# New To The Betta Breeding, would love some pro advise!



## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

So, I have done my research, again, and have my 5 gal breeding tank all set up. 

Got the heater
Got the plants (fake ones. all the places where I live have snails all over their real plants. It SUCKS)
Got the cup for the nest
Got the male in there
Picked a female that he likes, but all she wants to do is beat him up. I have other females, but they are not ready yet and still really small. The picked female is showing signs of readyness, but really tries to get at the male with an open mouth.

Any suggestions? This is my 3rd try at this. I had one good go with my yellow SD and VT female (who has passed on), but there was never any eggs outta her. Not sure why, she looked like a wrecking ball. 

Can anyone give me some tips? The males I have down, but how do I know when the female is ready? I know the body pattern, the egg spot. Its the aggression I am having the issue with. 
Also, do you wait till the male has a bubble net before adding the female in the cup? Or fut the female in before he even started the nest?

Any help would be awesome. I really want to learn to master this so I can produce nice bettas for shows some day!


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Ahh let em fight haha. Agressive females are better than wimpy ones IMO. Sometimes I jar the female...most of the time I don't.


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

*Oh boy... XD*



MrVampire181 said:


> Ahh let em fight haha. Agressive females are better than wimpy ones IMO. Sometimes I jar the female...most of the time I don't.


Well I just did some pair swops. My yellow SD seems to really like my new red/black female VT. She is warry but interested. She was the most agressive when put with the other females, but really toned it down with this male near her. She is now in a jar and he is very quickly building a nest. 

My blue CT female is nicked named "Mama Witch" cause she is very nasty. She is the one I want to breed with my CT male, bus she is so aggressive with him he does not even wanna bother with her, kinda stinks. He rather have the small Purple VT I have. So I temp jarred the CT female on the side with my silver and blue Plakat, who now loves her and has started his bubble nest. She is very much wanting to get at him, but in a less aggressive way. She is not flaring or gaping her mouth, she is just really wanting outta the jar every time his comes close. 

So it seems my females at this pint wanna cross breed, lol!

I will keep watching as see what happens in the next few days then re-post. I need to get my hands on a good camera so I can take photos. My cell phone cam is crap >.<


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

im gonna post this without reading any of the pro's advice if they even posted any. im just beginning but have done a lot of research. one thing really caught my eye was the bubble nest. if you have bubble wrap, preferbly the small bubble kind, get a 3x3 piece of that and put it bubble down in the water. leave the male in there, and leave the female in a jar to protect her again. you should see the male make a bubblenest underneath the bubblewrap. i think you were releasing her too soon and thats not good.they will kill eachother if you release them too soon, and if you dont take them away fast enough after spawning. hope i helped a little bit. also, it seems 5 gallons is a bit small for a breeding tank, but you should be fine. people have done it in 2.5 gallons before i think. good luck!


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

jschristian44 said:


> im gonna post this without reading any of the pro's advice if they even posted any. im just beginning but have done a lot of research. one thing really caught my eye was the bubble nest. if you have bubble wrap, preferbly the small bubble kind, get a 3x3 piece of that and put it bubble down in the water. leave the male in there, and leave the female in a jar to protect her again. you should see the male make a bubblenest underneath the bubblewrap. i think you were releasing her too soon and thats not good.they will kill eachother if you release them too soon, and if you dont take them away fast enough after spawning. hope i helped a little bit. also, it seems 5 gallons is a bit small for a breeding tank, but you should be fine. people have done it in 2.5 gallons before i think. good luck!


Thank you so much. I will consider that next time. Right now the male SD has about half a nest under his cup. The female is in her jar with the male looking on. I never released he early, she has always been in the jar. I just have been swapping females to see who likes who, but the are all safe.:-D


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

Its day 3 of the female in the jar and male building his nest. The nest is HUGE and the female just got her breeding bands this morning and wanting to get out! YAY! This might work!

I have the day off work so I am going to release her and watch them intently.

Quick question: I know you should never bleach fish tools, but I had an odd fungus (probably the velvet that got my 2 fish sick) on my net. I soaked it in bleach/water, hot, this morning and rinsed it off really good. Is it still safe to use? Or should I just go buy another net?


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

you should never put bleach in a fish tank. your best bet is to just pick another one up, they are only like 3 dollars in the store. much easier than having to worry about expensive fish and a fish tank. that's really a no brainer. with them being so cheap. if they were like 50 dollars then you might have trouble deciding. you can even make your own net using a plastic zip lock bag and a piece of wood on a stick. poke holes in the bag and there u go.


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

jschristian44 said:


> you should never put bleach in a fish tank. your best bet is to just pick another one up, they are only like 3 dollars in the store. much easier than having to worry about expensive fish and a fish tank. that's really a no brainer. with them being so cheap. if they were like 50 dollars then you might have trouble deciding. you can even make your own net using a plastic zip lock bag and a piece of wood on a stick. poke holes in the bag and there u go.


Thank you for the advice! I will toss that one out then.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

yeah why risk the babies and females life for such a cheap product! make your own..get a paint stirring stick, some hot glue, and a ziplock bag.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

It's fine to bleach fish products, thats how many forum members disinfect their stuff to prevent cross contamination and that's how they often clean tanks before setting it up. Once you soak something in a water bleach solution, rinse rinse rinse in hot water, then dry it. It'll be fine to use. If you'd rather use a vinegar water solution to clean your stuff, that'd be fine too.

I'm starting to try and soak everything for water changes like buckets, syhpons, turkey basters and nets once a month to prevent potential ilnesses from getting from tank to tank once I re-set up my other tank for the sorority.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

id use vinegar if u really need to do this


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

Personally, I like using bleach, that way I know there isn't a single chance of anything nasty clinging to my stuff, and the solutin is only a little bit of bleach- only 5 to 20 % bleach the rest water, though the precents are depending on what I'm trying to clean and what's happened to it.


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

JKfish said:


> Personally, I like using bleach, that way I know there isn't a single chance of anything nasty clinging to my stuff, and the solutin is only a little bit of bleach- only 5 to 20 % bleach the rest water, though the precents are depending on what I'm trying to clean and what's happened to it.


 So the times you have used bleach you have has not issues with your fish? Have you cleaned nets with it?


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

i would say if you do bleach it, rinse it very well with hot water and make sure its totally dry before you put it in the tank.


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

I've used bleach a lot lately with my fish equipment (syphon bucket and even the net), and I'm yet to have a problem. Just make sure you rinse really, really well, and that there isn't any lingering bleach smell, and that you let it fully dry before the next use. 

If you don't want to constantly be bleaching nets, I'd get a cup for each betta that you can use to scoop up your bettas in, cupping bettas can be easy and actually less stressful on bettas IMO.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

my betta HATES, HATES, HATES being netted. is this normal? he runs away like crazy, it takes me at least a minute each time.


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## lilchiwolf (Jan 10, 2011)

JKfish said:


> I've used bleach a lot lately with my fish equipment (syphon bucket and even the net), and I'm yet to have a problem. Just make sure you rinse really, really well, and that there isn't any lingering bleach smell, and that you let it fully dry before the next use.
> 
> If you don't want to constantly be bleaching nets, I'd get a cup for each betta that you can use to scoop up your bettas in, cupping bettas can be easy and actually less stressful on bettas IMO.


lol, only a few I can cup, the others have outsmart them XD


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## JKfish (Apr 8, 2010)

I trained my fish to swim into the cup. During his breakfast or dinner for a few days, i'd hold the cup ready to scoop and drop a pellet in. Eventally once he swam in, I scooped him up and fed the other two pellets.


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## jschristian44 (Jan 6, 2011)

id never be able to cup Leon


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I've used bleach on jars, cups, tanks, nets, heaters, plastic plants, plastic decor. I've never had a death as a result of bleach use.


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## Learn To Fly (May 15, 2010)

I haven't used bleach much, but when I clean my nets (after every use) I throw them in the dishwasher. Combine boiling water with strong soap and a good rinse, and your nets are probably going to end up clean 
I do rinse them myself after, and so far I haven't had any problems.


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