The beauty of the spawning embrace. Quite captivating to watch how gentle and peaceful these fish can be...at times!! The new book on Bettas by Robert Goldstein. Available at most book stores or from Barnes and Noble.com and Amazon.com. For the answers to all your betta needs-this book is a must have!

Well, now you have a pair of bettas and what exactly do you do with them? On this page, we will try to help talk you through the few steps to breeding your bettas successfully. Remember, these are tried and true methods, but every fish is not the same-some will spawn with ease, some will not spawn at all. Your own experience and methods usually come into play after your third or fourth spawn. Good Luck! Before spawning your bettas, it is a great idea to purchase a book. read up on them first, then try to breed. One of our favorites is pictured above! The week prior to breeding, supply your pair with a multitude of live and frozen foods to fill them up and make them ready for the breeding process. Live foods can be purchased at your local pet store as well many varieties of frozen foods. Once the pair has had their fill and they are primed for the spawn, prepare a 5-10 gallon tank. Wash completely and fill with clean water up to about 4-5 inches high. Higher water makes the males job alot more difficult when catching and caring for the fry. Be sure to add water conditioner such as Stress Coat or NovAqua to the water to remove any chlorine and Chloramines. a little sea salt to the water helps as well. Just a pinch. Add a well planted area to the tank. Live plants(see below) and plastic plants can be used as long as no pebbles are placed on the bottom. Pebbles make the job of catching the eggs on the bottom very difficult. Keep the bottom of the tank free of things that can hinder the male. Now that the tank is set up, place both the male and female into the spawning tank at the same time. Place the male at one end..then the female at the other. they will find each other without fail. Do not be alarmed if the male becomes aggressive when he sees her. Keep a watchful eye on the pair at that time. The spawning courtship has been known to be a little forceful for both the male and the female. The male will begin his flaring or courtship ritual of spreading his gill plates and flaring out his fins to impress the female. If she is so impressed, she will respond with the same movements as well as you will see barring on her body. White lines will appear on either side of her body to show the male she is ready to spawn. Then comes the waiting. The male will set to work building a bubblenest to house the eggs when they are delivered. Some males will build a huge and very fluffy nest, while others may only have a small and very thin layer of bubbles. Some cases, the male built no nest at all.....but the pair spawned anyway. Remember, you must keep a watchful eye on the pair until the female is removed from the tank. Once the female has convinced the male she means no harm and is ready to submit to his embraces, the pair will meet under the bubble nest and the spawning will begin. It is a beautiful and graceful time to watch the pair. The female will swim into the male and turn her body to the side. The male will wrap around her in a U shape and lock his body that way. The female will release her eggs at the same time as the male releases sperm into the water. This is when the eggs are fertilized. The male will release the female and begin his search for the falling eggs. The female, in a stunned or out of breath state, will float to the top of the water. Do not be alarmed by this...this is a typical reaction and she is not hurt. Many people think it is because the male squeezes her very hard and knocks the breath out of her. Nature is odd in its ways of reproduction. The male will collect the eggs in his mouth and swim up to the nest and deposit them into the cloud of bubbles. When the female comes to, she will also assist the male in this practise. This embrace can go on for quite some time. Over and over the pair will embrace and collect the eggs and place them into the nest. When at last the male, or the female, has decided they are finished, this is the time to remove the female as her job is done. place her into a jar of well medicated and clean water and put her in a quite place alone so she may recover. A female betta can spawn again in 16 days. A male is ready within hours. Now the male turns his attention to the job at hand of fortifying the nest with more bubbles and keeping a constant vigil on his babies. He will seldom eat at this time, so it is not necessary to feed him. Besides, uneaten food will cloud and foul the water. The eggs will begin to hatch within 36-48 hours if kept at a constant teperature of 75-80 degrees. When the babies are born, they are very small and lack the ability to breathe atmospheric oxygen. They must survive on the oxygen found in the water. The male will pick up the falling babies and return them to the nest. This can become a crazy and nerve wracking ritual to watch, especially if the spawn was large. The babies, as they grow, become more active. The male will continue to do this until the fry are free swimming at a horizintal level. Once they are free swimming, the males job is done and he must be removed, as he will soon forget that these are his children and think...YUMMY!! Move the male to a clean and medicated jar of water and feed well. He deserves it. Now is the time to sit back and watch the babies grow! You are now the mom and dad of this spawn. Their survival is up to you. Good luck.

The male tends to his nest prior to spawning, while the female lingers nearby letting him know she is ready to spawn. The female will take a nose down position when approaching the male at the nest. Once the male has wooed the female, he will wrap his body around hers in a U shape. She will release the eggs and he the sperm into the water. This is where the fertilization occurs. Once the female has regained herself, she will also help the male in collecting eggs and returning them to the nest of bubbles. This process of the embrace can take many hours or only 1 hour. Watch the pair carefully.

Once the male has impressed the female, he will display his beauty for her and guide her over to the nest for his embrace. The embrace of bettas is a beautiful thing to watch. When it is over, the male will release the female. She will appear stunned or out of breath and will float to the top of the water, this is normal. The male will begin collecting the eggs. Once the spawning is completed, the male  will chase the female away from the nest very agressively. Her job now finished, she should be removed to her own jar and fed well in medicated water to heal her wounds, should she have any. The male should be left alone now to tend to the nest.

Some Examples of good plants to use!

JAVAMOSS

WATERSPRITE

WISTERIA

You can find all of these plants on AquaBid.com from reputable harvesters. These are hearty plants that need little or no special care in your breeding tanks. When they fry hatch, they are perfect for hiding or resting on the leaves. These plants can be planted or left floating.