set up I have a heater but it stays around 70. The water is only 5 or 6 inches deep.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

You need to get a heater. 

The water needs to be at 80-82F the entire time during spawning, or the fry will most likely all die off. 

I think you should do some more research before you spawn.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thanks


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I have a heater now that you can set the temp to.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Is there a heater for the spawn tank as well? 
Bettas are tropical fish and need warm temps. to thrive.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Yes


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Alright. Make sure both heaters are set at 82F. This is the ideal temp. for spawning and housing bettas at. It will help the fry grow and keep from becoming ill as well. 

You'll want to then keep conditioning with pellets and larvae for, at most, 3 weeks.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

My female is showing breeding stripes. What should I do??? They are vertical.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Dont' put her in until you are done conditioning.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thank you so much.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

No problem. Any more questions, just ask.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

How do you know when a female is ready to breed??? Also on Friday they will be conditioned for 1 week now.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

She will have the vertical breeding bars and be swimming in an "s" motion.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Well she has the vertical bars and once in a great while it looks like she is swimming in an s shape. My male does all the time. I have to wacth closer to see if see is or not. I let them see each other once in a while, the male flares but nothing from her???


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

She needs to warm up to the male. Don't let them see each other while they are being conditioned either.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Ok. Also is it ok to mix a CT with some thing else????


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

You can mix any fin type of betta splenden together. You will probably end up with combtails and ragged looking VT's (assuming your girl is a VT)


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I have no clue to what she is.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

yay I think she might be


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

If anybody has any tips on breeding and conditioning i'd love to hear them.


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

How i conditioned-Keep them out of sight for 2 weeks, mass feed mosquito larvae to both of them 2x daily, only fed a pellet or two here and there, not daily. Kept their temps at about 78-80 with more frequent water changes.

If you have oak trees you can put the leaves in the tank and they will stain the tank a brownish orange color, these tannins help the bettas relax. Make sure the female has lots of hiding spaces, not just one plant or a cave, half my tank was stuffed tightly with plants real/fake so she could easily hide while the male couldnt fit into some areas she could. Oncve youve conditioned a couple weeks you put her in a clear container in the tank with him. The tannins from the leaves help his bubbles hold, if you dont use the leaves put some clearwrap on tank top to hold in humidity, that helps his nest stick also. My male couldnt make his nest under a cup for some reason so i used bubblewrap, he preferred it. After a day or two.. or three youll see her bar up if shes dark colored, her eggspot will stick out more, she will be plump and when he swims by to flare and dance she will put her head down in a submissive pose and do an S shaped dance. Then you can release her and keep an eye on them. I was very paranoid so i stayed up for 24 hours straight to witness them breeding. My male is pretty aggressive. They will nip and chase each other, hopefully she hides and rests a bit. Every now and then he will find her and she will flare and he will try to lead her to the nest. She will eventually go check it out, if she likes it she will start pushing on him, if she doesnt she will destory it or nip it, or just swim away, any disapproval makes the male mad and they are likely to play chase again lol. Eventually she will accept his nest and mate or if it wasnt meant to be for them they will ignore each other/do nothing/fight, in that case, remove and recondition. If theres injury you can treat with aquarium salt 1tsp a gallon. If they do decide to mate then he will wrap around her and put the eggs in the nest hopefully, once they finish he will chase her off, thats when you remove her. Then you have to hope hes a good daddy and cares for his eggs, doesnt eat them or ignore them. Once the babies hatch they will have their egg yolk sack for the first day or two, and they cant swim horizontally so he will pick them up and blow them into the bubblenest, once they can swim on their own you can remove him and feed them. If your using real plants they will feed off of infusoria, microscopic things in the plants, if not youll have to have a culture of microworms or baby brine shrimp hatching for them. Last resort is the egg yolk method but thats not good for water quality and some wont eat it. They nmostely need wiggly foods to munch on. I think i have written too much, hopefully i havent forgotten anything and i make sense XD Make sure your ready for all those little ones, they need fed so often and water changes are sometimes brutal lol


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thanks that helps me a lot. You know what you are talking about.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

My avatar pic is of my female I have.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

She looks like a VT to me. ^^ A very cute one too!


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thanks  she is a sweety


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I just love her


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

My male when he is in his tank he blows a bubblenest, I moved him into the breeding tank ( which is a 10 gallon ) he blows two bubbles, swims around, stops stays near the top for a while, blows two bubbles again, which pop, does a weird s dance and repeats the process over for hours, is this normal or is it just me lol.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

No that's normal. Try using cling wrap over the tank to keep the humidity up- this will prevent the bubbles from popping.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I just did that today


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Also I forgot to add that when he does the s dance he is flaring at his reflection.


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Ah. Ok, that's good. 

Try covering the sides of the tank with paper. Hopefully he'll stop flaring and start building.  
How long have you been conditioning now?


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Almost a week I think?


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

I can't wait to breed them, I would love to see what the fry would look like. But I still have to wait until im done conditioning. I'm just so excited.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

How can you post pics I can't get it to work?????


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## Yaoilover12397 (Aug 12, 2011)

You have to upload them to photobucket and then use the img coded one.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thanks I will have to try it some other day.


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## Yaoilover12397 (Aug 12, 2011)

It's actually rather easy just make an account and bam its an easy 1-2-3 process. Best of luck dear <3


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## youlovegnats (Feb 23, 2011)

Or you can hit the "post reply" button and upload a picture. As long as it's under a certain amount of KB's.


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## Animalfreak (Aug 23, 2011)

Thanks


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