Place your submersible heater into water. Remember, most heaters of this type have to be submerged for a while before turning on unit, at least twenty minutes. When you turn heater on set it to about 80-82 degrees. Also add a thermometer, plants, a rock to hide behind, and half a Styrofoam cup for male to build his nest under.

You’ll want to place chimney in center of tank for female. The chimney is a great place to let two fish get acquainted before actual spawning begins.

Place male in spawning tank a day ahead of female. Let him get acclimated to water. When he seems comfortable, it’s safe to add female to chimney. Leaving a light on will stimulate a hormone that will encourages spawning activity.

When you first release female she may hide from male. But, most likely they will swim toward one another and try to find right position by swimming in circles around one another. It may take them a couple of tries to get it just right. As male squeezes female she’ll probably release about thirty eggs. After she expels these eggs both fish may stop moving, and that is normal. Once they start moving again male will start blowing eggs up into bubble nest; most females help with this process, too. The spawning process can last many hours and they will continue this cycle until she has released all her eggs.

Once eggs have all been released female can be removed from tank. The male will continue to care for their bubble nest and eggs until they hatch in about 24-48 hours. Once fry are all free and swimming male must be removed or he may eat them.

Remember that you should be offering food to Betta’s throughout spawning process.

There! You’ve done it! You’ve just bred your first Betta fish! All of fry may not survive but as long as temperatures are kept just right you’ll end up with more than a handful for which to care.

5. The PH of your tank should be at exactly 7.0. You can get a PH testing kit at your pet store along with solutions to minimize or increase PH of your water.

6. When you clean plants, rocks, or decorations in bowl you should never use soap on them. It’s very hard to completely rinse all soap from these items and soap residue can harm or even kill your Betta. Instead, use warm water and an abrasive brush to clean his things.

7. Keep your Betta tank, jar, or bowl covered! Your Beta will jump and you don’t want him to end up flopping on tabletop! Keeping water level at least two inches from top of tank should also cut down on this problem.

8. Your Betta is a meat eater and likes live foods, such as brine shrimp best. Frozen bloodworms are also a good choice for your meat eater. Most Betta fish will happily eat Betta pellets sold at most pet stores. For a special treat every now and again you should offer some live food! You’ll have fun watching him eat it up!

9. Do not decorate your Betta bowl with rocks or marbles that may cause your Betta to get stuck between or under them. Be sure that they are a flat smooth surface that provides no risk to health of your fish.

10. Remember that your fish is a living, breathing responsibility. You need to feed, clean, and care for your Betta just like you would any other pet. If he’s sick take him to vet, if he’s hungry feed him, if his home is dirty, clean it.

That’s it! These ten tips for caring for your Betta fish will have you well on your way to keeping a healthy fish. Internet Betta Groups or library books can be a great source of information should you want to learn more about your finned friend!