Okay, you love your bettas and everyone that sees your bettas' bowls always praise you on your fish.
Now, you are ready to raise these fish on your own, or at least you believe you are ready.
Breeding bettas as well as breeding, any type of fish is going to take time and can be quite expensive.
The very first thing you must remember is that male bettas cannot be put in with other bettas except during spawning.
You will need a jar for every male betta to keep them safe from other male bettas.
Caring for the baby bettas known as fry, are not as easy as you think.
Be sure before you start this endeavor make sure you are ready for the challenge and you have enough room for all the babies.
You will need at least fifty betta bowls for the males and plenty of time on your hands.
The breeding tank is very important.
The size really does matter and you do not want one that may be too small or too large.
The best size in most cases is a ten-gallon aquarium.
You do not want a fancy tank with a sunken ship, plants, and gravel.
Once the female betta lays her eggs all these pretty decorations will be the biggest hassle of them all.
You will need to have something in the tank for the female to hide from the male and the male a place for his bubble nest.
Large leafed plants are recommended.
The water level should be no more than six inches deep and the temperature needs to be eighty degrees Fahrenheit.
The breeding tank should stay like this until the babies are swimming.
Most bettas do not need any type of filtration system, however, when you are talking about breeding bettas you must realize that you will end up with around 200 babies swimming in the breeding tank.
The filter has to be one that will not clean out the tiny babies as if they were debris, so instead of jumping out there and paying a large sum of money on a huge filtration system, use the box filter type that is powered by an air pump and can be placed out of the way in a corner of the tank.
You should find a male and female that are on the active side, no older than 18 months, and no younger than 7 months.
For your first try, do not try anything fancy.
Just choose a breeding pair and worry about the exotic colors later.
Start with the male in the tank alone and the female close by in a betta bowl alone.
This way the male will see her and begin building his nest.
Both fish will need to be fed live food.
Once you notice vertical lines on the female and she looks a bit heavier, it is time to place her with the male.
Remember, bettas are aggressive fish and there will be a few nips here and there before spawning begins.
After spawning, the male will extract the eggs from the female by wrapping himself around her.
This will happen more than once during the spawning stage.
You will know when the spawning is complete as the male will chase the female away from his bubble nest.
Within 36 hours, the fry will start hatching.
Once the fry have hatched, wait 24 hours before feeding.
They will need to eat at least 4 times per day.