BREEDING BETTA SPLENDENS (SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH)

Written by Rob

Hiya,

I thought I would go ahead and put a post up about breeding Betta Splendens (Siamese Fighting Fish) I thought it might help me get over losing my babies! This is by NO means a foolproof guide, but its what I did:


Firstly I wouldnt advise neons or any other fish in a spawning tank. They will eat the fry but also get attacked by the male. Mine even attacked the poor snail who is in there to keep the tank clean.

But here is what I did.

I set my smaller tank up and moved Bruce into it. I left him in there for a week or so to get used to it and fed him flakes and live bloodworms to condition him and stimulate him for breeding condition.

I also did this with the female in the community tank.

The I bought a breeding box, the plastic ones you use for spawning livebearers in safety. I put the female in this inside Bruce's tank. Immediately he flared at her and she began to change colour, she showed vertical stripes along her sides (this is a sign of readiness to breed) and also her Ovipostor (the white spot) started to protrude. It was on her belly, not near her tail.

I left them like that overnight and when I came down in the morning, Bruce had built his bubble nest and she was looking very ready. He was still flaring at her too.

I released her from the box by netting her and put her into the main tank. MAKE SURE that you have loads of plants close together for her to hide in.

Then they flared and chased around roughly for an hour or so.

Finally she inspected his nest and allowed him to try and embrace her. This is the long winded part. They embraced, and she released eggs, she stays limp at the top of the tank for a moment and he goes down to collect the eggs. He spits them into the bubble nest and then goes for the embrace again.

They can do this for between 1 and 5 hours. For Bruce and Betty it took 2.

The female will release anywhere from 50 to 300 eggs over that time. They will continue to embrace until she has no more eggs to release. Then he will chase her away.

So long as you have loads of plant you can leave them to do their embracing and then she will instinctively hide in the plants so he cannot chase and attack her.

Once you see her hiding in the plants, you can remove her and put her back into he other tank.

Its now really important that you never turn the tank lights off in the spawning tank so that he can see the eggs which fall from the nest. Bare bottom tanks are also even better, so he can see the eggs easier.

After around 36-72 hours the eggs will hatch and you can see the fry hanging from the nest and sometimes falling. The male will continue to pick them up and take them back to the nest. Once the fry are free swimming, i.e. swimming horizontally rather than vertically, you can remove the male and start switching the lights off at night.

Ask me for more info on rearing the fry if you want.

Also, Surface agitation is VERY important to remove the film from the surface so the fry can breathe.

But there is a fine balance, as you don’t want to break up the nest whilst the male is in there, sponge filters are best to break the surface gently and keep the water clean.

When you spawn, only fill the tank 3 or 4 inches so that the fry don’t have as far to fall.

Slowly you can build up the water level again until the tank is full. Loads of water changes are the key because Betta Splendens fry secrete hormones to stunt the growth of their siblings, so to combat this you can change more water. But not for the first few weeks as the fry will be killed by ANY TINY fluctuations in the water temp.


Well with the filter, I used a mini jet filter which I bought for £20 from my LFS and it is only about 5" tall so it works well in shallow water and small tanks. Also because the jet is spread over 5 holes, it is less disturbing to the eggs than a fluval 3+ on full blast.
Put the end of an old pair of tights over the filter and anchor it with an elastic band so the fry don’t get sucked in.

You must’nt disturb the nest with the flow though or they will get blasted all over. I put my mini jet on backwards so the flow was directed at the back glass, because Bruce had built his nest at the front of the tank, if he builds at the back, put the filter at the front and direct the flow at the front pane. I.e if the nest (like mine) s in the front left corner, put the filter in the back right facing away if that makes sense?

See DIY Tank Dividers for later on.

Theres usually more females than males by quite a lot. in mine 31 females to 4 males. But you could be unlucky an get loads of males.

Have you thought about what you’re going to feed the fry?

Also the main thing is that the tank needs to be REALLY mature for Betta Splendens fry to survive. Because you need an infusoria culture going, which happens when the tank gets green and dirty. So it has to be old and a little bit minging. They’ll reward you for it though.

Regular water changes are a must after 3 or 4 weeks to ensure that the hormone they secrete to stunt their siblings' growth is diluted significantly.

The area above the water surface must also be the same ambient temp as the water, to allow the fry to breathe with their newly developed labyrinth organs.

Any more questions or one that I didn’t answer there, let me know.

Bought a male fighter 2 days ago and put him in with my current female fighter (had to take the oscar out cos they kept fighting...as if the fighter stood a chance, lol!) and he keeps persuing the female, he puffs his gills out but now there some bubbles at the edge of my glass on the surface of the water that has never appeared before...is he trying to mate or fight with the female??

Trying to mate, I would say Phishy and unless you provide them with the necessary breeding facilities as outlined above (or preferably separate them again), he will just harrass her to death.

These fish are not called 'Fighting Fish' for nothing I am afraid. Rob had good success with the Bettas, but care has to be taken to seperate the male and female before the female gets killed.

Hadn't really read that post by Rob - fascinating!!

Shos that you have to be well prepared for the event and plan ahead, get the breeding trap for the female and so n. I hadnt realised that it was such a palaver, or the fact that they could not be kept together (male and female I mean).

Really great post, thanks!

Give it a go fishfan

ive already took him out cos my oscar wasnt very good with my other tank, but unfortunately he's going to die, just lying on the bottom of the tank, bless him

Id completely forgotten that I wrote that! Just come across it now.

It is rather fascinating, and nice to relive the events of my first Betta splendens spawn. I must get back into it soon.