Topic: Help with breeding.....

[ruthcatrin]

This may belong better down in teh spawning topic, so someone feel free to move it if so....

10g tank half full, submersible heater to make sure the tank doesn't drop below 80F (which isnt likely this time of year), and a controllable sponge filter set to very low bubble rate.  Plastic lid floating on teh top as a place holder for the bubble nest.  She's in a clear plastic floating breeders "net" he's got the run of the tank.

Ok, its only been two days, so I highly suspect that the response is going to be "be patient!!"....BUT....

First few hrs to the first 24 (or so) hrs: He's delighted at the sight of a female.  Bubble nest has been started, still small, but growing and he takes the time every few minutes or so to run over and flair at her.  She's ignoring him, I suspect her of sulking cause she's used to having the run of a 16g sorority tank.  Figure she'll get over it.

48 hrs later: She's still sulking, and ignoring him.  Is literally turning her back on when he comes up to the side of her enclosure.  He's acting very dejected, bubble nest is practicaly gone and he's barely even flairing at a mirror which I held up to hte tank.

So the question:  Am I being to impatient to expect any different so soon?  Or should I be doing something?


picture below, the image of a dejected fish

[attachment deleted by mean old server people]

[Amberscotch]

i'm sorry if you've already answered this somewhere else, but did you condition them first?


or she may simply just not like him you can start all over again with a more receptive young lady

[ruthcatrin]

thats what I'm doing now, she's in a breeder seperate from her but where they can see each other and he can swim around her

[Amberscotch]

i would separate them and recondition for several days, then put them together again

but i've never spawned bettas before take with a grain of salt

[frogsnbettas]

Yeah, you should condition them for 1-2 weeks before even putting them together.  They should be more responsive then.

[DaSauce]

u could change the female if u want and see how its goes

[ruthcatrin]

Ok, so explain to me what you all mean by conditioning.  From what I've read (which is quite a bit) I'd understood conditioning as putting the male in the spawn tank, and putting the female where they can see each other but not get at each other.  Which is what I'm doing.

[ZacAttack]

No conditioning is where you feed them frozen brine shrimp and have them in bowls beside each other dor a few weeks.. thats atleast what works for many......

[ruthcatrin]

This morning the male was sitting listless on the bottom of the tank, he came up when I fed him but didn't eat, and just went back down to the bottom, and ignored the mirror when I tried to catch his attention.  I've pulled him out and placed him in a hospital tank, with a half dose of salt, where he can see other males.  Hopefully he'll perk back up.

They all get freezedried and frozen brine shrimp and blood worms once a day.

[dorn27]

I would try placing them next to each other, but not in the same tank for several weeks while feeding only frozen or live foods.  Then repeat.  

I would use a styrofoam cup rather than a lid.  Someone else posted pictures in a topic below of their bettas breeding.  The male made the nest in a half submerged cup, which protects the bubbles from the filter.