Wild Siamese fighting fish
(Betta splendens) - Wild

You can achieve the breeding of wild Betta splendens with several methods depending on the desired yield. Spawning is quite easy to obtain but fry growth is more delicate.

Case number 1: you do not want to raise the young fish. Just leave them in the main aquarium with the other fish. Predation will be its job (some fry will still survive if the aquarium has a lot of hiding places and it is mature enough to provide microfauna that fry will feed on).

Case number 2: you can recover the young ones after hatching and put them in a breeding aquarium to preserve them from the predation of the other fishes. Some may be swallowed between hatching and your fishing.

Case number 3: Prepare a small breeding tank of about 30 liters (6 Imp Gal or 8 US Gal). It will contain fresh and acidic water, many plants that will be used for the visual isolation of the couple, surface plants that will be used as supports for the manufacture of bubble nest. There must be no current in this aquarium, so as to not destroy the fragile nest of bubbles. Install your male and female and let them live in this new environment.

When the male is ready to breed, it makes a nest of bubbles among the surface vegetation. Once finished, it goes for the love parade with the female (fast swimming, wriggling dance, beautiful colors...). The couple will position themselves under the nest to end up mating. The eggs are released in open water and fall to the ground. It is the male who will take care of collecting the eggs to gather them in the nest. Depending on its character, it can either chase the female, or accept its presence and why not its help. Be careful though, if you see that the male is too aggressive with the female, remove it from the aquarium to avoid damage. Once the eggs are collected, the male will take care of them: it monitors them, defends them and ventilates them. The nest that now contains the egg-laying becomes white and opaque.

At birth, small Bettas measure only a few millimeters and swim just below the surface of the water.

As for their diet, you will have to give them several small meals a day. The recommended foods are:
- microvers
- tubifex
- daphnies
- artemia nauplii (be careful because they can cause digestive problems because they are salty.

When the fry are 5/6 months old, you can feed them like adults.

The point of vigilance will focus on the formation of the labyrinth (complementary breathing organ common to all Osphronemidae). This delicate moment consists of the first air intake with this organ. If the ambient air is too far from the water, the small Betta may die. To avoid losses, cover and close the breeding tank as tightly as possible. This will limit the fatal air currents and harmonize the air/water temperatures. After this step, the young fish are no longer afraid and the end of their growth will not be a problem (except maintenance gap of course).