Breeding betta fish.

Airborne castles are the birthplace of Siamese bettas. Indeed, indeed—in the strict, non-figurative sense. Betta breeding is a simple and highly fascinating business. With this, many aquarists started breeding aquarium fish.

What is needed for a betta to build a nest and what it looks like?

The Siamese fighting fish, or betta (Betta splendens) was and remains one of the most popular aquarium fish. And the point here is not only that cockerels are extremely beautiful and quite unpretentious. They also readily spawn in home ponds. Spawning of betta fish is an interesting and exciting spectacle, and every aquarist can admire it. It is very easy to achieve breeding of Siamese fighting fish. All that is required is a secluded corner in the aquarium where there is no current, fairly warm water (27 ° C or higher) and non-aggressive, moderately curious neighbors who will give the male the opportunity to calmly build a nest.
Only the male of the betta fish builds a nest. It looks like a cluster of white foam on the surface of the water. The betta takes in air with its mouth and spits out a bubble covered in sticky saliva. The bubbles stick together and sometimes form a rather large foam cap protruding slightly above the surface of the water – a kind of castle in the air.
Bettas are not at all demanding to the hydrochemical composition of the water. The usual condition for their breeding is just warm water, but the male can refuse to build a nest in too hard (GH of more than 15 °) and old water. In addition, the pH value should be within the range of 6.4 – 8. In the vast majority of aquariums, these conditions are met. However, in order for a high percentage of eggs to be fertilized during spawning, the pH range should be significantly narrower: 6.7 – 7.3. In regions with soft or medium-hard water (up to 10-12 ° GH), such conditions in the aquarium usually develop by themselves.

Photo 1. A young Siamese fighting fish at the nest. He grabs a little air from the surface, covers the bubble with viscous saliva and spits it out into a pile of other bubbles. Every now and then he takes a threatening pose, spreading his fins wide and brightly coloring himself. His task is not only to build a small castle out of foam, but also to protect the nesting area from the invasion of enemies. It is already the second day of intensive construction. Now the nest has reached its maximum size. A female looms in the distance. She is interested in how things are going? Periodically, the female cockerel makes forays to the nest, but each time the male meets her as a fierce enemy.

What happens during the spawning of cockerels and how to arrange it?

Spawning of cockerels is a very colorful show. At least once every aquarist should see it live. The spectacle is worth it. The male demonstrates all the splendor of his plumage and coloring and is simply burning with passion. But his behavior cannot be described as gentlemanly. Far from all episodes, the gentleman turns out to be kind. The female, especially at the beginning of mating games, and immediately after the end of spawning, gets a lot of slaps, and in the end, she, as a rule, ends up badly beaten. The fact is that the main dominant in the behavior of these fish is still aggression towards their own kind. Not for nothing is their other name – Siamese fighting fish. Actually, they only show feelings of love when there is very strong emotional tension. And to achieve it, you first need to have a good fight.

Photo 2. Female ready to spawn. Belly full of caviar. It has acquired a lightish color, light stripes are visible on the sides. Pay attention to another important detail: at the bottom of the fish"s belly there is a bright white "egg" – it is formed by a skin ridge surrounding the urogenital opening. By the presence of this "egg", the female can always be reliably distinguished from the male, even when the fish are still very young and other distinguishing features of gender are not obvious. Immediately before spawning, the "egg" swells and becomes very noticeable. It plays an important role during spawning.

Male fighting fish, having met each other, invariably enter into a fight (we have already talked about "cockfights" on Aquariumka). They behave in exactly the same way towards the female. She also does not remain in debt and at first, with no less passion than the male, she begins to threaten and even attack, but in the midst of the clashes, something miraculously changes and the fish, instead of quarrelling, suddenly merge in an embrace. In a word, the spawning of bettas is a bright and unforgettable spectacle. As noted by the famous animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz, fighting fish with their mating games completely refute the opinion that fish have cold blood and are alien to emotions. Not all warm-blooded animals are given the opportunity to experience so much passion as bettas show.
In large aquariums with many shelters and thickets of plants, female bettas suffer much less from beatings from the male. Here they always have the opportunity to hide. In small spawning aquariums, where a pair of bettas are usually placed for breeding, the female can be beaten very badly. The male can even kill her. This is especially true for long-finned and very brightly colored selection forms of bettas of Asian origin. After all, breeders select fish only based on their decorative qualities, how capable they are of family life does not bother them at all. Therefore, having put a pair of spawning, you should carefully observe how the relations between the fish are formed. It happens that even numerous shelters do not save the female: a male instead of building a nest, spends all the time in search of a female, and finding it ruthlessly pounds her. Such males are not suitable for reproduction. They have to be replaced.
to overcome the excessive aggressiveness of Siamese fighting fish sometimes in the following way. The male is separated from the female with a transparent partition, and if it turns out that it does not fit tightly to the walls of the aquarium and water exchange is maintained between the fragmented parts, it will only be better. So fish can not only see, but also smell each other. The partition will protect the female from beatings, but the fish will demonstrate threats through glass. The next day, carefully look at the female. If light vertical stripes or spots appear on its sides, and in the midst of threats it suddenly begins to freeze with tightly folded fins and a slightly lowered head, then the partition can be removed. Such a female is completely ready for spawning. Of course, not all males are equally understanding, but the probability of successful spawning with such preparation is maximum.

Photo 3. A female ready for spawning under the nest. Her fins are tightly compressed, her head is slightly lowered. But even now the male threatens her. The female tries to constantly turn her head towards the male and, if possible, not show him her side.
Photo 4. The male tries to see the side of the female, and she tries to always be turned with her head towards him. As a result, the fish begin to circle under the nest.If the female, even for a few moments, turns her side to the male, then he will begin to fight.
Photo 5 . The movements of the pair become faster and faster, and the circle narrows more and more..
Photo 6. A very important moment in the relationship of fish: the female suddenly stops spinning, the male in response instantly threateningly spreads his fins. The next moment, before the male has time to strike, the female slightly falls on her side, shows her belly to the male, presenting him with that very “egg”, which is a key stimulus – this is what animal behaviorists (ethologists) call certain colored and therefore clearly visible parts of the animal’s body, the demonstration of which to other individuals of their species noticeably changes their behavior, triggering strictly defined reactions. In this case, spawning behavior is triggered: the male will hug the female in a moment.
Photo 7. . the magic of the "egg": it miraculously transforms the aggressive behavior of the male. All the emotions he has accumulated associated with building a nest and continuous fights to protect it (in a cramped spawning tank, these are fights with the same female!) suddenly turn into a loving passion, and a blow into an embrace! The female has begun to release eggs, the first two eggs have already appeared. Click on the picture to see the eggs (shown by the arrow).
Photo 8. In fact, in the life of a male cockerel, the most valuable thing is the eggs. Having seen the eggs, he must immediately pick them up and place them in the nest. First, the female showed him a false egg, and now real eggs have appeared. The eggs are not round, but irregularly shaped, angular, because they were tightly pressed in the female"s ovaries. A relatively small female can spawn 600 eggs or more!
Photo 9. . the female is forgotten, the male rushes in pursuit of the falling eggs. They will not even have time to reach the bottom. The male will collect them on the fly.
Photo 10. The happy father places the eggs in his air castle.

It is thought that female cockerels have no regard for their young and that they have to be separated from the male right away after spawning. However, this is only valid if spawning takes place in an aquarium that is relatively small. There is proof that the pair does not always split up after spawning in a large body of water. While the female watches over the nest’s distant approaches, the male tends to the eggs and larvae. She can even assume his responsibilities in the event of his death.

What to do with hatched cockerel fry?

When the formed fry blur 4–5 days after spawning, the fish stop protecting the nest. Of course, other fish in the general aquarium will devour them right away. Therefore, on the third day following spawning, when the larvae are still in the nest, you can carefully place a saucer under it and transfer it to another aquarium with the same water if spawning took place in a shared aquarium and you want to save the offspring. Its water level shouldn’t be higher than 10–12 cm. Set up a weak aeration system in one of the corners.

The labyrinth apparatus, which enables cockel fry to survive in low-oxygen water, only begins to form in the third week of life. They require aeration to prevent suffocation.

Photo 11. The next day after spawning, the eggs are swollen. A developing embryo is visible in them. They fall out of the nest every now and then. The male is constantly working. He catches the falling eggs and returns them back to the nest.
Photo 12. The cockerel"s job is not easy. It is very difficult to keep track of your entire household. While he is busy repairing the fragile nest, some of the eggs may end up on the bottom, but he searches for them with the utmost care.
Photos 13 and 14. After being in the male"s mouth, the eggs are covered with sticky saliva and stick better to the air bubbles, they can even stay on the surface for some time on their own, but the male tries to place them right away in the thick of the bubbles. The embryos in the eggs are developing rapidly: a day after spawning, the tails are already clearly visible, but the shell of the egg is not yet torn.
Photo 15. Two days after spawning or even earlier (the rate of development of the embryos depends on the water temperature) hatching occurs. Now in the nest there are not eggs, but larvae. Alas, they fall to the bottom even more intensively, as they try to move. The cockerel literally has "a mouth full of worries".
Photos 16 and 17. On the third day after spawning, or a little later, all the worries of the happy father come to an end. The fry swim away and it is no longer possible to collect them back. The cockerel repairs his castle with much less enthusiasm. Its fighting spirit has noticeably dropped, and its color has faded – now it’s time to rest. But in 5-6 days it will start building a new nest. But the aquarist needs to get to work. Providing the numerous offspring with abundant food is not an easy task!

Why arrange the spawning of betta fish in a specially equipped spawning aquarium (spawning tank)?

Therefore, the larger the reservoir, the closer the conditions are to those found in nature, the more naturally the fish behave there, and the less suffering the females have during spawning. However, spawning is still typically done in a specialized aquarium known as a "spawning tank." Why? There are multiple causes.

  • Firstly, a high percentage of fertilization of eggs is possible only in water with certain hydrochemical parameters: GH< 8 °, KH< 4 °, pH=6.7-7.3. Not always a common aquarium is filled with such water. It is much easier to specially prepare only 10-20 liters of such water using boiled, distilled, rainwater or peat-infused water than 100 or more liters for a common aquarium.
  • Secondly, tiny fry in a common aquarium will almost all be eaten quite quickly by its other inhabitants, even if it is inhabited only by small peaceful fish. Like all fish, they also eat everything that fits into their mouths, and betta fry will definitely fit in the first week of life.
  • Thirdly, it is much easier to feed a large number of fry in a breeding tank, creating the necessary density of food particles and, at the same time, maintaining the necessary cleanliness in it.

Thus, in order to simply watch the mating games of bettas, it is enough to raise the temperature right in the common aquarium and, if necessary, slightly acidify the water by adding special products that reduce pH (they are sold in pet stores selling aquarium goods) and / or products containing peat and other plant extracts, for example, an infusion of alder cones. This will be enough for spawning to take place. If the aquarium is densely planted with live (not plastic)!) plants, then perhaps several fry will be able to find food for themselves (infusoria and rotifers) in it and survive on their own. But if the goal is to get numerous offspring, then breeding cockerels should be carried out in a separate spawning aquarium.

What and how to feed cockerel fry?

The fry of labyrinth fish are very small at first. It is best to use paramecium as a starter food, which is specially bred in the run-up to spawning. You can immediately try to feed the fry with very small special dry food, for example, SERA Micron or liquid micro-foods that give a suspension of many very small nutrient droplets in the water. In this case, fewer fry will survive. Or you can try to get by with just boiled and finely ground chicken yolk, but then only a small number of the most resilient fry will survive. In any case, the food should be offered in excess. The fry should swim among the food. It is unrealistic to achieve this in an aquarium without a sharp deterioration in hydrochemical conditions. In the breeding tank, nothing prevents you from frequently carrying out a general cleaning with massive water changes and, thus, maintaining the necessary cleanliness.

Photo 18. Liquid (emulsion) micro food. It is better not to drip it immediately into the rearing tank with fry, but first mix a drop of this food thoroughly in a glass with a small amount of water to get the smallest possible particles and pour the resulting emulsion into the fry. After a week of active feeding of the fry, you can switch to larger and coarser food, for example, Artemia nauplii, which can be replaced with decapsulated Artemia D, which is easy to buy in Exomenu stores or on marketplaces). There is a very interesting article about decapsulated Artemia eggs on Aquariumka.

It is relatively difficult to feed betta fry for the first two weeks, while the fish are still very small. A particular challenge at this time is cleaning the aquarium. The fry can easily be sucked in by the siphon tube along with the dirt. This method can help here: pour all the contents of the spawning aquarium into a round basin, swirl the water in it so that the dirt collects in the center, wait until the water stops moving and the fry are distributed over the entire bottom area (at this time, the spawning tank can be washed under the tap), now you can carefully pump out the dirt collected in a pile, and pour the fry back into their aquarium. At first, it is best to cover the water deficit with aquarium or boiled water.
Later, the fish become less and less demanding about the quality of food and the purity of the water. It is only important to maintain the required temperature in the nursery and make sure that the fry do not swallow cold air from the surface, because now they already have a labyrinth organ. If you cover the aquarium with a cover glass, the water will cool and evaporate less, and the air at its surface will always be warm and humid enough.

Photo 19: Ampullaria snail and two-week-old Siamese fighting fish fry. Curious, the fry pinches the mollusk’s whiskers, but it is not too hurt by this. These snails are a great help when raising aquariums because they eat the food that the fry haven’t eaten, keeping it from going bad.

For aquarium enthusiasts, breeding betta fish can be a rewarding experience, but it does require careful planning and knowledge of their peculiar behaviors. These stunning and colorful fish can be successfully bred while maintaining their wellbeing all along if the correct conditions are created, good breeding pairs are selected, and the adult fish and fry are given the care they need.

After three weeks, the fry should be transferred to a spacious rearing aquarium. In a large volume of water (more than 100 liters), the brood grows quite harmoniously, but if you try to raise the entire brood in the same small spawning tank, then, even despite excellent nutrition and care, the fry will begin to grow extremely unevenly. The large ones, and there will be very few of them, will outgrow the small ones so much that they will begin to eat them. That is why hobby aquarists who do not have enough free large rearing aquariums, when breeding cockerels, even after successful spawning, as a result of which it is possible to obtain numerous offspring, ultimately only a few fry grow to adulthood. But what kind of pets do these fish make! After all, they are grown with your own hands!
It should be noted that the lifespan of a cockerel is very short: a male has no more than three years (usually no more than two), and females live even less. As a rule, only young fish under one year of age reproduce successfully. Even if you do not want to specifically breed cockerels, it makes sense to periodically arrange spawning in a common aquarium. In this case, female cockerels will live much longer. They simply need to spawn periodically, otherwise after a while they will literally be overflowing with overripe eggs. Aquarists call such fish "cystic". An ovarian cyst does not lead to anything good: such fish die without living even half of the lifespan allotted to them by nature.
Often, aquarists who own cockerels are very worried about losing their short-lived pet. I don"t know this by hearsay, since there are quite a lot of similar stories on the Aquariumka forum. I am understanding with these feelings, but I always write such aquarists that the loss, of course, is sad, but still this is just a fish whose century is definitely not long. You can find comfort in the acquisition of a new cock.

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Elena Grishina

Ecologist and aquarist with a special interest in creating balanced ecosystems in aquariums. Main focus — ecosystems that require minimal human intervention. I support a natural approach to aquarium care, where each element plays its role, helping to maintain harmony in a closed ecosystem. I promote sustainable aquarium keeping and respect for nature.

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