question about a female

[batorideikou]

I just got a female and a male from the pet shop today, and he generally doesn't seem interested in her, he'll occasionally spot her and flare his gills at her, and she just kinda sits there. Additionally, I put a 1/2 styrofoam cup in for him to build a bubble nest, but as of yet he hasn't done anything but swim back and forth. Is it normal for him to occasionally show interest, not constantly? And is it normal for her to just sit there, not run away or attempt to swim toward him? I have a 2.5 gal tank with a divider down the center, so they each have exactly 1/2 the tank. Additionally, I didn't notice this until I read more FAQs on breeding, but she's supposed to have vertical stripes.... will the female's stripes change? Because when I got her home from the pet store I noticed she had already developed horizontal stripes. Does this make her null and void for breeding? Any help would be greatly appreciated
Thanks,
-Brad

[starlight]

>>I just got a female and a male from the pet shop today,<<

Brad...you can't just buy a pair of pet shop bettas and put them into a spawning tank the same day. The pair must be conditioned for breeding with rich food. Newly purchased bettas should be quarantined to see if any problems turn up.

Your pair is acting exactly as expected, disinterested male, horizontal fear stripes on female. In spite of what you may have read, breeding bettas is not easy. If you want to give it a try, separate the pair, condition them for a month.

I wouldn't use a 2.5 to spawn bettas, it's way too small and will lead to problems. I used 2.5G with poor results several years ago. Most breeders use a 10 gallon with 4-5 inches of water. Due to space limitations, I use a 5 gallon with 5 1/2 inches of water. I place the female in a chimney lantern, its much better than using a divider. There's lots of Java Moss for the female to hide in until she feels comfortable.

ps. keeping the pair together in a 2.5 and "conditioning" them there is not a good idea. They should be in separate containers. I have a pair that I'll be setting up over the weekend, they've been conditioned for more than a month.

[ACKislander]

Just to add to what Starlight said which I whole-heartedly agree with... There is a great deal of work that goes into spawning bettas. Their diet is a huge part of the process but pH monitoring is important as well as other water parameters, specified temperatures and of course understanding the genetics of your particular bettas and their natural behavior. Many pet-store bettas are considered "discards" from a breeders stock. Basically, the breeder found some problem with them that makes them not suitable for breeding. If you bought your bettas from a breeder specifically, it's a good idea to get their genetic information as well as information on their lineage. That said, I have no idea about your past experience with bettas but if it is limited I urge you to consider speaking to current breeders and reading books on proper spawning. You will also need to learn how to properly raise fry and also be able to find a home for them once they are old enough to move on. There are no shortage of bettas out there desperate for home and adding more to the population may be inadvisable. (If you know all this and are experienced at keeping bettas please don't take my comments negatively, it's hard to tell on the internet who has what kind of experience) Also remember, because of their aggressive nature, spawning can lead to serious injury and once it is over, they will need to be separated and possibly nursed back to health.

Anyway, you can enjoy male and female bettas together by putting them in a 5 gal or larger tank with a divider (preferably one they can't jump over) and planting live or silk plants near the divider. Bettas can become stressed when constantly forced to look at each other so it's nice to give them enough room to hide and provide for them caves and lots of plants. When they want, they can seek out the other betta near the divider screen. Otherwise they can stay to themselves. It's essential that no two fish are added to an aquarium at the same time. Because of disease and other problems, they will each need to be quarantined in their own heated tanks for 4 weeks prior to sharing a divided tank.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide to name them... And we love photos too.

[starlight]

>>You will also need to learn how to properly raise fry<<

I didn't even touch on fry care. (this is where most novices fail)

Plants are needed in the tank for infusoria which is their first food. After that microworm and vinegar eels are fed. If you feed too much microworms the fry tend to stay on the bottom where bacteria attack their ventral fins and you have ventral-less bettas. Btw. vents don't grow back. For the first 4-6 weeks I feed small amounts five times a day. Many people can't do this and lose the fry at this point. Next, live baby brine shrimp are fed and the bettas start to put on size. Feed the bbs incorectly and swim bladder problems appear. Now the bettas are ready to eat real food, tiny grindal worms are fed (chopped at first or they spit them out) for a few weeks. Next the larger white worms are fed. Now the 9 week old fry are ready to eat adult food, frozen bloodworms/mysis shrimp/brine shrimp are fed. I've had no success feeding fry any tiny pellet food including Hikari First Bites which is a slow-sinking powder. If it doesn't move young fry won't recognize it as food. Then you have to remove it before it degrades your water quality.

Oh and don't forget to feed your cultures! Neglect them and they dry up. Feed them too much and they develop mold. It's work just keeping the cultures alive! Vinegar eels are the easiest culture to maintain. Once you have the culture going it will survive with little attention. The problem is that they're low in nutrition, bettas seem to prefer the slightly larger microworms. With my last spawn I feed ve's for about two days, then the fry seemed bored with them. Lol.

(and I didn't even mention water changes!)