Chinese Fighting Fish

A Quick Guide to Breeding Chinese Fighting Fish

Chinese Fighting Fish are some of the most colorful and attractive aquarium fish you can find; these fish have red and blue coloring, and the males have long, fan like tails. These fish are also known as Betas, and Siamese fighting fish. When you see these fish in pet stores you will notice that they are usually kept alone, in small fishbowls, and they don’t seem to move around much.

The reason that Chinese Fighting Fish males are kept apart from other fish is because they are very aggressive and tend to nip at other fish. Although these fish are relatively easy to breed, it does take some preparation and planning in order to be successful.

To start with you will want to buy both a female and a male Beta; for best results they will have to be between 3 and 8 months old. When you get your fish home, place them in separate bowls and feed them high quality food. Keep a close watch on the female; when her stomach looks bloated she has eggs that she is getting ready to lay.

The next step in breeding Chinese Fighting Fish is to get a 10-gallon aquarium. This tank will need to be filled with about 5 or 6 inches of water, and a few live plants. The female needs live plants to hide in. During the spawning period you will need to keep the water at about 82F, but after spawning drop the temperature to no more than 78F. You will need to keep testing the water to ensure that it maintains a pH level of 7. This breed of fish does not like a lot of current in the water so you probably won’t want to use extremely powerful filters.

Once the tank is ready you can add the female; let her get accustomed to the water before putting in a separator to keep her safe from the male. Once she has been separated you can add the male to the tank. When he is ready to mate, it will be evident by the bubble nest. At that point you can then remove the separator from the female. The male and female will mate within two to three days.

When the female has laid her eggs and the male has fertilized them, it is best to remove her from the tank or she will try eating the eggs. In about two days you will see the eggs hatch into fry; these baby fish will remain in the male’s bubble nest for protection and so he can take care of them. Removing the female after she has laid her eggs is also important due to the fact that the male will be very protective and might damage the female to protect the eggs.

You will be able to remove the male from the tank when the fry begin to swim around; this is important because at this point the male could hurt the babies if he remains in the tank. At that time you can feed them baby brine shrimp, after about two weeks you can change their food to fresh brine shrimp. Don’t try and feed your Chinese Fighting Fish flake food, they do not like it and might not eat at all.

Breeding Chinese Fighting fish is really quite easy once you become familiar with these simple steps, but you have to be watchful to ensure that you are timing everything correctly. These fish are a real joy to keep and breed, plus they are really beautiful to look at.