Things You'll Need
- 10-gallon fish tank
- Live aquarium plants
- Submersible aquarium heater
- Filter
- Breeding box
- Live, flake, frozen and pellet fish foods
- Live brine shrimp
- Commercial fry food
- Sponge filter
- Jars
Instructions
Basic Breeding Procedure
Prepare your breeding tank. This tank should be 10 gallons in size and filled with fresh dechlorinated water. Decorate the tank sparsely with a few live plants, including some that float on the surface of the water.
Maintain the breeding tank at a temperature around 80 degrees Fahrenheit with the help of a submersible aquarium heater. Set up a filter in the tank as well, but do not turn it on to full power. Set the filter so that it provides basic filtration and water circulation; the suction should not be strong enough to endanger any eggs your betta might release.
Select a male and a female betta that you want to breed. Introduce the male into the tank and allow him to get used to the tank for a few days; then, place the female in a hanging or floating breeding box, so that both fish can get used to each other without being in the same tank yet.
Prepare your bettas for breeding by feeding them a protein-rich diet. Feed your bettas a combination of live, flake, frozen, and pellet foods. After a few days, the male should begin to build a bubble nest among the floating plants in your tank. You may notice that the female develops vertical stripes on her body and her belly becomes swollen with eggs.
Release the female betta into the tank and watch for mating behavior. During the mating process, the male and female will chase each other around the tank until they eventually "embrace" and the female releases her eggs, as the male fertilizes those eggs.
Remove the female betta from the tank and allow the male to care for the eggs. He will scoop the eggs up in his mouth and carry them to the bubble nest where they will develop for 1 to 2 days before hatching. Once the fry hatch, they will remain inside the bubble nest, feeding on the remainder of their yolk sacs, for another 2 or 3 days. Once the fry begin to swim freely, remove the male from the tank.
Raise the fry on a diet of live brine shrimp and commercial fry food. It is best to switch out your filter for a sponge filter while rearing fry, so that the fry do not get sucked up by the intake valve of a more powerful filter. Raise the fry together for 6 to 8 weeks until they begin to develop color; then, separate the males into jars.
Selecting Bettas for Breeding Different Combinations
Determine what type of betta you have or decide what kind you want to purchase for breeding. Bettas come in a variety of colors and patterns and may have either long or short fins.
Determine whether your chosen bettas exhibit a dominant or recessive trait. Dominant betta traits include red color, opaqueness, turquoise color, steel gray color, royal blue color, butterfly and marble patterns and veil tail and crowntails. Recessive traits include black, yellow and orange colors, as well as halfmoon and plakat patterns and double tail.
Select the appropriate combination of traits to achieve the type of offspring you desire. To achieve a pure color, breed two bettas that carry dominant genes for that color. To create a colored pattern, breed a betta that carries the gene for the desired color with one that carries the gene for the desired pattern.
Introduce your breeding pair into the breeding tank and wait for the mating process to occur. Separate the male and female fish after spawning; then, raise the fry to maturity to see the results of your selective breeding.
Separate the fry into individual jars once they reach the appropriate age; then, select any fry you would like to use for future breeding. By selecting the bettas that most strongly exhibit the preferred traits and breeding them with other bettas that possess those traits that you desire, you can eventually purify the strain.