What does it mean to “condition your betta fish?”
When breeders refer to conditioning their bettas they are referring to the period of time (usually 2 weeks) where they provide the best possible diet and housing conditions for their fish in an effort to prepare them for breeding. The diet is altered to encourage the females to produce eggs and for the males to store energy so they can sustain themselves through the rearing of fry.
For the most successful breeding to occur it is important to condition your bettas prior to introducing them to the same tank. The spawning process between betta fish can be violent and it is not uncommon for one or both fish to sustain injury. Conditioning your bettas with clean water and high protein foods will help them gain strength that will sustain them through the spawn and afterward when the male is focused on caring for the eggs and the female is focused on healing any wounds she may have suffered.
During the conditioning period check your water parameters daily.
- Keep the temperature at a comfortable 78 F. [25.5 C.] degrees approximately.
- Increase your water changes to 2x – 3x per week.
- Remove any excess food or debris from their tanks.
- Monitor you pH and KH levels to insure they are stable.
- Add Indian Almond Leaves to the aquarium if you desire.
Focus on a nutritious diet.
- Increase the number of feedings per day to 2 or 3 but keep portions small to avoid constipation or bloating.
- Introduce a variety of high protein foods. Variety is important to insure a balanced diet.
- Live and frozen foods are the choice of most breeders during conditioning. I suggest foods similar to what bettas eat in the wild including worms, small crustaceans and insect larvae. Some good food choices are:
- Frozen or live brine shrimp or brine shrimp in gel
- Frozen or live daphnia
- Frozen glass worms
- Frozen tubifex worms (live tubifex often carry parasites or bacteria and is better avoided)
- Frozen mysis shrimp
- Live white worms
- Live grindal worms
- Live flightless or wingless fruit flies
- Live black worms
- Though not part of a betta’s natural diet, some breeders like to add frozen beefheart to their bettas meals during conditioning. This can be found in the freezer section of many local fish stores.
- When keeping live foods take care to clean and store them properly to reduce the risk of passing pathogens onto your bettas.
Near or at the end of your conditioning period, place your betta fish near each other where they can see each other. This will often stimulate their urge for reproduction. Look for signs they are ready to spawn. The male may begin building a bubble nest. The female will show her breeding stripes (vertical striping along her sides) and may begin to swell with eggs. These are all good signs that your fish are ready to spawn.
Photo by Daniella Vereeken
View Comments (30)
My female betta has eggs and is making a bubblenest, however it looked like she just blew bubbles out of her ovipositor? She’s right next to a male, is that normal? I’ve never seen that before. I’m worried and confused :( please answer.
are you 100% sure it’s a female? There are males with short fins.
As far as I know only males make nests
I know it’s a very old post. I’m still posting reply assuming the information will be helpful for someone with same doubt.
First of all, don’t worry. Your girl is totally safe. It happened with my cute lill girl betta, I’ve spawned her after conditioning for 10 days, I’ve had the healthy fry.
What happened with your girl betta is quite common, when they are ready to spawn and excited/encouraged looking at male bettas, but were not spawned, girl bettas drop off the eggs. It’s not at all a problem dropping eggs. Feed her with good food and give her fresh water, condition her by letting her flare at male for some time a everyday, an hour or so. She’ll be ready in one week to 10 days for a spawn.
Note: As soon as she drops eggs, she’ll start eating them. Make sure to remove uneaten eggs before try to eat them all and her belly bursts.
Cheers,
Krishna
thanks for writing this! i really had No clue what it meant! LOL, thanks again!
if the first breeding didnt go good how many days before i can do it again
At least two weeks
My female Betta has been acting under the weather. She has been laying on the bottum of the tank. She is not dead and won’t eat a lot.please answer fast.. this is an emergency
You may just need to clean the tank or add some
Salt. Is the temperature right? Do you have confitioner in the water? How much do you feed her everyday? This all can effect how she feels.
What is a bubble nest? Is it dangerous to pitt the female and male together?
A bubble nest is just that…a nest of bubbles for the eggs to hatch in.
how long does the breeding take?
An hour or so
help me! my female beta, a delta, has started making nest bubbles! is it a male?
hey
i have a female and a male, the female is tiny! how big do they have to be to breed?
My female is in a clear jar in a 10 gallon tank with the male and they have been like that for about 1 day now, he keeps flaring up at her but he is not making a bubble nest, I have no clue what is wrong or what to do …. someone please help!!!
Same problem With me!!!