Here are some short excerpts of the mating rituals of the three pairs of bettas aka Siamese fighting fish that I'm experimenting with.

Pair 1
Male was placed into breeding tank last Thursday, and the female was released into the plastic separating container last Saturday. The male was immediately interested, and started encircling the tank, and trying to poke at the female. The female seemed interested too, as she kept flaring at the male. Just yesterday, the female was released into the tank. The male reacted almost immediately, chasing the female round and round. Then he slowed down, and try to chase/coax her to the breeding nest. She seemed traumatised, and was perpetually trying to flee from his attempts, and hide under the moss. He will then squirm underneath the moss and chase her upwards. Their behaviour seemed to resemble some male/female human behaviour where the male is extremely excited and is saying, "Let's just get on with it!" whilst the female is saying, "No! I barely know you!"

Anyway, I went into the lab today and was rewarded with the sight of the two of them spawning. The female was docilely stationary beneath the nest, whilst the male wraps his fins around her and squeezes out the eggs and fertilises them, then picking up the eggs in his mouth, gulping air, and spitting the eggs into the bubble nest. The process kept repeating, with the female helping the male pick up eggs occassionally, until the female was depleted of eggs. Then the male tried to kill her, and I decided it was time to remove her.

It'd be two days before I know if the spawn is successful. Hopefully it is then I'll see baby bettas. Any takers?

Updates on pair 2 and 3 to follow...