|
Since
fish fighting, particularly Betta fighting has been one of
the most popular games in Thailand for many decades, Thai people
know how to breed and raise them very well. But not all of
them successfully breed and raise them to adult size and the
survival rate may not be very high.
|
|
What
I am going to explain now is how I breed my Betta based on
past experiences during the last 40 years, together with what
I have seen and collected from hundreds of breeders in different
parts of Thailand . It may not suit everyone in all parts of
the world, but at least it may be used as a guideline for those
who have
failed to breed and raise them to beautiful adult sizes.
|
|
First
of all, let's make things easy by finding one bowl of about
30 cm (12 inches) in diameter. It can be of plastic, porcelain
or anything that can hold water. Put clean water into
it with a depth of only 10 cm (3 1/2 inches). Leave it for at least
3-4 hours in order for any chlorine to evaporate. Add
some almond leave extract as well, for this I recommend
to use
Atison's Betta SPA in a concentration of 5 ml per gallon
(4 liters).
|
Spawning
tank |
|
|
Now
you have a male and a female that are healthy. The healthy
male can be recognized from its bubble. If there is bubble in the
male bottle while pairing, it means that it is healthy. The healthy
female is alert and normally has a big belly and on most occasions
has stripes on her belly. Give them plenty of food for their
last meal at least 2 hours before you put them into the
spawning tank. We recommend the use of
Atison's Betta PRO during the whole conditioning period.
|
|
Since
the female has to be in the spawning tank for about 2 days while the
male has to be in it for at least 5 to 6 days without food,
you must give them plenty of good food prior
to the spawning. I never give them food during spawning because
it will create a bad habit for them in the next spawning.
They will get used to eating during spawning and if they are without food
they will eat their eggs and fries which you can not use
any more.
|
 |
I
put both of them in the spawning tank with my hands
but avoid touching the water in the bottle because I want the spawning
water to be of superior clean quality without debris from the
old bottles. It is very important to add
Atison's Betta SPA wild almond leaf extract as it will help incite spawning and
will improve the quality of the bubble nest.
Cover
the spawning tank with a cardboard and leave it for
about two days. In the first few hours the male will build
a bubble nest under some floating leaves I put in. You
can also use a
feeding station of which the size is perfect for this
purpose. While he builds the
nest, he sometimes chases the female and then comes
back to build the nest again.
|
|
|
After
a couple of hours the nest is ready and the male will try
to chase the female to go under or near the nest and then the
spawning begins. The session will last about 4 hours . Sometimes
both of them will help each other collect eggs to the nest.
When the spawning ends, the male will chase the female away.
It is now time to take the female out and take good care of
her. She will be able to spawn again after 16 days.
|
| Next
>> |
