Breeding2

Fill Up your Tank About Half Way Full or All the Way (If Your Using a 2 1/2 Gallon). Add Some Aquarium Salt to Help Clean the Water (Optional* Use whatever You normally use when setting up a new tank to help Clean the water). Put in your Submergible Heater and set it at about 80 Degrees. Tape You Styrofoam/Plastic Cup to the Side of the Tank For the Bubblenest. Tape on the Opposite Side of the Heater so that the Fry won't Hatch TOO Early. On the Opposite Side Put in Your Castle or Cave for the Female to Hide in. Now, Its also a Good Time to Put in the Plants for the Female. I've found that using Real plants is Better or Easier for the Female to Hide in.. I like to use a Floating Plant Called ,something like, Cambodia. I Can get a Nice Size Batch at the Pet Store for @ $2.29. But Sometimes I Use Fake Floating Plants or Sometimes I Use BOTH.
Let the Tank set like this for 12-24 Hours so that the water settles and so you can make sure that Your Heater is Working Properly. After this, YOUR TANK IS SET UP!!

After the Water is settled, and Everything is Working Fine. You can Then Add the Male. You can Add the Black Water Expert now or Wait until you add the female. Its Your Choice. Some Males start building Nests Right Away but Some Wait till they See the Female to Start Building. Let him get use to His Surroundings and Leave him in there for a Couple Hours or Some Say to Leave him there for 24 Hours. Its Up To You Whatever You Decide.

Now its Time to Intorduce the Female to The Breeding Tank. What i do is Put the Female in a Plastic Zip Lock Baggie Leaving the Top Open. and Float her in the Tank This Way. Others Put the Female in a Jar or Oil Lamp Cover. This way the Male Can FLARE At the Female and Swim About her WITHOUT Hurting her.. Because he Can't get to her. Leave her floating like this for Atleast 24 Hours to ensure her safety! If I Have an Very Aggressive Male- Somtimes I Will let the Female FLoat like this for 2 Days Before Putting her in the Tank. Dark Colored Females Will Start Showing Some Vertical or Horizontal Stripes on Her Body. Both Male and Female 's Colors will Darker.. These are All signs of The Fish "Getting Ready" To Spawn. If this doesn't happen, Don't Worry.. SomeTimes, My Females or Males , for that matter, Don't Start Showing Signs unitl AFTER I Rellease the Female. Each Betta Experience is Different. No 2 Spawns will go Exactly the Same! After the time has Passed, You can Release the Female into the Breeding Tank. You should release her when you have some Spare Time to Check up on the Process from time to time.Don't stand and STARE at them or they won't Mate! But you have to Check up on Them Every So Often to Make Sure that Their Noyt Trying to KILL Each other! If It Looks like one or the other Is getting TOO Badly Ripped or Nipped.. Take Them Out! Better Safe than Sorry! But it IS NORMAL To have Some Ripped or Tattered Fins During the Breeding Process.

After Much Fin and Tail Chasing.. Sometimes it only takes hours.. Most of mine Take from Anywhere From the Next day to 5 Days! As I Said, Each Betta is Different! (Maybe The New Black Water Expert I'm Using will Speed this Up!) During this whole process the Male betta Should be Building His Bubblenest while Chasing the Female Away. Sometimes the Nest Are BIG And Sometimes they are Small. Most of my Bettas Build Small to Medium Nest..When the Couple Are Ready the Female Will Swim Behind the Male over to the Bubblenest with her head down (...some are my Females didn't put their heads down...) They will Dance Around Each Other a Little Bit.. and once thier Positioned right the "Embrace" Will Begin (shown on the pictures on Page 1 of Breeding) They will Entertwine with each other and the Male will Wrap his Body Completely Around the Female. This will happen a few times and then Eggs will start to fall from the Female.. The Female will Lie Motionless for a few mintutes at the top while the male will Gather up the Eggs in his mouth and Blow them up into the Bubblenest... Sometimes the Female will help the Male in the Process of Gathering the Eggs. From my Experince , Most do not. This Process of "Spawning" Can take up to HOURS of time... Once they are done REMOVE THE FEMALE- no Questions about it. Or the Male will Kill Her!
Put the Female in a Jar or Bowl by herself and Treat her with Whatever Medication you Decide to Use for Torn Fins. I Use MELAFIX.
Leave the Male to Tend to his Bubblenest! Hopefully He'll Be a Good Daddy. Add a Couple Drops of Liquidf4ry #1 for Egglayers.. to start Infusoria food for the Fry.

Leave the Male to Tend to His BubbleNest. Isn't Nice for the "Dad" To "babysit" For a Change? =) The Dad Will Blow the Babies Back up to the nest when they fall down. If you have a "Bab Dad" He'll Eat the Fry once they start falling down REMOVE HIM and drop the water down to about 1 inch and Hopefully the Fry will Survive (Low Percentage Rate Though) The male will do This Day and Night and About the Third Day the Fry will Become "Free Swimming" (Swimming somewhat by theirselves instead of just falling down) This is when you REMOVE THE MALE and Put him in his own Jar and Treat him with MELAFIX Or whatever you decide to use.