# Joee's Betta Breeding Diary



## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

*Joeee's Betta Breeding Diary*

I'm going to make a Betta breeding diary to record my attempt at this for future uses. I'm posting it in case so someone else can use this if I am successful and if I am unsuccessful they can learn from my mistakes.
Betta Breeding Diary - Yes, a diary not a journal
I will divide this diary into several parts

*Preparations Before - I'm not going to bother to finish this portion, it's too much of a bother*
Set-up:
- Obtain a male and female Betta
- 10G tank (even though Frank recommended a 5G, as the amount of water I can put inside of the 5Ghalf full with a filter is about 3G of water, I will refer back to this more on in the feeding section)
- 5G for the female to condition her for breeding
- Indian Almond leaves (not required, but I've heard of antibiotic qualities that these leaves have that may help)
- Bettafix, an API product for about $5 a bottle(Also not required, Frank has said that you usually don't need it. However, with my luck fungus will kill off most of the Bettas right after I take out the male)
- A few fake plants and a "lava rock cave" for the female to hide in
- two 10G TopFin filter (I am only using this because it is the only cycled filter I have at my disposal for this project)
- Specimen Container
- Heater
- Something to store Bettas in once they are of age
- Conditioner - Prime
- Glass vase
- Siphon
- Turkey baster
- Filter sponges (to cover intake)
- Aquarium lights -> Incandescent as they heat up the air around them (so the fry don't get hypothermia)
 Food 
- Brine shrimp hatchery and eggs (1 air pump, 1 t-valve, 2 glass jars, baking soda, salt)
- Several eggs (chicken eggs, buy at grocery store)
- Several glass jars
- Tetra colour food (Frank feeds his Bettas this, I will find the proper name for this once I want to get out of bed)
- Freeze-dried bloodworms (I am using the TopFin brand, just make sure it has a lot of protein)
- Frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and mysis shrimp (Only 1 of them is necessary for conditioning the parents, it is ideal to have two extra packages of frozen brine shrimp on hand)
- Red Cherry shrimp (I will explain below)
- Lettuce
*Information*
 Feeding 
Parents:
Frozen brine shrimp and freeze-dried bloodworms will be used to condition the parents for 8-10 days before the planned spawning date. Parents will be fed twice, once in the morning and once at night. Tetra colour food will also be used if the father's body develops into a body which is not suitable for breeding. Reduce feeding if necessary.
A red cherry shrimp colony was established in the spawning tank where the male will be conditioned. The shrimp colony serves the purpose of giving the male exercise and preparing him for rearing the fry. A shrimp colony is not necessary for the female.
Spawn:
Glass jars filled with water taken from an established aquarium and lettuce will be used to culture infusoria and create green water. Once the fry become free-swimming, half a jar to a jar will be DRIPPED into the specimen container inside the breeding tank depending on the size of the jar. For the first week, the diet of the fry will consist of infusoria, green water, and egg yolk paste. A 10G tank is necessary because egg yolk paste spoils water quickly, the more water there is the more time it takes for the water to spoil. Fry will be fed twice a day. After the 6th day, fry will be fed baby brine shrimp twice daily, two brine shrimp hatcheries which are about 12 hours apart. Extra brine shrimp will be made and stored for future use, it is better to make too much than too little. At the end of week two, the fry will be gradually taken off of live foods and onto frozen foods and free-dried foods, this will be done by mixing thawed brine shrimp with live brine shrimp, at first the extra baby brine shrimp which was frozen will be used. It is questionable at this point, whether or not Hikari freeze-dried brine shrimp should be used due to the MSG it contains.

Food Cultures
- Brine Shrimp -> 3 Hatcheries will be setup 12 hours apart.
- Infusoria -> Baby spinach was cooked and put into a 1G jar (Three jars were used) with water which came directly from an established tank, directly under the filter. Indian almond leaves were also added to the mixture
- Green Water -> Green water samples were given to me by Frank, I put it in a container which is in my backyard and covered it with plastic wrap. I will allow the colony to grow for several days or up to a few weeks.

*Week one:*
The male betta is a bit stressed because I rushed the acclimation process and so is the female for the same reason. I have been feeding them frozen brine shrimp, freeze-dried blood worms and TetraColour. The male does not appear to be making a bubble nest because he is getting accustomed to the new tank. I'm currently preparing infusoria and green water cultures.
Day Five:
Male is not as stressed as before, still no sign of a bubble nest. Female is still seems the same.
Day Seven:
Male seems no longer stressed, as I have found large bubble nest under the specimen container. Unlike when I thought the female was making a bubble nest, these bubbles are a lot smaller and all near the same size. The male also eats significantly less now, I leave food in the tank and it disappears by the time I get back, I'm not sure if the shrimp are eating it or not as I'm not watching. I will do a water change soon to get rid of the shrimp crap and the shrimp. I accidently destroyed his nest to try and move it under the cup, SOME of it was moved, the rest was destroyed.

*Week Two*
Day one:
Male is no longer stressed, hasn't built himself a bubble nest after I destroyed the last one. Female has decided to be stressed, no sign of vertical or horizontal bars when I put her in a vase and put the vase into the 10G tank. I have decided to name the male Adam and the female Eve.


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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Try feeding bbs to the parents to help condition them too =)


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Chris S said:


> Try feeding bbs to the parents to help condition them too =)


I don't have any brine shrimp eggs on hand, so I probably will when I test out the brine shrimp hatchery I'm setting up. I decided use 3 one gallon containers and have them 12 hours apart.


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## bae (May 11, 2007)

I suggest you get some floating plants for your spawning tank. Water sprite is ideal. They help the male build his nest, give the female places to hide, and most importantly, they are covered with all kinds of micro-critters that the fry can eat until they are big enough for other food, so you don't have to mess with infusoria cultures. Although hard boiled egg yolk forced through a handkerchief is a traditional food for betta fry, you're further ahead with a starter food like Hikari First Bites. A flat toothpick is convenient for taking out the minute amount of food for each feeding. I like to keep ramshorn snails in fry tanks to consume excess food. It's very hard not to overfeed young fry.

Personally, I prefer using nematodes like microworms, walter worms or banana worms instead of hatching brine shrimp eggs. They cost next to nothing to culture, they're very reliable, they last a long time in the water and are comparable nutritionally. They're also much less hassle. Fry can eat them when they're still too small to eat BBS.

Feed several times a day if possible. With a starter food and nematodes, this is easy.

Bettas much prefer still water. I wouldn't put a filter in until the fry are of substantial size, if at all. One betta is an insignificant bioload in a 10 gallon tank. If you have plants, you don't need filters here.

Good luck and keep us informed! I think you'll enjoy this project even if it doesn't work out the first time. Some bettas just don't have their instincts properly screwed in, which can be frustrating. Also, getting most of a spawn through the first few weeks can be challenging, and may take a few tries on your part. It's really fascinating to see what colors come out in the fry, and it's fun to watch them grow and develop.

p.s.: With the weather we're having this summer, you don't have to worry about warm moist air for the fry to breathe. Although bettas tolerate and even like high temps, especially for breeding, make sure the incandescent bulbs don't overheat the tank.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

I just setup infusoria cultures by taking a 1G container, filling it with some cooked baby spinach and I filled it up with aged water that had Indian Almond Leaves in them and some water from my 32G which I took from directly under the filter. I place these outside for sunlight to heat it up a bit so bacteria can grow faster.


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## Firerox (Apr 26, 2010)

keep us updated on how it goes!


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

OMG NOT AGAIN.

For Ciddian,

If you want to make me REALLY happy again, change the "Joee's" to "Joeee's" please.


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## arktixan (Mar 30, 2010)

Joeee said:


> OMG NOT AGAIN.
> 
> For Ciddian,
> 
> If you want to make me REALLY happy again, change the "Joee's" to "Joeee's" please.


you should be able to change it yourself.

go to the first post of the thread, click edit, then select "Go Advanced" and you should be able to edit the title of the thread.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

arktixan said:


> you should be able to change it yourself.
> 
> go to the first post of the thread, click edit, then select "Go Advanced" and you should be able to edit the title of the thread.


Ohhhhh, I didn't know that. Thanks


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## arktixan (Mar 30, 2010)

Joeee said:


> Ohhhhh, I didn't know that. Thanks


No prob .

Your making me tempted in breeding my Bettas now 

Too bad my male is still hurting a bit, i think he's got some fin rot. I need to get a mini heater to boost up the temp or buy some medication.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

arktixan said:


> No prob .
> 
> Your making me tempted in breeding my Bettas now
> 
> Too bad my male is still hurting a bit, i think he's got some fin rot. I need to get a mini heater to boost up the temp or buy some medication.


If you decide to breed bettas, let me give you some huge advice. Breed more expensive bettas (Well, $15 ones), there's no point of putting all of that effort into bettas that sell for $3 each. Worst case scenario, you lose a pair of $15 bettas, but in the end you still learn a lot. To look at what a betta breeder needs to be able to do, it's a bit frightening for me. Betta breeders need to:
- Be patient (2-8 hour spawning, waiting for that bubble nest, and conditioning them >.<)
- Be meticulous (Choosing a good pair of bettas)
- Be persistent (aging water for near-daily water changes for about 3-4 months is a must)
- Know how to prepare cultures of green water and infusoria
- Know how to raise a colony of live food or hatch brine shrimp
- Know how to do very skillful water changes (too much of a change in temperature or water parameters will kill the fry)
- Know and understand filtration (extremely important, not enough biological filtration and ammonia kills your fry, too much and your aquascape is a sponge and eggs can be hidden near the sponge)

So yeah, that's just a few of the reasons why I'll probably fail. Before you try to breed bettas, you should try to get some sulawesis or something extremely sensitive, then breeding bettas will be a vacation.


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## Firerox (Apr 26, 2010)

lol... to be honest, breeding and raising fry is not as difficult as you have read. I improvised on a lot of the steps (when my bbs didn't hatch, the fry ate liquidfry/crushed pellets) I even went on a 2 day vacation without feeding my fry! they ate the algae and the infusoria it created. Water changes - to be honest, I forgot a few water changes either because I was really busy that day or I just outright forgot. The fry are still growing normally and are about 1.5 inches long at 10 weeks old. My point is, betta fry are SURVIVORS and if you don't give them 100% perfect conditions, they will still live and thrive, and grow to be beautiful. I know I am going to be bashed for this, but I am just stating my opinion and experience.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Firerox said:


> lol... to be honest, breeding and raising fry is not as difficult as you have read. I improvised on a lot of the steps (when my bbs didn't hatch, the fry ate liquidfry/crushed pellets) I even went on a 2 day vacation without feeding my fry! they ate the algae and the infusoria it created. Water changes - to be honest, I forgot a few water changes either because I was really busy that day or I just outright forgot. The fry are still growing normally and are about 1.5 inches long at 10 weeks old. My point is, betta fry are SURVIVORS and if you don't give them 100% perfect conditions, they will still live and thrive, and grow to be beautiful. I know I am going to be bashed for this, but I am just stating my opinion and experience.


Goodness, I hope my batch will be that easy to care for. I'm gonna go to Big Al's tomorrow to buy some brine shrimp eggs, I think I'll check if I can get some from another guy first.


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## Joeee (Apr 3, 2010)

Updated, beginning of Week Two - July 19th.


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