I'm getting antsy. I need to buy another tank... Or a number of new tanks... :P

I'm interested in breeding bettas. I keep finding pics of babies online and I want some! So what kind of tanks would you recommend (size) for keeping adults, for raising fry and for the actual breeding to take place? What kind of filtration? (I imagine the filtration can't be too rough?)

What kind of pH is recommended for bettas and betta breeding? (My pH is 7.8 out the tap.)
What types of food would I need for adults and for babies?

Just getting me head around details before I decide... and I know there are a few betta people on here. ;)

Okay, new topics help. ^_^

Two questions:
How big of a grow out tank do I need?
I'm a bit worried about no filtration on a breeding tank... And also not sure about filtration on adult tanks? Please reassure me. ^_^

For keeping adults by themselves, you need at least one gallon. I keep mine in 2.5 gallon tanks because it's easily for me when doing water changes.

The spawning tank should be at least 10 gallons, bare bottom meaning no substrate of any sort, and a sponge filter or corner filter would work great. Anything else like HOB wouldn't be a good idea because fry may get sucked into it.

The pH should be around like 7.0 for bettas, since they like more acidic water, but my water is 7.5 pH. The bettas do fine anyway. You DO NOT have to add any chemicals of any sort to lower the pH because the bettas can and would mostly adapt to it.

Before spawning your pair, you should feed them rice protein foods for about 2 weeks, this is known as conditioning them. Live foods are preferred. As for normal regular days of their lives, you can feed them pellets, flakes, and basically any type of fish food. My bettas all eat anything I feed them.

A growout tank should be at least 20 gallons, but it really depends on your results of the spawning.

The spawning tank should be equiped with filteration from a sponge or corner filter. This will ensure some water movement and cleanliness of the water, but you should get a turkey baster and suck up any visible debris as well. The adults tanks though, don't need to be filterated. I give my 2.5 gallon tanks a 100% water change every 10 days, and it works great. They are always happily blowing bubblenests for me.

Hope this helps you out a little.

Yes, that does help Aiwen. :) Thank-you. ^_^

Betta's are some of the hardest fish to breed.

1. The fry are small when hatched.
2. BBS are not a good food for them (only for the first 3 weeks)
3. They will die off if not fed. (of course :rolleyes: )
4. They will require some plants.
5. The males only keeps them for 3 days ( Duh :P )

Feeding them live blackworms would make the breeding process much much easier. Be sure to let the two breeders see each other for about 2 weeks. Then after that you put the female in a clear contaier (glass jar) and put it into the spawning tank with the male in it. There should be some plants where the female could hind of she got beaten bad.

You could tell if a female wants to breed by looking at her stomach. There should be some verticle stripes there if the female is ready to breed or accpets the male. She then would go under the bubble nest and tries to bite the male. He then would just wrap around her in a U-shape and squeeze her. Then tiny little white eggs would fall down after the squeeze. The male then would go and pick the eggs up.

Note: Eggs eating females are rare, And egg eating males are RARER So dont worry.

After they are done breeding seperate the female and leave the male with the eggs. The eggs should hatch in 36 hours with a temperature of 80 degrees. The male then will tend for the fry. The male would take care of the fry for about 3 days. Then you could remove the male. Just look in his bubble nest, when the bubbles are starting to dissapear then the male care less about the fries.

The fry have to eat when they are free swimming. Only infusoria and microworms are good for them. Microworms would be the best. After 3 weeks you could switch to BBS. Don't feed to much BBS or the fry could have swim bladder problem.

This should cover it pretty much. :D

NOTE: The male and female can catch disease very easy after breeding, since they get stress. So good care would have to be made with NO choice. There should be at least 1Tbsp of aquarium salt per one gallon for the male and female. Melafix and primifix could also be use to reduce the percent of fungus. They should be fed food high in protein to get their energey back. Wait another one month and they are ready to breed again.

Anymore questions? Just ask me :D

Thanks so much for all your information. ^_^
Basically I'm just considering what tanks, filters, heaters (the number) etc I'll need to get before starting off.
I saw a set up at the aquarium store which was a strip of water along the back, and then it divided off from there. The strip at the back for the heater, and the cells at the front for bettas. The cells were only about 1 gallon each (I'm guessing), though, and the unit was quite expensive... Plus, I don't think I'm going to be having that many bettas for a fair while. ^_^

So I'm thinking 3 10 gallons to start off with (I already have 2 10 gallons I'm not using) - one for boy, one for girl, one for breeding/initial raising of fry. Then something like a 30 gallon for grow out. Also, sponge filters for at least the breeding/fry raising tank. And apple snails for clean up. ^_^
I understand things might not go according to plan, and the boy and girl may hate each other - at which point I will search work out some other living arrangment for them all. :)

I actually have had microworms shipped to me before. I managed to kill them off, but I didn't really know what I was doing, either. -_- Have you ever raised microworm cultures?

No, I have never raised them before. But I heard that they were very easy to raise.

Yeah, I neglected mine and little and it went yeasty and ick. I'm sure I could do it again. ^_^

Yea. Everyone makes mistake about rasing something on their first try :D Even me. :lol:

Would adult bettas be okay on just microworms? Or as a major part of their diet?

I've noticed that there are specific dechlorinators for bettas... Should I use that, or stress coat? :unsure: (I use stress coat every other tank.)

At what rate do fry grow?

What type of floating plant would be good for a spawning tank?



Would a filter such as this (air powered) be okay for a fry tank?



Thanks for your help. :D
I've e-mailed a few Australian breeders to see prices for shipping stock. :D

As long as it's a sponge filter with very little bio-current, then definitely. I wouldn't just feed them microworms, I would supplement frozen bloodworms, along with a high protein betta pellet, like Attisons. Java Moss is probably your best bet for a spawn tank. It'll give the babies plenty of room to hide and they'll be able to have lots of fun with it as well. By one month, fry are still very tiny and partially-transparent, at about two months they start showing colors, 2.5 you might get your first signs of aggression when you have to jar the males. Make sure you have lots of mason jars ready, lol. The best way to clean them is to siphon the debris off the bottom of their jars. Around 3-3.5 months they'll techinically be old enough to ship out to other people or sell to the pet store. Stress coat is fine, there's no difference in the dechlor for bettas, not really. I actually have five different brands, because I'm constantly losing one, then just buying another and filling tanks up with that! I personally prefer aqua safe though, because it promotes slime coat as well.

Thanks hakko. :)

I do think that filter is quite gentle - I'll get it and find out. I can't imagine it being strong, seeing it's powered by an airpump.

I don't think that betta pellet is available in Australia. I have also heard that betta pellets can cause constipation? :huh:

I've got Java Moss, so woohoo! :D Something I don't have to buy.

At one of the stores around here, they have 5 gallons for CHEAP. Like, $10 each. They're plastic, but I think they'll do a fine job. I might look for something like a 20 gallon to spawn in, though (over a 10 gallon I previously had planned).

Thanks for the growth timeline. :D
I've got an aquarium store here which have told me they're willing to take pretty much any fry I breed (they're hanging out for my BNs right now). :) :up:

Betta pellets don't constipate as easily as a diet rich with protein. Most people I talk to fast their bettas one day a week. I prefer the betta pellets because I'm pretty much assured that the bettas aren't going to get constipated *knock on wood* lol! I only give blood worms as a treat, but since you're conditioning for breeding, any food that has a high protein diet is definitely going to be worth it! At the moment all I have is Wardleys. Hikari Gold is also a good pellet to feed. The essential pellet will have ingredients that say "shrimp, bloodworms" etc. As long as it has a meat/fish/insect based ingredient it'll be okay. The Attisons can sometimes only be found online unfortunately. :/

I wouldn't use anything smaller than a ten for breeding. Most breeders only fill it halfway, use no substrate, and put a few plants for the female to hide in if it gets rough. They also float a half of a styrofoam cup in the water so the male will have something to attach his nest to.

Most of the time you can leave the spawn females together in one big sorority tank, since they've been together since birth they won't fight, and if they do, it'll only be minor squabbles. It does take quite a while to sex them though, sometimes not until 2.5 months. The males will peacefully coincide until they start receiving their testosterone, then you'll see the aggression coming out. Some become aggressive early, so you'll have to jar them before the others. It all depends on the betta.

I received some DTCTs at three months from Echo on petfish.net and she sent me a male and a female, turns out I got a female and a female!! LOL! :D Baby bettas are always a lot of fun, because they're teeny tiny when you get them, and you get to watch them grow!