When a female is ready to breed.

[Fivestar68]

Hey All, at the request of a fellow member I am posting a picture of my female just prior to her spawning. What you are looking for is the females body will turn very dark and she will display very dark vertical lines throughout her body. These are the signs that tell you your female is definitely ready for breeding.

[BettaLu&Meg]

And boy was she ready!!! lol

[bettalvr]

Isn't that a GREAT pic of one ready to breed?! Thank you very much for sharing this with all of us.

[BettaLu&Meg]

Definitly is especially breeding and watching them change very quickly! its almost unbelieve able!!!!!!!!!! seriously the first day i started breeding i couldn't believe it i thought i had a color changing betta thats one of a kind!!LOL goes to show you learn with research and physical experiance!

[bettalvr]

LOL, the first time I saw one changing like that I thought it was dying. I was immediately contacting people to find out what was wrong . . . she went from a beautiful deep blue to a grey/silver striped and lighter blue and I was sure I had done something to kill her. And yep, breeders got a real kick out of me (she was the only one I had at the time and I was not breeding, so had never educated myself on what to look for) as I frantically called them yelling that I was killing my fish!

[JnJBettas]

Yeah, and after Spice got back in the community tank, she displayed the pregnant body again, got dark again & now has the other two females in the tank looking pregnant!

We just got the platinum white & red half moon females in and put them in the betta condo, then put Pretty Boy back in the tank to rest after taking care of the frye from the Spice/Pretty Boy spawning & he took to the white female right away... he is bubble nesting next to her & chasing off the other free-swimming females. He has eyes only for the white female right now... even with three pregnant females to choose from... hehe!!

We are calling him Pimp Pretty Boy! Too funny!

[mdellasalla]

how long does it take her to get her stripes fully? I think I can see mine starting but I may just be being hopeful. She had a black body to begin with and it is defiantly getting lighter. I want to try and breed her, I am just wondering how much time I have to get the breeding tank ready before she drops her eggs :P

[BettaLu&Meg]

She can make her stripes appear almost immediatly, It depends on her intrest with the other male betta, Now for some it can takes minutes to days. My female took a couple of days to give one of my males a sign of intrest, as my other female didn't want anything to do with him, but when i introduced her to another male, stripes were visible right away. Check out my thread on [Registered users only can see links. ]

[BettaOwner]

Ok My female doesn't have the lines all shedo is flare at the male,I have them both in a divider tank.Only been two days,Should i let them be able to reach each other or keep them divided?

[hvincent]

Definitely keep them divided. You need to condition them more, that is, letting them see each other for a few minutes a day for about a month. She'll show signs of breeding when she's good and ready, this isn't something you should try to rush!