Aquatic Fish Fanatics - Zamboanga City: November 2020

I have always been fascinated by the Siamese Fighting Fish, or Betta Fish, as now commonly known in the local fish keeping community, ever since I was in elementary and high school. I always wanted to breed them back then, but, unfortunately, only 1 or 2 fry would survive, and would eventually die around the 3rd month. That's when I decided to totally quit caring for bettas.

However, not until recently, during the uprising of this dreaded coronavirus pandemic, I was once again inspired to care for, and once again, try to breed these fascinating fresh water fish.

Back then, it was very hard to find resources on how to breed, there was no internet yet. I had to depend to stories from the fish-keepers who were successful in breeding them. It was pretty hard to keep up with their advise, as each of them would have a different approach. But, there were a few things which were common;

1) always select the right pair before breeding - this is by placing the pair in their respective bottles, let them see each other for a few days (2 to 3 would be good), and when the male has produced lots of bubbles in his bottle, it is then ready for mating.

2) place the pair in a separate container (hatchery) with a floating plant, or "talisay" leaf (indian almond leaf)- a 1 gallon ice cream container will work. I used a transparent food container, about 8"x3"x12" dimension. Make sure to use only about 2 inches deep of water. In my experience, the fry would sometimes have difficulty swimming in deep water, and drown. leave the pair overnight, or two. once you see the lots of white spots on the bubbles, you can separate the female.

3) leave the male with the eggs/fry until they become free-swimmers - the male betta is very protective of their fry. they will pickup eggs, and fry when they fall to the bottom of the container, or when they swim away from the bubbles. it's fun to see them being responsible parents to their fry. when the fry turn 6-days old, or when you can see them swimming freely, you can now separate the male in his own bottle container.

4) feeding the fry - it would be very advisable to feed your fry some baby brine shrimp (bbs). atleast 2 to 3 times daily. you may also feed them daphnia if is available in your area, but I would suggest you filter the daphnia so that only the smallest ones get fed to the fry, or else, the big daphnia will end up eating your fry! You may want to check out my blog about BBS hatching.

I used to feed boiled eggs (the yellow part) to my fry before. But, it makes the water very cloudy, and could sometimes pollute and kill your fry.

5) transfer your fry to a bigger container for grow-out - once your fry turns about a month old, it would be a good idea to transfer them to a larger space. This will give them enough space to swim around, and search for other food sources such as algae on plants. Yes, it is very important to have plants in your grow-out tank! This will keep the water cool, and provide shade for your betta. And this will also serve as hiding spots for the smaller bettas. It is normal for the larger fry to bully on the little ones. No need to worry when they chase each other in the tank. Continue feeding them live food (BBS or daphnia), and then slowly introduce them to pellet food. Your main concern now is to let them grow and survive!

6) At around 2 to 3 months, you can start jarring your bettas individually. Some might be bigger than the others, but once they reach about an inch long, it would be advisable to separate them in jars or bottles. This will ensure the growth of their fins and tails. Once you reach this stage, you've done it! All you have to worry now are customers! Or, you could keep the betta for yourself if you love how the colors developed.

My oldest fry (1st pandemic batch), only had 1 survivor. I thought it didn't survive, 'cause me and my family had to move to a different house for a few weeks. Luckily, it survived! But that didn't stop me from trying again. The 2nd batch actually all died, due to my negligence! I forgot to cover the hatchery when the sun was pointing directly on it. Luckily, the male betta (the father - half-moon red flare tail with green scales) didn't die from the extreme heat. Well, they always say "The 3rd one's the charm!", and it was! My 3rd batch spawned more than 100 fry, about 60 survived, 20 are now jarred, the rest are still in the grow-out tank together with the 4th batch, which spawned about the same amount (different father - hmpk - candy koi, same mother though - green scale half moon betta)! Like I said, they don't all grow at the same rate. Some of my 4th batch fry are actually bigger than some of the 3rd batch ones! But I am very glad, and thankful!

Here are some pictures and videos...