I have often admired the simplicity and beauty of Betta splendens, sometimes called The Siamese
Fighting Fish. In fact, it was the first fish that drew me to the hobby at around the age of 10. Although I didn’t even have an aquarium of my own at the time, I was intrigued by a relative’s small tank that
housed one of these ubiquitous Siamese Fighting Fishes.
Fast forward to adulthood, when after years of keeping a single display tank, the desire for more began: the dreaded MTS, or multiple tank syndrome. Along with this came an interest in breeding. Being fascinated by various Anabantiformes for years, it was logical to get my feet wet in the breeding game with the common Betta. After much research and flipping through many photos I began to admire the Combtail Betta, a fin variety in between the standard veiltail and crowntail. Not seeing this variety sold in our local fish stores very often I decided to work on developing my own combtail.
I selected a male Crowntail Betta with brilliant blue coloration, although a little raggety in the fins it was a robust and healthy male. The female selected was a deep red veiltail. Both fish were kept in their own 5 gallon tanks, situated next to each other. I placed a piece of cardboard between the tanks most of the time to reduce the stress on the male from constantly flaring and presenting to the female. Both tanks were kept at a steady 78 degrees, with sponge filters and hornwort floating in the tank.
The couple was given several minutes each day without the cardboard divider, so they could see each
other, and the male was given a floating plastic disc as a surface in which to build a bubble nest (the
bottom cut out of a plastic cup). I would later discover that this wasn’t the best medium for bubble
nesting and eventually switched to a large piece of flat styrofoam, which proved much better at holding the bubbles in place. The styrofoam also has the appearance of bubbles before the nest is built, which in my opinion encourages the male betta to build a nest.
After just a couple days of having the plastic disc, the male built a rather unimpressive nest, but a nest
nonetheless. I decided to introduce the female for a short time and quickly moved it to the male’s tank. After much displaying by the male, and some chasing about the tank, they both ended up under the bubble nest and began several embraces, which to a novice breeder of any species, was a remarkable thing to watch. In the video you will see the male wrap around the female for a few seconds, fertilizing the eggs. This is followed by the female entering into a trance and slowly sinking to the bottom of the tank, motionless, while releasing eggs. This video clip shows the embrace, however this specific attempt didn’t produce any eggs. They did not appreciate me so close to the tank so I moved back and watched from afar, witnessing several other attempts that were successful in producing eggs. As the eggs were released, the male would carefully pick them out of the water column as they sank and spit them into the bubble nest.
After much time had gone by, the female was left cowering in the corner of the tank, while the male
tended to it’s collection of just a couple dozen eggs. This was a good time to carefully move the female back to its own tank to recover. I also noticed that the sponge filter in the male’s tank was disrupting the bubble nest, so using an airline valve I turned the airflow down as slow as I could make it.
I placed a dim nightlight by the male’s tank for the next few days, as I had learned that a small amount of light is needed throughout the night, while the main lights are off, so that the male can see and return any eggs that fall out of the nest. After a couple days the male was tending to a small group of around 20 fry that hung in the nest, tail down. Periodically they would fall a bit and then swim back up into the nest. On occasion one would struggle to return, so the father would bring them back up. A couple days later most of the fry were swimming horizontally and feeding on microworms. At this point I removed the father to another tank as I understood that there was a chance of it predating on the fry.
As the fry grew some were lost but others thrived. I was left with a meager 12 healthy fry. Now, only
time will tell as to how the parent’s genetics would affect their offspring. As the young developed, most held a red colored base with blue fins, and as I had hoped, exhibited great combtails. After 5 months I now had some great individuals, one of my favorite is female, that I’ve included a photo of. Being a female, I am hopeful that it will not show much aggression and can be kept with other species, but the color of this fish is what really stands out. Notice the alternating red and blue caudal fin. What makes it even more spectacular is where the “comb bristles” protrude from the red base but are a contrasting blue. I look forward to seeing how the juveniles continue to develop.
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