Almost
everybody knows how bettas spawn by now and the way I breed mine is mostly the
same as everyone else. I have however tried to breed them in different things
just for the sheer hell of it. Ive had them spawn in buckets, washing up bowls
and even in a 3 litre plastic coke bottle laid on its side with the top cut
out and yes it worked they did spawn in there and hatched the fry out.Wouldnt
recommend it but it can be done. Now, I tend to use 5-10 gallon tanks to spawn
them in. The very first thing to do before setting up a spawning tank is to
obtain a culture of microworms and a culture of whiteworms. As the tank is maturing
the micro and whiteworm cultures can be started. Microworms should be ready
in 5-7 days and whiteworms which can be fed to 1/2 inch fry will take 5-8 weeks
to have a culture that you can regularly harvest from. It is absolutly essential
that you have microworms ready for when your fry become free swimming.The tank
is filled with aged water to a depth of 5-6 inches, I add a couple of indian
almond leaves and a small upturned clay flowerpot with a v in the side for the
female to take refuge in (see pic at bottom) and
leave to stand with a sponge filter running fairly fast for a couple of days
to cycle the tank.I take the filter out and run it in another tank whilst the
fish are spawning. Temperature is set to between 78-80 f. I condition the fish
for two weeks prior to placing them in the spawning tank.I feed the fish lots
of live food like white worms, fly larvae which can be found in stale water
in the garden during the summer (make sure you wash the little critters under
the tap) live bloodworm can also be found in stale water sometimes in the garden.
I also feed chopped earthworms and daphnia. I place the female inside a plastic
bottle and place that in the tank first and then add the male a couple of hours
later. Regardless of whether or not the male has made a nest i release the female
the next morning. Sometimes they will spawn straight away sometimes they take
a few days and sometimes they wont spawn at all. If the female is getting ripped
up I keep an eye on her and remove her if it gets too bad. If a female rips
up a male then I will take the male out and rest him for a while.You will know
when the female is ready to spawn as she will display darker vertical (top to
bottom) lines on her body and her white ovipopsitor (egg tube will be clearly
visible in the anal area just in front of the anal fin and just behind the ventrals
see Anatomy
breeding
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breeding siamese fighting fish,bettysplendens,kgbettas,bettatalk,ukbetta forum,
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Here, a male waits outside
the small pot where the female is hiding
