How to Mate Bettas

Bettas are beautiful, colorful fish with long flowing tails, and popular, in part, because they are easy to care for and can be kept in small aquariums. They are not too difficult to breed, either. You'll need two aquariums because you must keep males and females apart except when mating them. Male bettas hatch the eggs and care for the babies until such time as they are ready to care for themselves, when you need to move them to their own aquarium.

Things You'll Need

  • Male betta
  • Female betta
  • Two aquariums
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Instructions

    • 1

      Purchase a male betta and a female betta and two aquariums. Except when mating, you need to keep them separate or the male is likely to attack the female and injure or even kill her.

    • 2

      Feed your betta fish a high-quality betta fish food. Add a few live tubifex worms to their diet.

    • 3

      Schedule a breeding session once the male starts building a bubble nest. Eggs may also be visible inside the female's abdomen if you have a light-colored female. Plan a breeding session of about an hour.

    • 4

      Put the female betta in the male's aquarium.

    • 5

      Supervise the entire session. Male betta's generally become aggressive when breeding. If the female seems too disturbed by his aggression or you think he's hurting her, put her back in her own aquarium and try again in three or four days. The male should wrap himself around the female and look as if he is squeezing the eggs out of her. He then fertilizes the eggs.

    • 6

      Put the female back in her own aquarium once the male begins scooping the eggs into his mouth and moving them to his bubble nest.

    • 7

      Remove the baby fish from the male's aquarium and put them in their own aquarium about two days after the eggs hatch or once they start to swim around outside the bubble nest on their own. If you leave them in the male's aquarium, the male will likely eat them.