# need help with inexperienced halfmoon



## sharkettelaw (Aug 30, 2011)

so ive got a female thats ready to breed already in the tank and the male. he is about 6 months old and inexperienced quite clearly. he blows the bubbles but he wont build the nest. not even when he sees the female. what can i do to encourage him to build a nest?


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## tbub1221 (Nov 1, 2012)

If he was ready (sexually mature and wanting to breed) he would build a nest and would not waste time with the female , if he is not responding to her well then just give it time , possibly just hes not ready. i have a male im looking to breed eventually but not for a wile yet my guy is over 6 months and is not yet completely sexually mature i dont think .
good luck with it.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

Often with bubble nest builders you place the pair in seperate tanks next to each other.It allows both to see each other and "condition".The male will build nest when he is ready and the female will develope eggs.Once this occurs move female in his tank ,monitor carefully(males can be very tough killing females),and remove female as soon as the eggs are dropped.The male cares for eggs and fry.Very cool to watch him squeeze the eggs out of her and place them all in nest.


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## chipmunk1210 (Jul 3, 2012)

With bettas--they are sexually mature normally around 4-5 months. Some males never do get the hang of true bubblenest building and there have been people with males that just keep the eggs afloat with a few well placed bubbles. You can always add a film canister (35mm photo film canister), half of a styrophoam cup, or an indian almond leaf to help him build his nest and hold it together.

Now with that being said--bettas should be conditioned with live/frozen/high quality foods twice a day for 2 weeks. Then putting the female in a clear container in the male's tank for a day or so to see if both are ready is the next step. The female should show breeding bars, a bellyful of eggs, and "dance" for the male when he comes near. The male should show a big interest in the female, showing off and flaring for her, and building a bubblenest. If these signs are present--the female can be released into the male's tank. BE AWARE: both sexes are aggressive so it is vitally important that you watch them carefully to make sure they are not hurting each other. Some fin nipping and chasing are normal but if it gets too extreme with one of them actively hiding from the other then one of them will need to be removed. There is just as much instance of females killing males as there is of males killing females so be aware it could be either one being the aggressor. If the spawn is successful--the female will need to be removed once they are done spawning. The male can be left in the tank with the nest/eggs until the fry are swimming around by themselves(normally day 3).

There are instances of bettas just refusing to spawn. Sometimes they just don't like each other--which switching up the male or the female might end up in a spawn. Othertimes they may just not be breeding material because of not wanting to spawn. There really isn't anything you can do at that point with that particular betta as far as breeding goes.


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## Jimmylason (Apr 18, 2013)

Hi, my issue is a bit different. I'm trying to breed my giant bettas. The male has built a large bubble nest and the female has shown all the indications ready to spawn, vertical bars on the body, head down, always go under the nest, etc. The problem was that the male was still busy flaring at the female here and there instead of wrapping the female. What should I do to make the male wrap the female?


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

I used a Tupperware lid for the male to build his nest under when I bred my paradise fish. That was really neat to watch.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Jimmylason said:


> Hi, my issue is a bit different. I'm trying to breed my giant bettas. The male has built a large bubble nest and the female has shown all the indications ready to spawn, vertical bars on the body, head down, always go under the nest, etc. The problem was that the male was still busy flaring at the female here and there instead of wrapping the female. What should I do to make the male wrap the female?


Time. How long have they been together? Did you condition them well?


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## Jimmylason (Apr 18, 2013)

Hi majerah, tqvm for replying and sorry to the OP for hijacking his/her thread.

The giants have been dating through a chimney glass for 3+ days before I released her when I noticed a large thick bubble nest. He was flaring and dancing a bit although the 'S' shaped dancing was not pronounced all the time. But, I wasn't actually sure whether 3+ days was enough to get them acquainted with each other before the action could take place. The hints I used, as I said the bubble nest, a bit of dancing and flaring indicating interest and vertical bars on the female body.

That was not the first time I tried to breed the giants, before this I tried switching the female (I have 2 couples) when the wrapping didn't occur after 4 or 5 days. I'm just puzzled why the males didn't even make an attempt to wrap the female when she already submitted right under the bubble nest. Have you faced this issue before? Ever successful to 'help' the male wrap her? i know many say about let the nature take its course, but I mean is there anyway anything that I can help the poor guy if ever he is just naive and inexperienced? FYI, my males were about 4 to 5 months old.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

The best thing to d is to condition the pr to each other over the course of a couple weeks, feeding very high quality foods. You should keep them in different containers but beside each other, allowing them to see each other only a few times a day, for only about ten to fifteen minutes at a time. Placing a card between their tanks helps this. Then place them in the spawning tank. It should take them no more than three days to spawn. 

What is the spawn tank setup like?


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## Jimmylason (Apr 18, 2013)

the tank was 2 feet by 3 feet. water was about 5 inches, mixed with a bit of aquarium salt. temp maintained between 78 to 82 max. one small real plant. i put a container cap 4 inches by 4 inches for the bubble nest and a chimney glass. the couples were conditioned with mixed diet between frozen worms and atkinsons betta pro pellets for 2+ weeks before allowed for dating.

well, I guess I just dont have luck in breeding giants.long time ago I bred longfinned bettas several times, nothing like giants at least my giants. Once I was already tempted to switch the giant male to my longfinned male, but that wouldnt solve the problem because I would end up with hybrid, if ever the fry come up normal. 

I will take your advice to introduce the couple in separate tanks once a while for a week or two before putting them together. I'm still figuring out whether it's possible to 'entice' / 'help' / 'induce' the giant male to wrap, I dont know yet but hope I would


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

The only thing that will entice the male is nature, himself and the female. He may not know what to do with her just yet, and she may not be giving the go ahead that he wants. Some males will wait for the female to nudge them on the side to get things going. 

Another thing. Look into live foods such as grindal worms. My bettas love them and they are super healthy. A user here, Auban and Akinaura both, have some they may be able to sell a starter of. If you are in the states look them up here and send a message via PM.


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## Jimmylason (Apr 18, 2013)

This morning I was about to clean up the male tank I noticed some eggs laying on the tank floor right under the plant. It's about 2 inches by 2 inches. So I aborted cleaning. But what should I do with the eggs? Should I leave them for a few days in case they hatch? How long should I wait, 3 days? The thing is that I'm not sure whether the eggs were fertilized by the male. The male has been removed to another tank.


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## majerah1 (Oct 29, 2010)

Thats a hard one. Usually you would need the male to care for them, but if you feel confident you can do an artificial hatching. Gently remove the eggs into a shallow container, keeping the tank water with them. Float the container in the fry tank, and ever few hours go check on them. You will notice eyes and the eggs themselves should look more clear than white. If they start to get fuzzy remove the fuzzy ones. With a little luck you should be able to hatch out a few.


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