Siamese fighting fish
(Betta splendens)

You must have several aquariums if you want to breed this species. Indeed, the male and the female must meet only for breeding: you will need 1 cuve for breeding, 1 cuve for the maintenance of the male and 1 for the female. In addition, the fry must be separated from each other by the age of 3 months (cohabitation possible up to 7 months, but with some losses). For example, you can build a large aquarium in compartments. You must be prepared, from a material point of view, before attempting to breed the Betta Splendens.

Your breeding fish should be quite young, ideally between 6 and 12 months old. Prepare the pair by feeding them with live and varied prey (at least once every two days).

For the breeding tank, choose a small aquarium of 20 to 40 liters (4 to 9 imp gal or 5 to 10 US gal) that you will develop as a «classic» aquarium for Betta: soil and a lot of vegetation. Install a lot of hiding places and some floating plants like Ceratophyllum demersum for example. Let this aquarium turn so that it stabilizes and a population of paramecies (first fry food) takes up residence. Make sure that there is no movement on the surface and that the suction strainer of the filter is protected so that the future fry do not get sucked. Better results are obtained with the following water parameters: temperature at 28°C (82°F), pH at 6 and hardness at 8°dGH.

This tank must be partitioned: one for the male and another for the female. The fish must be able to see each other without touching each other. The partition will still exchange the pheromones necessary to trigger the spawning. Therefore it should let water pass between the 2 parts of the aquarium. Another alternative: put in the aquarium a plastic bottle, cut the top, and perforated with small holes in which you put the female later. However, this method is more stressful for the female.

Introduce the male into this breeding aquarium and let it get used to this new environment (2 or 3 days). Then introduce the female into the bottle: the male can see it but not touch it (you can also separate the breeding tank in two parts with a plastic mesh). The male should then begin to build a bubble nest on the surface, between the floating plants. This nest is very fragile so there must be no movement of water that could damage or destroy it.

After 2 or 3 days, observe the female: its belly must be bounced. It is also often observed that it is positioned with the head down. Last point to check: if it has horizontal bands, they must have left room for vertical bands. If you see these signs, you can release the female and put it in contact with the male. If you do not check these points, the female may not be ready to breed, and if you release it in the bin with the male, it will be a carnage! So be careful during this step and make sure that the female is mature.

After the introduction of the female, the male will pursue it through the entire aquarium to eventually end up directing it towards the bubble nest. If the relation between the two individuals is going well, you can leave them maximum 3 days together to try the spawning (if the male does not abuse the female too much). If the spawning does not start after 3 days, separate the couple and start again from the beginning in a few times. Similarly, if the male is not aggressive enough, then the female will chase it and attack it. If you observe this situation, breeding with these two individuals will fail. You will dismiss such a male from your future breeding.

The laying will last a few hours. The female sometimes helps the male to place the eggs in the nest.

Once the spawning is complete, you must remove the female or it’ll be assaulted and abused by the male. Its presence could also disturb the male who will then abandon the nest and the eggs it contains. In addition, the female develops a certain appetite for its own eggs.

If it’s not already done, take advantage of it to put Riccia or Java Moss in the aquarium that will later supply a stock of infusoria to the fry. However, leave the male for 5 days because it will take care of its offspring (be careful, however, it may happen that the male eats its eggs: you will have to remove it and put a little blue methylene to prevent the eggs from rotting, since they will no longer be maintained).

The hatching takes place 24/48h after egg-laying and the fry will remain in the bubble nest for another 36 hours. You can now lower the temperature to 27/26°C or 79/80°F.

As soon as the fry are swimming independently, you can remove the male and begin feeding the fry 2 days after hatching.

Food for fry: it is imperative to vary the feeding of the fry as much as possible. The stomach and intestines need to be sown to grow well. The most interesting meals in this respect are micro-worms, walter worms and banana worms. This is the daily food of your fry during the first 2 weeks. Then go to Daphnia and Cyclops. Artemia will complete the menu from time to time. Note that the artemia nauplii hatched in salt are almost sterile and bring nothing to the development of the digestive flora. Distribute food at least 3 times a day (ideally 5 to 10 times) for the first 3 weeks, and then decrease the rate of feeding gradually. In parallel, keep the water clean by making small changes of water daily.

One week after hatching, raise the water level by 5 cm (2 inch).

Careful, it happens that fry die during development, especially during the formation of their labyrinth. Indeed, the first attempts to absorb ambient air can be fatal. To avoid the maximum loss, the ambient air must be at the same temperature as the water in the aquarium. For this, you must absolutely cover the aquarium as tightly as possible (avoiding all drafts), for example using a plastic film.

Between 3 months and 7 months, the troubles begin between the fry which will reveal their budding fighting spirit. The brothers and sisters will attack themselves and it will be necessary to separate the more aggressive as you go. Each fish will then have to be isolated in their own aquarium/compartment. Knowing that a single breeding can give birth to 40 fry, it goes without saying that one must have planned a minimum of logistics before embarking on this protocol.

Note that nesting usually occurs the day after introduction in tank, and spawning the next day.

Another method: after you are assured of the maturity of the female, you can introduce the 2 individuals at the same time into the breeding aquarium.