Betta Breeders Canada (henceforth mentioned as the BBC) is currently mainly a Betta forum for Canadian enthusiasts. We are in the process of some intense growth to help spread this awesome hobby throughout Canada though!

The group is made up of dozens of fans of Siamese Fighting Fish. We share tips on how to properly care for bettas, and how to deal with any unfortunate diseases that may arise. Also, numerous fun stories about our bettas are discussed!

The main goal of the BBC, however, is to help new breeders learn the art and science of breeding their Siamese fighting fish. Learning how to breed these feisty fish really does take some initial work and dedication. They are not like many other species (such as guppies) where you just put a male and female together and 30 days later you will have some babies (known as fry in the aquarium world).

Preparing for a betta spawn takes a few weeks of prep-work and careful planning, but the rewards are endless. Successful members are proud to show "spawn logs" with many pictures of betta fry as they grow up.

If you are interested in joining us, we welcome you to visit as at the Betta Breeders Canada community. We'd love to see you on the forum!

If you want to breed bettas, the first step is to do as much reading as you can. The process can be quite confusing for a beginner, but once you learn the process, it becomes easier with every spawn.

The first stage is picking the right bettas, but that will be discussed elsewhere on this page. Once you have your fish, you need to help get your bettas ready for the spawn. This is done by keeping the male and female Siamese fighting fish in separate containers but in full view of each other. They should be fed a variety of high quality food. You may want to alternate feedings of "Atison's Betta Pro" with live foods such as adult brine shrimp, white worms, and grindal worms. You can find these at your local pet shop or at BuyMicroworms.com. Try to change the water every two to three days to ensure the highest water quality possible.

You can spawn your fish by putting the male in a 5 gallon tank, filled up with 6" of water. In the tank, have a heater set to 80 or 81F as well as some plants for the female to hide in. In one corner, have half a styrofoam cup or an Indian Almond leaf to entice the male to build a bubble nest.

After the male has had a day on his own, put a chimney lamp (or the cylinder part of a 2L pop bottle) in the middle of the tank. Place your chosen female in this enclosure. This helps make the male and female interested in each other, but unable to spawn because of the barrier. When the male has a nest built, and the female starts showing vertical bars, the bettas are ready for spawning. The female may also start swimming with her head down at a 45 degree angle.

When all these signs are present, release the female and watch from a distance. The female might initially hide from the male betta, but she should eventually start to chase him and lead him to the nest. They will then start spawning by the male wrapping around the female, causing eggs to eject as he fertilizes him. The female betta becomes 'stunned' and slowly sink to the bottom of the tank. The male fish will gather the eggs up in his mouth and spit them into the bubbles, then wrap the female again. This process continues for several hours. When the female betta starts hiding again, the spawning process is complete and you should take the female fish out.

Leave the male betta alone and undisturbed for a few days. If you watch him too much, he may get annoyed and start to eat the eggs. Basically, the male betta will watch the nest diligently. Any eggs that fall out of the bubbles will get gathered up and spit back into the nest.

The betta eggs will hatch within 24 to 48 hours depending on the water temperature. The father will continue spitting them up into the bubbles until the betta fry (another word for young baby fish) are able to swim horizontally on their own. At this point, you should take the male betta out before he is enticed into eating the fry, since he hasn't eaten any food in up to a week by this point. Some advanced betta breeders will leave the male in as the babies grow up, but I suggest taking him out until you are more comfortable with betta breeding techniques.

And there you have it - a quick guide to breeding bettas. Why not join the Betta Breeders Canada forum by clicking here. We can answer any questions you may have. If you continue reading below, there is an overview of what foods you should feed your betta fry.

Over the years, I have heard and read about the debate regarding what foods are the best to feed to growing betta fry. Part of the reason for this unending debate is that none of the foods would be considered the ideal. Typically, there is some sort minor issue that can be found for any food you may consider feeding to your baby bettas.

The standard foods people think of feeding to their fry include egg yolk, infusoria, Atison's Betta Starter, vinegar eels, walter worms, microworms, baby brine shrimp (bbs), grindal worms, white worms, and Atison's Betta Pro. These are conveniently listed in a rough guide to when (in the overall life cycle) you should think about feeding the above foods to your bettas.

I will try to explain some of the pros and cons of each food, and end off with the tips I have developed as I learned to become a successful Canadian betta breeder (the foods may not all have explanations yet so please come back in a day or two to see if I have updated this section yet).

Some people start their betta fry diet off with egg yolk. Basically, one can hard-boil an egg, save the yolk, and dilute it with some dechlorinated water. Several times per day, TINY amounts of this yolk can be fed by medicine dropper to the betta fry. The benefit of this is that it is cheap, always available, and nutritious. Unfortunately, any uneaten egg yolk (and there will be plenty of this) will quickly foul up the water, so you will have to clean the tank a few times per day.

Atison's Betta Starter is a commercial finely powdered betta food for babies. It has everything the fry need at the early stages of their lives, all packaged up into a size that will fit into their mouthes. Unfortunately, it isn't readily available in Canada yet (this might change soon) and comes in very tiny containers. Some people report that their babies do not readily take to non-live foods.

Vinegar eels are ... (more to come soon)