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I was advised to post this article that has been sitting for about half a year.
As always, I'm open to opinions, changes and what ever . . . . so feel free to criticize like crazy.
BREEDING BETTA SPLENDENS
So, you want to breed your bettas? Why do you want to breed? What are you trying to achieve? Do you have the time and money to care for them? What do you plan to do with the offspring? In short DETERMINE A GOAL and PLAN ON HOW TO GO ABOUT IT AND WHAT TO DO WITH THE OFFSPRING.
First of all read this and make sure you have all the needed supplies – both for the breeders and the potential fry.
Breeding Bettas - Considerations and supplies
How many possible fry are we talking about here?
I counted an average of 700 fry from smaller females and over 1300 fry from full grown females. . . . fry, not eggs. So they probably lay more than that. On average most breeders can produce about 300 fry to adult, while better breeders can produce over 700. Beginners often produce less than 100 fry to adult – a good manageable number.
Sex outcome ratio can vary. There are a few myths on this topic. One thing is definite; the ratio is not 50-50. So you need to prepare solitary jars for 75% of the total number of fry, in the least.
1. Age of breeders - more males if male is younger (4 months),
- more females if females is younger (4 months).
2. Temperature - lower temps will produce more females and higher temperature more male.
Lowest advised temperature is 25C/77F – ideal 28C/82.4F – Highest is 31C/87.8F
3. The first three spawn (female) will produce more males, thus many breeders retire or cull their females after her third spawn.
I rely on belief 2 and 3. A first spawn during the hot season may produce 90% males (my highest). 2nd and 3rd spawn during hot season may produce 40-60% males. 4th spawn during hot season = below 30% male. A 4th or more spawn during the cold season may produce 90% females.
The above myths were countered by Basement Betta who posted on August 14, 2012
BASEMENT BETTA – august 14 2012
sex ratio of spawn myths
I'm the QUEEN of all female spawns. Have had most of mine here in TX be 200+ fish and ALL girls. Close to 10 spawns all girls.. and the others were very few males. Amazing I finished 3rd over all on my girls.. lol. I'm getting a lot more males now.
Difference.. I use RO and was reconstituting with RO Right. After some issues and I started to test my water I found the RO Right was just repackaged sea salt. I had no gh. ph was below 7.0 and kh was like 3 and the TDS was 250. Bleck!!
Sooo... changed how I add minerals. My ph is now 7.2, gh is 3-4 and kh is 5-6. TDS is around 150. Add a splash if mico nutrients and much happier plants and fish. BIG plus is now I have males.
Other consideration is ammonia in a spawn tank. Could be it gets high and affectes the fertilization or early formation of the fry. Had issues with that too till now I keep ammonia next to zero.
My experience with the all female spawns didn't make a difference on fish size or temp.. as had them with variables there.
That’s what you will possibly face. Do you still want to breed?
Water Parameters
There is neither a right nor wrong way to keep, breed and raise this species. Probably, the only “absolute” necessity for them is water chemistry – there is a certain requirement for these fish to survive and thrive. But even this can vary because they are fairly adaptive. Remember;
TO BE A GOOD BREEDER YOU MUST LEARN TO BE A GOOD FISH KEEPER. TO BE A GOOD FISH KEEPER YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO KEEP YOUR WATER.
Fahrenheit
75,2
77
78.8
80.6
82.4
84.2
86
87.8
89.6
91.4
93.2
95
Celsius
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Since they are tropical fish, consequently they need warm water between 75-86F (24 – 30), 82.5F or 28C being ideal. They can survive, though not thrive, in the extreme low and specially high ends. In lower temperatures they are less active and often become lethargic. It is not advisable to breed them in the lower end. They are more tolerant with higher temperatures and will readily breed. The down side is that egg/fry development is increased thus may create weaker specimens.
Like most fish, they ideally need a pH of 7 (neutral) but can tolerate between 6-8.5. Most spring, well, or tap water sources have a pH in this range. Low or high pH (in that range) doesn’t seem to affect egg/fry development, not enough to cause problems in their development.
Water hardness is the concentration of dissolved mineral salts in the water. The more minerals, the harder the water. Most tap water around the world is adequate for bettas. But Spring and well water in certain areas may have to be tested. The ideal water hardness is between 5-20 dGH or 70-300 ppm. An easy testing method (if you don’t have water testers) is by adding detergent to the water. If the detergent immediately disperses, the water is soft enough for your bettas. Otherwise pure water (RO) need to be added to the water.
For further reading on water, take a look at this article:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...water-hardness-ph-freshwater-aquarium-188705/
Water hardness within the acceptable ranges should not influence egg nor fry development. But in the long run it will affect fin development and maintenance - mainly modern fin types. Halfmoons need rather medium water hardness while Crown tails need softer water. Otherwise their fins won't spread to the maximum potential and may curl instead.
The most important aspect about water is STABLE parameters. Fluctuations in an attempt to acheive ideal conditions may do more harm than good. A stable temperature of 77F with a pH of 8.5 and hardness of 200 ppm is better than fluctuating conditions which will probably kill the betta.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BETTA - Choosing your breeders
Breeding age vs size
We are talking about Betta splendens, a species that has many different forms and colors. All of which can be bred/cross bred to each other. But it is unadviseable to just take a pair of bettas and toss them in the breeding tank. Determining a goal will help you choose which pair to breed.
How old can they be bred? Most bettas become sexually mature after 4 months. Some, specially females, will breed at a younger age. This is in part influenced by their growth rate. Often, the faster they grow, the sooner they will breed. Nevertheless it is unadvised to breed them too soon unless there is a specific goal to be achieved. For example, planning to breed daughter/son back to father/mother.
Breeders have their own views on breeding age. Some have no problem with breeding young bettas while others prefer to wait until they are older. But most will agree that they can be bred between 4-12 months, while the ideal breeding age is between 5-8 months.
To my experience young males, though sexually mature, may not be mentally mature enough to care for their eggs and fry. In fact some will eat the eggs instead of rearing them. Breeding young females is easier since their duty end after releasing eggs. Whether breeding young males or females, sometimes the problem lies in their form. They haven’t fully developed yet thus we can’t see any genetic flaws they may carry. This is important when our goal is improving their form.
What about the bettas we bought? We don’t know their age. In these cases I rely on size. I will readily breed them if their bodies are a minimum of 3cm (about 1.2”). I would breed smaller females, but never smaller males. The downside of breeding smaller females is the number of eggs laid. The smaller the female, the less eggs it produces. Further, though many breeders do not share the same belief, smaller females may sometimes produce smaller eggs which to my experience has lower hatch rate and or higher mortality.
Understanding Rays
This should give you a general idea on how to choose the breeding pair for form breeding, which is often related to ray breeding.
Rays are the “ bone structure” of fins. Large rays will make the fins look thick and firm while thin rays make them look wavy when they swim. Webbing is the tissue between the rays which also influences fin spread. Crown Tails have reduced webbing – their webbing doesn’t extend to the end of the rays, allowing rays to protrude beyond the webbing,
Most VT and traditional PK (and fighters), plus some CT only have primary and secondary rays (2 ray). Meaning their primary rays branch once (secondary ray) giving them 2 end rays.
HM’s rays branches twice or more – primary (11 rays) branches into 2 secondary rays which then branch into 2 – 4 rays each (tertiary rays). So when talking about a 4 ray betta, people are referring to the end ray – from 1 primary (base) branches into 4 tertiary (end) rays. And 8 rays means that the secondary rays branched into 4 rays each, totaling 8 tertiary (end) rays.
DT’s caudal and dorsal can reach to 16 or more primary rays, while the anal can exceed 24 rays. The secondary and tertiary ray branching depends on the type of DT (DTVT, DTHM). This fin type is often used to increase the number of rays in modern types.
Illustration of HM rays
Choosing color
Betta color do not mix like paint colors. Each color has its own genetic codes. Some of which cannot combine and form a new color mix. Instead they exhibit two or more different colors.
For more details read
Color Genetics Guide
Inbreeding
When breeding for certain traits (color and or form), inbreeding is often required to fix the desired traits into the line. That is breeding brother to sister, daughter to father, son to mother, etc. Unlike mamals, bettas are safe to be inbred. Some even say it’s safe to inbreed for 8 generations, though many say 6 is the limit.
With luck you should produce your desired trait in the third generation and get it fixed in the fourth. In reality inbreeding for certain traits may take longer because their actual genetic codes aren’t always visible thus we might not breed the right pair or the ones with the expected traits didn’t survive.
In such cases and when only one parent’s trait is desired, offspring can be bred to their parent – daughter to father or son to mother. This should genetically strengthen the desired trait – reducing the number of generations needed to achieve goals. If it is possiible, breed F2 (second generation) to the original parent. Usually by F3 the original parent would be too old to be bred so you would have to continue your line by inbreeding siblings.
Breeding daughter to father shouldn’t be a problem because bigger males can easily spawn with smaller females. But when breeding son to mother, sometimes the son is too small to embrace his mother properly, thus can’t fertilize her eggs. Many breeders facing such probabilities will often deliberately stunt the female’s growth by housing her in small jars/tanks, feeding and water changing sparingly. This should be done as soon as breeding plans are set, before the female has a chance to grow too big. On the other hand, her son should be allowed to grow as rapidly as possible by keeping him in a larger than usual tank, given highly nutritious food plus more water changes.
When both parents carry desired traits, it is unadvised to breed back to parents. Back breeding will enhance one parents trait while weakening the other. It is best to inbreed siblings instead. With luck, if you have the desired traits and if you sellected the siblings correctly, you should achieve your goals in 3-4 generations.
EXAMPLE : DT X CT (two recessive traits)
For The Punnet Square calculation
Read post #4 of Form Breeding
Let’s take creating DTCT as an example – A betta that shows an extended dorsal, two caudal lobes with even 50% web reduction on all fins; The parents are;
DT - extended dorsal, two equal caudal lobes
CT - normal sized dorsal, single caudal lobe, and 50% web reduction on all fins.
· The offspring should all be Crown Double Tail genos, meaning they are neither perfect CT nor DT but a mix of both. They would show uneven web reduction, single or 2 uneven caudal lobes and or long dorsals.
Since we want both of the parent’s traits, we cannot breed the offspring to their parents because that will make one trait genetically stronger than the other. The best way to breed for F2 is choosing a pair of offspring that has an extended dorsal, two caudal lobes and has web reduction. If luck favors us, this should create a few better looking CTDT in F2. It is unadviseable to inbreed DT more than once. So breed a single tail with a long dorsal and web reduction to a CTDT to make more and even better CTDT in F3. In F4, the CTDT should breed true and you can introduce new unrelated genes to the line.
Traits that should not be inbred nor bred to the same trait :
the double tail and rose tail.
These traits carry defected genes which may be passed on to the offspring. Double tails usually can safely be bred to another double tail once (it’s best not to inbreed 2 DT – but to an unrelated DT). But for the following generation, the double tail should be outcrossed to a single tail.
Rose tails, which can be produced by breeding a pair of 8 ray HM, are less tolerant. Breeding 2 rose tails, specially siblings, will most probably produce deformities – small dorsal and ventral fins, bad scale alignment, small and curled caudal, pale color, etc. It is best to breed (if at all) rose tails to an unrelated betta with less ray branching like a delta tail. Once defected genes get into a line, specially the “rose affect”, it is very hard to clean out. Consequently it is wiser to cull literally every single betta from that line. Hopefully the defective genes won’t become fixed to your line.
As always, I'm open to opinions, changes and what ever . . . . so feel free to criticize like crazy.
BREEDING BETTA SPLENDENS
So, you want to breed your bettas? Why do you want to breed? What are you trying to achieve? Do you have the time and money to care for them? What do you plan to do with the offspring? In short DETERMINE A GOAL and PLAN ON HOW TO GO ABOUT IT AND WHAT TO DO WITH THE OFFSPRING.
First of all read this and make sure you have all the needed supplies – both for the breeders and the potential fry.
Breeding Bettas - Considerations and supplies
How many possible fry are we talking about here?
I counted an average of 700 fry from smaller females and over 1300 fry from full grown females. . . . fry, not eggs. So they probably lay more than that. On average most breeders can produce about 300 fry to adult, while better breeders can produce over 700. Beginners often produce less than 100 fry to adult – a good manageable number.
Sex outcome ratio can vary. There are a few myths on this topic. One thing is definite; the ratio is not 50-50. So you need to prepare solitary jars for 75% of the total number of fry, in the least.
1. Age of breeders - more males if male is younger (4 months),
- more females if females is younger (4 months).
2. Temperature - lower temps will produce more females and higher temperature more male.
Lowest advised temperature is 25C/77F – ideal 28C/82.4F – Highest is 31C/87.8F
3. The first three spawn (female) will produce more males, thus many breeders retire or cull their females after her third spawn.
I rely on belief 2 and 3. A first spawn during the hot season may produce 90% males (my highest). 2nd and 3rd spawn during hot season may produce 40-60% males. 4th spawn during hot season = below 30% male. A 4th or more spawn during the cold season may produce 90% females.
The above myths were countered by Basement Betta who posted on August 14, 2012
BASEMENT BETTA – august 14 2012
sex ratio of spawn myths
I'm the QUEEN of all female spawns. Have had most of mine here in TX be 200+ fish and ALL girls. Close to 10 spawns all girls.. and the others were very few males. Amazing I finished 3rd over all on my girls.. lol. I'm getting a lot more males now.
Difference.. I use RO and was reconstituting with RO Right. After some issues and I started to test my water I found the RO Right was just repackaged sea salt. I had no gh. ph was below 7.0 and kh was like 3 and the TDS was 250. Bleck!!
Sooo... changed how I add minerals. My ph is now 7.2, gh is 3-4 and kh is 5-6. TDS is around 150. Add a splash if mico nutrients and much happier plants and fish. BIG plus is now I have males.
Other consideration is ammonia in a spawn tank. Could be it gets high and affectes the fertilization or early formation of the fry. Had issues with that too till now I keep ammonia next to zero.
My experience with the all female spawns didn't make a difference on fish size or temp.. as had them with variables there.
That’s what you will possibly face. Do you still want to breed?
Water Parameters
There is neither a right nor wrong way to keep, breed and raise this species. Probably, the only “absolute” necessity for them is water chemistry – there is a certain requirement for these fish to survive and thrive. But even this can vary because they are fairly adaptive. Remember;
TO BE A GOOD BREEDER YOU MUST LEARN TO BE A GOOD FISH KEEPER. TO BE A GOOD FISH KEEPER YOU MUST LEARN HOW TO KEEP YOUR WATER.
Fahrenheit
75,2
77
78.8
80.6
82.4
84.2
86
87.8
89.6
91.4
93.2
95
Celsius
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
Since they are tropical fish, consequently they need warm water between 75-86F (24 – 30), 82.5F or 28C being ideal. They can survive, though not thrive, in the extreme low and specially high ends. In lower temperatures they are less active and often become lethargic. It is not advisable to breed them in the lower end. They are more tolerant with higher temperatures and will readily breed. The down side is that egg/fry development is increased thus may create weaker specimens.
Like most fish, they ideally need a pH of 7 (neutral) but can tolerate between 6-8.5. Most spring, well, or tap water sources have a pH in this range. Low or high pH (in that range) doesn’t seem to affect egg/fry development, not enough to cause problems in their development.
Water hardness is the concentration of dissolved mineral salts in the water. The more minerals, the harder the water. Most tap water around the world is adequate for bettas. But Spring and well water in certain areas may have to be tested. The ideal water hardness is between 5-20 dGH or 70-300 ppm. An easy testing method (if you don’t have water testers) is by adding detergent to the water. If the detergent immediately disperses, the water is soft enough for your bettas. Otherwise pure water (RO) need to be added to the water.
For further reading on water, take a look at this article:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...water-hardness-ph-freshwater-aquarium-188705/
Water hardness within the acceptable ranges should not influence egg nor fry development. But in the long run it will affect fin development and maintenance - mainly modern fin types. Halfmoons need rather medium water hardness while Crown tails need softer water. Otherwise their fins won't spread to the maximum potential and may curl instead.
The most important aspect about water is STABLE parameters. Fluctuations in an attempt to acheive ideal conditions may do more harm than good. A stable temperature of 77F with a pH of 8.5 and hardness of 200 ppm is better than fluctuating conditions which will probably kill the betta.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR BETTA - Choosing your breeders
Breeding age vs size
We are talking about Betta splendens, a species that has many different forms and colors. All of which can be bred/cross bred to each other. But it is unadviseable to just take a pair of bettas and toss them in the breeding tank. Determining a goal will help you choose which pair to breed.
How old can they be bred? Most bettas become sexually mature after 4 months. Some, specially females, will breed at a younger age. This is in part influenced by their growth rate. Often, the faster they grow, the sooner they will breed. Nevertheless it is unadvised to breed them too soon unless there is a specific goal to be achieved. For example, planning to breed daughter/son back to father/mother.
Breeders have their own views on breeding age. Some have no problem with breeding young bettas while others prefer to wait until they are older. But most will agree that they can be bred between 4-12 months, while the ideal breeding age is between 5-8 months.
To my experience young males, though sexually mature, may not be mentally mature enough to care for their eggs and fry. In fact some will eat the eggs instead of rearing them. Breeding young females is easier since their duty end after releasing eggs. Whether breeding young males or females, sometimes the problem lies in their form. They haven’t fully developed yet thus we can’t see any genetic flaws they may carry. This is important when our goal is improving their form.
What about the bettas we bought? We don’t know their age. In these cases I rely on size. I will readily breed them if their bodies are a minimum of 3cm (about 1.2”). I would breed smaller females, but never smaller males. The downside of breeding smaller females is the number of eggs laid. The smaller the female, the less eggs it produces. Further, though many breeders do not share the same belief, smaller females may sometimes produce smaller eggs which to my experience has lower hatch rate and or higher mortality.
Understanding Rays
This should give you a general idea on how to choose the breeding pair for form breeding, which is often related to ray breeding.
Rays are the “ bone structure” of fins. Large rays will make the fins look thick and firm while thin rays make them look wavy when they swim. Webbing is the tissue between the rays which also influences fin spread. Crown Tails have reduced webbing – their webbing doesn’t extend to the end of the rays, allowing rays to protrude beyond the webbing,
Most VT and traditional PK (and fighters), plus some CT only have primary and secondary rays (2 ray). Meaning their primary rays branch once (secondary ray) giving them 2 end rays.
HM’s rays branches twice or more – primary (11 rays) branches into 2 secondary rays which then branch into 2 – 4 rays each (tertiary rays). So when talking about a 4 ray betta, people are referring to the end ray – from 1 primary (base) branches into 4 tertiary (end) rays. And 8 rays means that the secondary rays branched into 4 rays each, totaling 8 tertiary (end) rays.
DT’s caudal and dorsal can reach to 16 or more primary rays, while the anal can exceed 24 rays. The secondary and tertiary ray branching depends on the type of DT (DTVT, DTHM). This fin type is often used to increase the number of rays in modern types.
Illustration of HM rays


Choosing color
Betta color do not mix like paint colors. Each color has its own genetic codes. Some of which cannot combine and form a new color mix. Instead they exhibit two or more different colors.
For more details read
Color Genetics Guide
Inbreeding
When breeding for certain traits (color and or form), inbreeding is often required to fix the desired traits into the line. That is breeding brother to sister, daughter to father, son to mother, etc. Unlike mamals, bettas are safe to be inbred. Some even say it’s safe to inbreed for 8 generations, though many say 6 is the limit.
With luck you should produce your desired trait in the third generation and get it fixed in the fourth. In reality inbreeding for certain traits may take longer because their actual genetic codes aren’t always visible thus we might not breed the right pair or the ones with the expected traits didn’t survive.
In such cases and when only one parent’s trait is desired, offspring can be bred to their parent – daughter to father or son to mother. This should genetically strengthen the desired trait – reducing the number of generations needed to achieve goals. If it is possiible, breed F2 (second generation) to the original parent. Usually by F3 the original parent would be too old to be bred so you would have to continue your line by inbreeding siblings.
Breeding daughter to father shouldn’t be a problem because bigger males can easily spawn with smaller females. But when breeding son to mother, sometimes the son is too small to embrace his mother properly, thus can’t fertilize her eggs. Many breeders facing such probabilities will often deliberately stunt the female’s growth by housing her in small jars/tanks, feeding and water changing sparingly. This should be done as soon as breeding plans are set, before the female has a chance to grow too big. On the other hand, her son should be allowed to grow as rapidly as possible by keeping him in a larger than usual tank, given highly nutritious food plus more water changes.
When both parents carry desired traits, it is unadvised to breed back to parents. Back breeding will enhance one parents trait while weakening the other. It is best to inbreed siblings instead. With luck, if you have the desired traits and if you sellected the siblings correctly, you should achieve your goals in 3-4 generations.
EXAMPLE : DT X CT (two recessive traits)
For The Punnet Square calculation
Read post #4 of Form Breeding
Let’s take creating DTCT as an example – A betta that shows an extended dorsal, two caudal lobes with even 50% web reduction on all fins; The parents are;
DT - extended dorsal, two equal caudal lobes
CT - normal sized dorsal, single caudal lobe, and 50% web reduction on all fins.
· The offspring should all be Crown Double Tail genos, meaning they are neither perfect CT nor DT but a mix of both. They would show uneven web reduction, single or 2 uneven caudal lobes and or long dorsals.
Since we want both of the parent’s traits, we cannot breed the offspring to their parents because that will make one trait genetically stronger than the other. The best way to breed for F2 is choosing a pair of offspring that has an extended dorsal, two caudal lobes and has web reduction. If luck favors us, this should create a few better looking CTDT in F2. It is unadviseable to inbreed DT more than once. So breed a single tail with a long dorsal and web reduction to a CTDT to make more and even better CTDT in F3. In F4, the CTDT should breed true and you can introduce new unrelated genes to the line.
Traits that should not be inbred nor bred to the same trait :
the double tail and rose tail.
These traits carry defected genes which may be passed on to the offspring. Double tails usually can safely be bred to another double tail once (it’s best not to inbreed 2 DT – but to an unrelated DT). But for the following generation, the double tail should be outcrossed to a single tail.
Rose tails, which can be produced by breeding a pair of 8 ray HM, are less tolerant. Breeding 2 rose tails, specially siblings, will most probably produce deformities – small dorsal and ventral fins, bad scale alignment, small and curled caudal, pale color, etc. It is best to breed (if at all) rose tails to an unrelated betta with less ray branching like a delta tail. Once defected genes get into a line, specially the “rose affect”, it is very hard to clean out. Consequently it is wiser to cull literally every single betta from that line. Hopefully the defective genes won’t become fixed to your line.