Showing off for the Ladies

Image source: Click for Betta splendens FAQ by Dr. Barb

I floated a cup with a female betta inside of Draco's spawning tank and he went flare crazy. His fins are so beautiful! Not sure on what female I want for his partner. I have a red female but that's the obvious one and she isnt anything fancy (though she is beautiful) I have white females with heavy iridescent scales which I think might work well too for shiny betta. (I love them when they shimmer like the little jewels they are)

Leaning more toward trying for super shimmery betta.

And It Starts

Out of my new boy betta i just got, Draco (the red one) is already starting to build a bubble nest. I'm going to add him to the spawning tank and keep his "enemy" Steel (the silver one) next to the breeding tank. When I found these two they were in tanks next to each other with some mollies. Draco was chasing everything (I have never seen a betta show agression to other fish like that) and he was especially wanting to get at Steel. Steel doesnt really pay attention or flare back.

As for a female...i dont know which i want to add. Which ever is the shinest I guess. And which ever I am pretty sure has a short tail (don't really want veil tails but i'll be happy with whatever)

So Much Info

I've been doing lots of research on betta genetics (colors and finnage) for breeding purposes and it's getting confusing in some parts especially since not all sources agree 100% on certain things. Maybe i will just mix some fish that might make some spiffy babies. I'm not trying to make a living offa this...this is just my hobby...my addiction... : P

Two New Betta Boys

weird pics because neither of them have gold scales. the first one is white and the second one is silvery.

Breeding Betta

I am going to try and breed my betta again. I only ever got them to spawn once (haven't tried again since then) and that was years ago. The male didn't care for his eggs (sometimes a males first spawn doesn't go perfectly) I lost all those little potential babies.

I have been plotting some pairs. (the following images are not mine except for the white male betta and the steel gray male betta...just found images that look similar to what i have)
Black male plakat + blue female betta in hopes of getting black baby betta

White male plakat (my image) + one of my mostly white females in hopes of getting more white babies (LOVE the white bettas)

Steel blue/gray male plakat(my image) + blue female to pick up more on the steel blue color

and i would LOVE to find a female for my red dragon male i got the other day. just have to find any kind of dragon female and for some reason its been a bit difficult to find any females at all! Kind of sad cuz i love my little female betta.

I have all the things needed to breed my fishies...now i just need to set it up and pick my pair. initially i MAY just use any male whos willing to build a nest and they pick a female i think may look ok with his colors. but we'll see. i have 14 females and 15 males...i'm sure i can find a good pair with all those!

Real Quick

Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate have been at a steady zero for quite some time now. The fish look amazing! The water is crystal clear. This has got to be my best set up i have done yet :3

Two of the honey gourami are doing a little spinning mating dance so I may try to get those two to spawn if i can set up a little super planted spot for them.

UPDATE

Black Male Plakat
Sorry for not adding anything new in such a long time. I wasn't happy at all because I was losing fish. I'd have to say the reason why fish got sick was because of the chocolate gourami that i had tried to take care of. All my water parameters were solid and that was the only odd factor. So I lost my original pair of pearl gourami (picked up new ones because i love those fish) a female betta, and my wild betta.

So I wouldn't have to worry anymore about any diseases and to kill what may have been swimming around in there, we got a UV sterilizer and everything is looking GREAT.
I'm now working on a little tank that hangs into the bigger tank for breeding the betta, honey gourami, or killifish. Right now it's empty but I'm going to put in some live plants and do a sort of freshwater refugium.