The Betta is a freshwater fish that lives in environments between 24ºC and 30ºC although they adapt to somewhat colder climates without difficulty, for this reason we can classify them as cold water fish because they do not need devices that provide heat and can survive correctly inside our house.
The Siam Fighter, originally from Asia, comes in a wide variety of incredible colors and from our site we inform you how it is Betta fish breeding. Do not miss it!
Getting Ready and First Impressions
Before starting the process we must correctly identify each sex to avoid confrontations as it is an aggressive and territorial fish. If you are not sure what your betta fish is, discover on our site the types of betta splenders that exist and their morphology according to sex:
- The male has more developed fins and is more colorful.
- The femaleis more inconspicuous but more robust and the end of her fin is straight while that of the male ends in a point
To start we will have a space of at least 25 x 35 cm with about 8 or 10 centimeters of water height. We will add some moss so that they can eat and build the nest, and for this we can also leave a small container like a plastic cup in the fish tank, although later they will make the nest wherever they want. The previous week we recommend that you isolate them in an environment where they cannot observe other members of their same species and feed them if possible with live food.
The first thing you should know is that you will never bring a male and a female together in the aquarium without knowing each other first, since the male would consider the female as an intruder and would most likely start a fight with serious consequences.
Separate the aquarium using plastic or glass so that they cannot touch each other but can be observed. If you don't have a suitable separator you can create one yourself by cutting a plastic bottle in half and creating small holes for the water from both fish to filter through. In this way, with the female using the same environment as the fish tank, the male will better perceive the hormones that she releases.
First put the female in the container you have made or in one of the two parts of the tank, then the male and finally cover the entire aquarium with glass, plastic, etc.
The approach
The male will create a nest with the moss somewhere (probably in the glass). Then we will observe that the female is receptive trying to get out of her environment and pushing with her head. It's time to let her go.
At first they will both act slowly and it won't be until after a while that the male will actively start looking for the female. The Betta Fish will take her, forming a strong hug around our female with her body, which will last a few minutes until she gets her pregnant.
It won't take too long to lay the eggs and immediately after we will remove the female from the environment where they are both since the male can get very aggressive. She will return to her own tank without any contact with other males.
The father's care Betta Fish
The male will place the fertilized eggs in the nest created by him and the young will hang vertically from the nest like threads. The father will make sure that they do not fall and if they do, he will return them to their initial place
After about three days of spawning, the small Betta fish will be swimming alone, it is then that we will separate the male from his youngThe male has not eaten anything during this time and his children could become possible victims. So that this does not happen, we can put some mosquito larvae in a corner in the aquarium and in this way, when it starts to eat, we will know that it is time to separate it.
After separating the male, you must remember that we must not put the male and the female back together, each one will have its own individual aquarium, we will never join different sexes without the appropriate prior procedure.
We recommend using your hand instead of the net because we could take some of the fry unintentionally.
Now it's our turn
Both parents' work is done and our shift begins:
- Three days after the separation of the offspring and the father we will begin to feed them with micro-worms that we will find in specialized stores for fishes. We can ask the expert what to use. The process will last 12 days.
- From then on, the small Betta fish will eat Artemia. The process takes 12 days again.
- Once the diet with Artemia is finished we will begin to give them Grindal, and from day 20 we will begin to observe that they begin to develop correctly.
- After a month we can change the little Betta and move them to a larger aquarium where they receive sunlight.
- Once fully developed we will begin to observe the first fights between the males that will undoubtedly affect the females. It's time to separate them into different aquariums.
If you don't know the foods that we have provided you can consult on the Internet or in your usual store how to acquire them. Find out more about betta fish at betta fish feed or common betta fish diseases.
And so far the Betta fish breeding and rearing process. Good luck and patience to all of you who try it and remember to apply the first step correctly so that the male does not attack the female.
