# They are breeding!!!!



## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

So yesterday in the picture section, I posted pictures trying to identify if 3 betas i had were male or females

the 2nd 2 pictures were identified as males. I separated them and put one of the males in a 10 gallon tank. He started making a bubble nest so I threw the female in, they are breeding!!!

This is the first time I am experiencing this, and it seems like the female is helping him pick up the eggs and put them on the nest. 

All of this has happened in a matter of less than 24 hours after introducing them to each other / tank (nest built and eggs laid)

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Any tips on how to proceed would be helpful


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

This is my thread trying to have ID'd as male / female

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=93801


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## vilmarisv (Apr 17, 2010)

This is going to sound harsh...

So, you didn't even know how to properly identify male from female yesterday but you decided to breed bettas.
What are you going to feed the fry? Are you the least bit informed about breeding?

There's no such thing as a crash course in betta breeding. Breeding is expensive and it takes a lot of preparation in order to properly raise the fry. 

Good luck with your fish.


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

bbs culture. My intentions were not to breed now, it just happened by mistake, I did not think that having a male/female together for less than 24 hours would result in what is happening.


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## BeautifulBetta (Nov 12, 2011)

Yeah they can spawn within hours of being put together...
You should've had microworms as well, and infusoria, because most newborn fry can't eat bbs, it's too big for them


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I have to agree with vilmarisv and BeautifulBetta. As the others stated, breeding takes a lot of planning and preparation.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Y suger coat it.


Nothing happen by mistake.
Cause Every action have a reaction to it


Bottom line B4 u do anything u must think of the cause and effect.

If you didn't plan on breeding, then y put them together.

Animal with short life span will try to reperduce as soon as the environment seem right.
Bet you just got you fish in a few day on a new shipment at the lfs.

Will since u got them to breed.
You better prepare yourself 
It's not going to be cheap n u have to devote a huge chunk of your time in caring.


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> Y suger coat it.
> 
> 
> Nothing happen by mistake.
> ...


 
wow... you got me!!!

i put them together because i prefered to put male / female together instead of male / male. could I have stopped it, yeah, did I no. but were my intentions to breed? 

I work fulltime and am on my last semester of my masters does it sound like I have the time for this right now? 

all this did was give my girlfriend a toni of work and research to do and shes been doing an excellent job at it.. we took male betta out yesterday, we have about 200+ fry, multiple cultures for feeding, aged water is in place for the coming days.


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## styggian (Dec 13, 2011)

If your intentions were not to breed, then you would not have just casually tossed them together to see what happens. It's not a mistake, it was intentional putting them together, and it is silly to not expect them to follow their instincts and attempt to breed when given the chance.

I have fish I want to breed. Sometimes I float a female to give the boys exercise and stimulation. I don't have the equipment yet to really focus on getting them to breed, though, I need more conditioning foods, fry food, another heater, etc.

Good luck.


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## tpocicat (Aug 8, 2011)

It takes a lot of planning to have a sucessful spawn. Extra tanks, proper fry food, etc. If you don't have food that is small enough for the fry, they will starve to death. Not a very good end.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Yeah sorry if ive sounding harsh n rude

If your just planning as you go.
U have a slight to zero chance for the fry to survive.
But that don't mean u just give up.

Fish is not just a fish
It's a pet n it's the owed responsibility to clean up the mess

Please Don't look down on them since theyre cheap n small
It's still a live breathing animal

If u did this to a dog, cat or rabbit
There will be more people raising hell on u


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

I have had to plan as I go but so far everything seems good. 

I have 2 BBS hatcheries running 12 hours apart.

Sponge Filter is setup but I have not put into tank yet, tomorrow I will start doing water changes, I do not see any dead fry so far this is day 4 after they hatched, day 2 of free swimming.

Father is out the tank, and I have witnessed them eating which was worrying me if the BBS would be too big. 

My biggest concern right now is water changes and the sponge filter being activated, other than that everything seems okay even though I am very inexperienced. I may be wrong because this is my first time and i'm sure an experienced breeder will point stuff out that I can be doing better. 

I have done the research and my girlfriend has been doing the work of keeping an eye on them and doing the actual work. 

If father is a plakat and mother is a VT, who has the stronger genes? What will the fry grow up to be ?


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

and yeah you were kinda rude instead of offering help.. but thanks, i am doing my best to keep up with the fry


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## styggian (Dec 13, 2011)

Veiltail with possible plakat recessive carrier.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Will I'm sorry
But there has been a lot of new people here that breed 
Without doing the research and expect hand out to how to care for them
On the breeding page there a few sticky
Which can help

If it's a new sponge filter don't run it inside of the fry tank.
Your going to kill everything
Recommend u to run the filter in another tank for a week before you add it to your tank.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

None of us had any intention of being rude. We just want to help you with your fry.curlyfatbottom. and several others here are experienced. breeders and, I,m sure, are more than happy to help.


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## jterrero (Feb 19, 2012)

Thanks, so far so good, today I started adding water.

Fry are in 10 gallon tank which was down to 2.5 inches of water, today I added an inch and a half. Tomorrow I will add another inch and will continue to do so until the tank is full..

I have sponge filter going in a separate tank which ill introduce to this tank once its full

and fry have been eating well, I'm feeding them BBS twice a day. My only issue so far is the tank being dirty, I scooped out some of the scum and its a bit clearer, but the bottom of the tank is pretty dirty.

So far I have lost 3 fry from what I've been able to count


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I would invest in a snail of two along with some live plants. and may I say congrats! You may not have expected it but it happened. My sister has had her male and female together for a week now and they dont even take interest in each other so I can see where you were coming from at least trying it. But guess what they not only liked each other but both were fertile  If you have any questions feel free to PM me. I'm setting up to breed and have done a TON of research, I'm no expert but I can at least try to help. oh and are there pictures? I want to see the little cuties


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

So my question is.. you have them in a 10 gallon.. what do you have for a grow out tank? I would set up a 30+ gallon real soon to get it cycled and ready for them.. don't forget the 100+ jars you will need to separate each one once they start becoming aggressive. Also heating each one appropriately. 

You did it on a whim, but you still have a minimum of a few hundred dollars of equipment needed. Sadly, this spawn may not make it as the bettas were not conditioned prior to being bred, if they were just brought home it means they haven't been eating as it is.. the fry most likely will need to be culled down significantly sadly. 

Start looking for places to sell these guys, as their genes aren't going to be too strong, and VTs are hard to sell.. May be able to sell them for $2 on aquabid, but you won't get the cost you are going to need to spend on additional tanks, jars, food, heat for all (which includes a big jump in electricity bill), packaging, etc.

This may be a costly learning experience for you, and sadly, for the babies.

You also stated you wanted to put a female/male together rather then a male/male.. you do realize you can't have them together, right? Not even a male/female, and not because of mating.. because one will pretty much kill the other- luckily it didn't happen, as it is common in fish that weren't acclimated properly together to fight rather then mate.. females want nothing to do with a male outside of the actual spawn process.. females want nothing to do with other females, and males want nothing to do with either of the sexes period (excluding certain circumstances that I'm not going to get into in here).

Good luck to you.. sorry.. just frustrates me when people don't.. research, think.. learn.


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## jCo72 (Feb 21, 2012)

I can see why people are upset about this but it doesn't really matter now. The fish have mated and now you're trying to get the information you need to try to give the fry a fighting chance. Personally, I think it'd be more productive if there were more people trying to help you than criticizing you. Just my two cents... :-?

I wish I could help you, but I don't know much about breeding - other than what I've read in the stickies. I hope your fry are healthy and can survive. Good luck!


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

You are correct jC, my apologies.. sometimes the more you see this, the more frustrating it becomes and we don't always bite our tongues quick enough.



jterrero said:


> Thanks, so far so good, today I started adding water.
> 
> Fry are in 10 gallon tank which was down to 2.5 inches of water, today I added an inch and a half. Tomorrow I will add another inch and will continue to do so until the tank is full..
> 
> ...


BBS can be quite dirty.. I would look into other fry foods- as some say feeding BBS too early and too much can cause health problems. Infusoria tends to be what you would want to feed for the first few days of their lives.. usually takes up to a month to get a good culture of it going. Sometimes live plants can help deliver infusoria.
Microworms are also good to feed before BBS, as they are smaller.. usually takes a week or two to culture properly.
I would also feed a little more then two times a day- small meals throughout the day is 

Since it's too late to start all of that now, in the future I would get those two going along with the BBS. Proper/good nutrition is vital with brand new fry. 

After every meal you should clean out the tank with a turkey baster.. as water quality is very important, and even just a tiny bit improper will affect the fry- health, growth, etc. Cleaner then average water is a must with fry. 

I suggest reading the stickies at the top, as they have the basic care listed for fry from a very knowledgeable and experienced breeder.. here is just a bit about cleaning the tank since you are saying it is dirty:
· Like adults betta fry require lots of clean water. Betta fry require even cleaner than average water to avoid disease outbreaks and growth stunts. The larger fry will produce a hormone that stunts the growth of the other fry…the only way to get rid of this hormone is to clean your tank often. 
· For the first week or so work on dripping water slowly into your tank. Once it’s full you can start water changes.
· For water changes on your first spawn I recommend either using a turkey baster or airline tubing siphon with an airstone on the end. The latter will completely avoid sucking up fry but will remove nasty, stunt hormone filled water. I recommend removing 25%-50% of the water with each water change and drip the water back into the tank. As you gain experience you can find what works best for you. Like now a days I just drain the water until just a little bit is covering the heater and then drip water into the tank. But for a first spawn just stick with small water changes until you get comfortable.

Keep us updated


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