Hi!

I recently got a few bettas with which I would love to try to breed and the male escaped and is now hanging around with the females, I can't tell them apart yet, this is where you come in:)

Please excuse the deplorable condition of them as their tank has a wee ich infestation which I'm treating now, I would have waited till they were better but only had a decent camera today...

Also, though I understand that this may be difficult I would like your advice as to which female I should try to put to the male first?

Thanks!!!

no. 1

no. 2

no.3

no.4

no.5

I can't tell which is the male but I suspect its possibly photo no. 4. If you look at their undersides you should see a white spot between the ventral fins (the two fins that point downwards under their bodies beneath their gills). The white spot is the ovipositor (egg tube) and normally is only seen on females. However the odd male has a small white spot as well.

Looking at them, none of them are big enough or conditioned enough to attempt to breed from yet. How old are they? However when you do have an attempt at breeding choose the best looking female to put with the male. The females body needs to be slightly smaller than the males, about 75% of the size, especially for the first spawning attempt.

For the ich, if you have not done so already put the tank temp up to 28 degrees and add 1 gram of rock salt per litre of tank water to help get rid of it quicker. What other meds are you using?

Id say their way to small to worry about breeding them yet. I had 3 females a few months ago, turns out 2 were boys lol but all looked the same. they were fine till they got their fins fully grown then had to separate

Hey,

At one point or another I've been certain that I've seen an ovipositor on all of them:)

The guy who sold them to me said they were around 5 months, their fins were quite torn up when I got them...

I was away for the week last week and before I left they were looking gorgeous, a few of them were displaying vertical colour banding and they are fed on bloodworm's. A few of them are learning to leap out of the water to snatch their food.

I was caught unawares by the ich and have 'Wunder Methylene Blue' coming in the post, should arrive by Thurs and until then I've got the temp up to 28C, have added the salt and am doing daily 20% water changes.

Thanks for your help!

Sam

pm'd

Like Adrienne said, look for the egg spot. Also the barring is a good way to tell if the female is keen to breed :thup:

3 or 4 would be my picks of males. leaning towards 4 but im questioning whether 3 could end up being a male aswell

the only one I am absolutely certain on is that no. 2 is a female and she looks like she could be nice!

Males bar too...

I dont think 1,2,3 are males. 4 is your probably your best bet on being a male.

look for the fish with the longest ventral fins, this will be the male.

Males bar too...

They sure do. But usually its the females. They also submit to the male and kinda do a head stand. Just lets you know when the girls ready

It was more advice for after the genders are sorted out

Thats what I suspected, a little frustrating as no. 4 is the smallest...but also has the nicest colouration (when healthy:) ).

Cheers!

do they have ventral fins? can only see no.4

Their ventral fins are quite thin and small, it could be that they got damaged when their fins were...

It was more advice for after the genders are sorted out

:facepalm: Ah, so it was...my bad, I really should pay more attention :cofn:

:cofn:

Went out and got one of those at lunch, went from :yaw1: to :nilly: during my last period of class :lol:

What sort of set up are you planning to use to house males once you breed?

I'm not sure yet, I've been snooping around the forum and like the idea of a series of joined 'cups' in a communal tank...

I've been resorting to the :cofn: that we got for free at the beginning of the semester

Cheers