Feeding betta's during breeding?

[nailartjess]

I setup my betta's today in a tank with a divider for breeding. The female is ready full of eggs with her tube poking down. Altho I am now confused asI have read many pages saying that they are ready when they ahve horizontal stripes which she does. But I read a reply from someone on here on a post that says if they have horizontal stripes they are stressed and they need to be vertical??? I thought it was the other way?

Anyhow what I am wanthing to know is while I am waiting for my male to build his bubble nest which I dont think will be that long. Do I still feed them as normal? I know it is probably a really dumb question and the answer is yes.

[BettaLu&Meg]

Well i'm the breeder here and as for the vertical lines, thats how you know and the males know that she's ready, by showing off her strips it triggers the male to "get busy" and make a nest for her. When she shows her horizontal lines, most likey with that all her colors is most likely fadded, THIS IS NOT GOOD, its probably indicating stress or sickness. But yours is showing the vertical(up and down) and this is what your looking for, also what your looking for is, under her belly you'll notice a white spot or "a pearl" what it kinda looks like, this is her eggs, protruding out showing the male she's full of them and ready to mate.
As for the feeding you want to feed like you normally to everyday. 2x a day, and a variety of foods(what you should be doing anyway). But in prep for the breeding, a little extra food, such as 2 pellets more than the usual 3-4 and a slight pinch more of flakes than usual. The female will need all the energy she can get, being that when spawning, THEY DONT EAT, AND DON'T FEED. after the spawning is complete(usually within 4hours, so yeah in this hobby you have to watch that long to reduce the risk of him killing her or visa versa). Once you remove her after its complete then feed her in her new container, AS FOR THE MALE, you DO NOT FEED for days until the eggs are hatched, and the fry are free swimming.(usually 3days after hatching the fry free swim). IF you feed the male food when he should be fasting, his appetite will revive thus resulting in him eating the eggs and/or fry

[nailartjess]

Thanx for ur reply. I havebeen feeding my fish well both with pellets, blood worms and hand raised and bred mollies as a treat. When I got up this morning the male had made a bubble nest but it was only average in size so I gave him all day today to make it larger and he did so. I not long removed the divider from between the 2 and the female went and checked out the nest and the male done a bit of a dance in front of the female. He is now kinda just sitting in the corner of the tank. I guess I will just sit here and watch and see what happens.

[BettaLu&Meg]

please keep an eye on them, i did post plent of techniques on promoting breeding in bettas in the breeding section, be sure to read up on all of them(on top of the thread column) and be sure to expect certain things such as the harrassments from your male to your female. Fin ripping and tearing are natural and can't be avoided in the spawnig process so be sure to provide enough spots to hide for your female. if you need any questions answered please ask. If you haven't bred betta and don't know what to really expect, i would definitly let me know to fill you in on expecting the un-expected.
Seems your another member from down under so the time difference is dramatic so i will try my best to reply in a timely fashion to suit your needs best as possible. as for the bettas, if your not 100% sure to whats goin on with the rituals and what to expect i would personally wait until i explained the things that you aren't sure or clear of. i don't want you to end up with a fataly wounded or dead betta. as for some on this site, made that mistake in leaving them in and not knowing what to expect unattended(which is a BIG NO_NO in breeding bettas) mating can take up to 5hours to fully complete with the harrassing and embrasing, in this time YOU MUST BE PRESENT AND KEEPING A CLOSE EYE on when to stop and remove the female, obvioiusly the male cares for the nest until the 3rd day after hatching for the fry.



Hope to help, feel free to ask anything unsure of!

[nailartjess]

All is going well so far. Not really any attacking going on cept the female seems to chasing the male around a bit and he kinda is avoinding her now? So it is not the male doing the nipping and attacking etc. Apart form that all is good, I am staying at the kitchen table watching the fish, have been for the last 1.5hours lol
Have got my brine shrimp eggs ready to setup when I see eggs.
Just have to figure out why the male is being attacked by the female. She is certainy full of eggs. Has the little white thing popping out.

[bettalvr]

Nailartjess, oftentimes bettas will NOT spawn with an audience. These fish are used to a darker environment and not lights & people watching. I usually throw a towel over the spawn tank and let them do their thing. Yeah, I wanna see too, but sometimes that's not what they want. It can take several days for the spawning to take place so be patient, check on them, and keep your fingers crossed.

Also, remember that some males/females just won't like one another so her being ready and him building a nest doesn't necessarily mean they will spawn. Personality conflicts can/do happen. Don't get discouraged. If you have another female/male conditioned, then maybe try another one if this one doesn't work or recondition for a couple of weeks and try again. Wishing you the best of luck. . .

[nailartjess]

cool, I will see how things go. I have made the tank pretty breeding friendly lol I covered the back in opaque dark green book cover and the sides in dark green book cover but u can see thru it, I also covered the glass lid in see thru book cover too. I used a tea bag to put tannins in the water also.

So I might just move my laptop back into the lounge and enjoy my nightly tv viewing that I am missing out on and check them from time to time

I have another 2 males conditioned just in case, I just chose this one as he seemed to be the biggest nest maker in his tank and the most interested in her.
Thanx for all ur advice

[bettalvr]

Don't worry about the nest building, that's not as big a deal as many think it is. Just make sure they are in top condition, which it sounds like they are. And it is highly recommended that you do just as you have by offering lots of live food a week or two prior to breeding. I usually feed 3-4 times daily during that week of extra conditioning and they get live food everyday.
So, yeah, go enjoy your tv and let them do their thing. Turn the lights out in the kitchen for them also. Remember, in the wild their water is darkened by the leaves that are decaying in their area and that often these areas are covered with the leaves also. This makes for dark water and a 'cover' so to speak. They kinda like their privacy . . . guess it's a little more romantic!

Keep us posted. . .

[nailartjess]

Well I dunno, I am sooo confused, maybe I am just too protective. I check them and my female was getting a free ride from my male. She had hold of him by his fins. She has nipped a few of these away. So I put the divider back in. Should I have done that?

Sorry for the dumb questions. Ur probably thinking stupid woman why is she even trying. But I promise u am a very experienced fish keeper and I have everything else organised just don't want to see my fish hurt

[nailartjess]

why has my reply notbeen posted? i done it over an hour ago?