Breeding Nemo

[sunnycomet]

Hi,

I have a male Veil Tail Betta named Nemo.
I called the petstore and they are getting a shipment of bettas (including female bettas) in 2 weeks.
I plan on buying one of their females in 2 weeks.
I also plan on breeding my Male Veil Tale with the new female that i will buy.

I plan to breed Nemo ONCE with the new female then I plan to buy a half moon betta pair from a breeder and breed them.

Now I need help on to breed Nemo. This is what I plan to do:

--Buy a ten gallon tank
--Buy a heater and a small sponge filter
--set up the tank using leafy plants (I will be using fake.)
--buy one of those leaf things that Nemo will build his bubble nest on. (What is it called?)
--fill the ten gallon with 6 inches of water.
--put Nemo in the ten gallon

--buy my female
--buy her a 2 gallon tank setup just like Nemo's
--put her tank and his tank pressed together so they can see one another

--when they are ready to breed Nemo will have a nice bubble nest and the female will have vertical lines on her and her anal fin will have a white tube coming from it??

--put my female in one of the petstore fish bag into Nemo's ten gallon til she is not afraid of him and flares back
--put her in the tank
--expect fin biting and fin loss
--remove her after the mating when Nemo starts chasing her.

Now my questions are: Did I miss anything? When do I put in the filter? Is there something else I can do to help prevent the biting at first? How long does it normally take for them to breed? When do I draw the line on the biting and chasing at the beginning? I don't want him to kill her.

Thanks

[Morgrid]

The method I have used in the past, that I learned from an IBC pro, is to put the female in the tank with the male to get them both in spawning condition. The trick is to use a lamp chimney - the old school glass thing with openings at the top and bottom. Put the male in the 10 gallon with a styrofoam cup cut in half (top to bottom). Put the chimney in the tank standing up. Make sure the water level is lower than the top of the chimney and put the female in the chimney. Feed the fish on premium foods like bloodworms and such. The male will see the female and vice versa. After a few days, when the male has a nest and the female is fat, gently pull the chimney out so as not to disturb the bubble nest which should be built under the arch of the half cup. Spawning should take place within a few hours of the couple being in contact. Maybe give them 6 hours max and if they haven't spawned put the female back in the chimney and try again in a few days.

[Morgrid]

Here is a link to the article. David is an IBC judge and is very informed on bettas. http://www.gpas.org/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.10

[RinsMom]

I have a question, though....

Most of the members here do not really recommend breeding veiltail bettas.... there's really no market for them.

What do you plan to do with 50-100 babies, that at a very young age will need to be put into separate containers?  Do you have the space for so many tanks?

That really is a big thing to consider when breeding bettas....  you can't keep all the fry together like you can with almost all of the other fish most people have.

I'm glad you have done so much research... that is a good sign, though.