People who have bred BETTAS help?

[Connor_123]

I am trying to breed the bettas i have at the moment and i have been out for a while, when i got home i turned the lights on and there was eggs at the bottom of the tank ( i think they are, round large grain of salt size?) the female still has a vertical bar and isn't too badly beaten up. I was wondering if there was anything i could do? or just leave them as it is or seperate?

[Sweetcorn]

Hi

If there is no more wrapping then she needs to be removed straight away.

Can you see if there are any eggs in the nest or does it look like they are all on the floor. We've hatched using the tub method before but it's difficult to stop the eggs going fungusy. If you want to try then you can syphon the eggs into a shallow container with about an inch of tank water in and float it in the tank to keep warm. Or you can leave them and see if the male will pick them up once the female has been removed. If he doesn't then use the tub method and you might be lucky enough to get some hatch.

If you get to this stage then don't feed the fry at all while they are in there as they will live off their egg sacs for a couple of days. Once they are swimming on their own, usually 2 days after hatching, then you can release them into the tank but make sure you have taken Dad out or he'll think he's getting a free lunch lol

Good luck and feel free to ask if you're not sure about anything else

[Connor_123]

My girlfriend asked if i could see eggs, i said how some parts are whiter but might be because of the layers of bubbles?
And i will remove the female now. How long shall i leave him in there till i use tub method?
And when shall i feed them if they survive?
Thank you very much for the help! i will let you know how it goes.

[Sweetcorn]

This is what the eggs will look like in the nest.



If there are eggs in the nest then I would leave Dad with them until they hatch and are free swimming. You can also syphon up some of the eggs very carefully with an airline and try not to disturb the nest when you're doing it. That way you increase you're chance of fry.

You'll need to leave a light on for 24hrs a day while Dad is in there so he can see the eggs/fry and return any that drop back into the nest. The light should be left on until the fry are freeswimming and Dad is removed. If he had no lights on while spawning that might be why there are so many on the bottom

We feed out fry at two days old once Dad is out and they are swimming horizontally. What food do you have for them?

[Connor_123]

I dont think there are eggs in the nest then. If there are eggs on the floor does that mean they have spawned or can they just, fall out of the female, there are a few, 10+ maybe. And yeah the lights were out, next time i will leave them some light when im out!
I have removed the female, eventually lol. The male is in there, i will leave him until about 11-12 and if he hasn't picked up the eggs shall i try tub method?
I am on holidays from college properly from next week so if i try again with different female or couple weeks same female i will be able to keep an eye on them more and turn the lights on when it gets too dark, tank pretty much next to window.
And okay, what do you feed your fry? I have various frozen foods(including baby brine shrimp), flake, can get some spirulina off my girlfriend and i also have brine shrimp eggs in the fridge that i can hatch.

[jamesh]

i tried the tub method twice first time went fungused up and the second time i used malachite both times i lost the lot but then i did have just 2 cm of water.

i used vinegar eels for my fry which worked quite well.

for my fry when the males started getting a bit stroppy i used white plastic disposable cups with loads of holes made by a hot fork which sat in a shallow plastic tub with a lid that had a heater and filter in, this worked very well with minimal loss

he may eat the eggs if they are on the floor too long as they may not be firtile

[Connor_123]

Thats a shame, do you think if you had more water it would have been more successful?
Unfortuently the fighter has eaten all but 2-3 eggs, i will put them in a tub but im doubting if it will work.

[Sweetcorn]

It may well be that he's eaten them all or they are not fertile. With first times they can get it wrong a couple of times. I would condition them both back up again for 2 - 3 weeks so that they can recover and then try again.

I feed Vinegar eel for the first week. We sell cultures of it on our website if you need some. Then after the first week we feed freshly hatched baby brine shrimp. They should be fed 3 times a day and at 3 weeks they will start to take air from the surface of the water and it's then that we start offering a little dry food that has been crushed very finely.

Maybe set up a small lamp by the tank next time so he has plenty of light to see what he's doing.

[HABU]

i've bred them a couple times...

but i used my own way...

the girl has to be taken out... it took me a while to figure out how to breed them... no internet for me back then...

my way likely isn't what others do...

also the male will keep retrieving the eggs as they tend to fall out of the bubble nest.... he'll pick them up diligently till they hatch...

[jamesh]

do you find you loose a lot of fry when the change over to using there labyrinth organ at 2-3 weeks?