water change, bettas breeding

[crash32]

i'm in a dilemma, my sister put in a female betta into my 55 gallon tank with my male & its been like 4 days; the male has created a bubble nest & the female is fat & has that white spot sticking out. does this mean that they still havent mated since she still has that white spot, how long does the whole mating process take, i really want to do a water change, but dont want to hurt the eggs if they already mated. thanks

[CAF]

Is the male driving the female away from the nest? If so they have already wrapped and the eggs are in the nest, otherwise they are getting ready to mate.

[crash32]

well whenever she gets near the nest yes, but she is still fat & that white ball or whatever is still sticking out from the female, & the bubbles don't seem to have anything in them, but i've never seen betta eggs before so i wouldnt know what to look for.

[squirt_12]

is she a darker colour?? cause if she is then she shoul dhave horizontal (||||) bars on her....and that menas she is ready.


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the bars look like in the picture...thats only if she ir darker in colour. But if sh eis lighter in coulour you might beable to see some because my female is a lighter colour and she got darak and i saw her bars.

The tube also means she is ready.

Did u condition your bettas before doing this?? they should be fed high protein feeds for 2 weeks prior to breeding them . eg. freeze dried or frozen blood worms, live or frozen brine shrimp, shrimp, flakes, pellets, cut up earth worm...etc....

EDIT- P.S.
Do you have something in there for the male to create his bubble in?? what and where is he creating te bubble nest?? Also, you should (but don't need it) have lower water...like have around 3-6 inches of water...thats all. that helps trigger them to breed. And not too much water movement because it will destroy the bubblenest. So if you have a filer in there turn it down as low as it will go.

I hope this helps.

[crash32]

i see some vague vertical bars on her & she's got that white bubble on her, so that probably means that they havent mated yet. its been like a week and a half since i did a water change, & i really want to do it, would it be harmful to do it? & i havent fed them live food or anything special just some frozen bloodworms, pellets, and flakes

[CAF]

If they have not spawned yet, go ahead and do the WC.... it will probably cause the to mate right afterwards.... Once they mate, the male will drive off any fish nearby, so it might be better to have a tank on hand for the spawning.

[squirt_12]

ok well do you have gravel in the bottom of the tank??? cause if you are breeding them than you need a bare bottom tank so that the male can find the eggs and go and pick them up in his mouth. Also with a bare bottom it is alot easier to see the fry (once they hatch) and ALOT easier to clean.

So if you have gravel i would suggest taking it out. Actually i wouldn't do a water change cause when you bring the water level down you are going to be destroying the males bubblenest. So i would NOT do a water change. Even though it is past it's due date.

Another way to tell if they are ready to spawn is that the female will go up to the bubblenest with her head down and fins all pulled up close to her and she will check out the nest...if she likes it she will let the male start to wrap around her. But if she starts to flare back at the male then it is NOT time for them. Also the male may flare at the female but he will do that for a while until he gets comfortable and wants to spawn.

What temp. is your tank at??
do you have a filter??
any other fish in the tank??

P.S.
It can take several days (2-6) before they decide to spawn...they actually might not even spawn..if it is their first time.
How old are your bettas???

[squirt_12]

If they have not spawned yet, go ahead and do the WC.... it will probably cause the to mate right afterwards.... Once they mate, the male will drive off any fish nearby, so it might be better to have a tank on hand for the spawning.
but if you do a water change you are going to wreck the males bubblenest. But yeah i also think that you should have set up a PROPER betta spawning.tank before breeding them. Like they need about 6 inches MAX to breed in. So anymore than 6 inches and they may not breed. Cause th elow water triggers the breed.
But if you lower the water now you are going to destroy the bubblenest.

[crash32]

the tank is at 78 degrees, i have eco-complete for substrate, i have a canister filter and a hang on the back cascade. i turned the cascade one off so as to not disturb the nest. & the other habitants are glowlite tetras, glass catfish, and a bunch of corys. i dont wanna setup a betta breeding tank, bowl, whatever....geez never let your little sister mess around with ur tanks & add fish without asking you.

[squirt_12]

well i would watch out with the bettas in with the glowlights and glass fish because bettas are really aggressive (the males more than female) so thats why we generally have betas in their own tanks. But some people have had luck. But i would just watch him. But once the ggs are laid and if they fall to the bottom the other fish will eat them and the same goes with the fry. So if you want any to survive i would move the 2 bettas to another established tank.