~~~ ~~~~    Power House    ~~~~~

Care and Maintenance

Breeding the fish

Breeding bettas is an easy process.....  where raising is the harder part ( will be elaborated later on ). First prepare a tank with overnight water; bettas can spawn in tanks that are as small as 15cm by 6 cm. Next adjust the pH of the water to slight acidic; in this way they are more tempted to spawn. From my observation, bettas also seemed to spawn quicker in warmer water; though this may prove harmful effects to the fries, as they hatch faster and become weaker. Place the male into the water and place the female into a jar, beside the breeding tank. Allow the male to blow his bubblenest and observe the signals of the pair. If both party seems eager to spawn, place the female into the breeding tank. 

From this...... you can observe the true nature of betta splendens and what their name suggest. Normally, the female will be beaten up badly, but in some other cases; both male and female end up in a wrestling match. The fight will subside after a few hours and the male will be the dominant one. The fish will spawn in 1-3 days time. If the pair refuses to spawn.... remove them and treat them with aquarium salt to prevent infections.

My fish have spawned

Congralts....... on becoming grandparents.  After the female have finished the whole spawning procedure with the male ( The curling and embracing act; mushy eh? ) Remove the female and housed her in a sterilized quarter, treat her with some aquarium salt. Allow the male to take over the duty of baby-sitting the eggs. If any signs of egg-eating male occurs; remove the eggs using a dropper immediately. do artificial hatching for them. ( Will be elaborated later on ). The eggs will hatch in 36 hours time and the male will take care of the fries. Once again. if you noticed a fry-eating male, remove the male immediately and lower the water-level of the fry tank. The fries will not be able to swim for the first 2 days and will  be able to swim horizontally on the  3rd day. Remove the male now, as he might feast on the fries. Feed the fries with Baby brime shrimp and  siphon out any uneaten food. You will notice dramatic change in size and vigor for the first few weeks.

Raise me!!! Quick!!!

Now.... you have your fries and you are feeding them daily. After the first week.. .... you will notice that there is slow-down in the growth of the fish. They seems to be growing slowly; note* this may affect your mood in raising the fish. Feed them with pure, clean, sterilized and treated tubifex worm to boost up their growth. The fish takes about 3 months to reach breedable size, depending on how fast you breed them. If you raise them up quickly, the fish will have higher metabolism rate, therefore live shorter.

How do I raise them artificially

Egg-eating males occurs quite frequently, especially on show quality fishes ( Might be due to too much in breeding ).  To do artificial hatching. You will need to have a clean container, that contains water level of 2mm. ( double the height of the egg ). Place the eggs carefully into the container with the help of a dropper. Refill water every now and then; so as not to allow the eggs to dry up. The eggs will hatch around 34 hrs.

Food Source

Adult fishes-------   Bloodworms, tubifex, adult brime shrimps, mosquito larva ( be careful with this, as they might become mosquitoes and feast on your blood. Tip* freeze it!!!! ) and flake or pellet food.

Fries and juveniles------- Baby Brime Shrimps, Daphinas, Chopped-up tubifex,  infurosia.