Story of a fish (01) - Fighters
Have you seen or heard about the fighter fish? I think most of you have seen, heard and may be you have fighters at your home. .
Fighter fish is an amazing sp. which is known by Betta sp. its' scientific name. This is a very famous ornamental fish which have a very good market in the local and foreign markets.
This fish is well known for its beautiful colours with an eye catching caudal fin ( tail ) with different shapes. As in most animals male is more attractive than the female in fighters.
What do you get to visualize when you heard the name fighters? For me, first I imagined two fish fighting and fish in my thoughts were not much beautiful. My imaginations were half true, half false cuz they are very beautiful in appearance but they really do fight each other so we couldn't put two of them in a one tank.
Once I got to learn about fighters I got a problem of how to breed them cuz we cannot keep both male and female in a one take. The techniques used to breed them according to their life style are somewhat different and very interesting. Their behaviors made me more interested in finding more about these fighters. I will tell you how to breed fighters if you are going to culture them for beauty on your home or for economic purposes.
These are egg laying species. First before we set up the tank we need to know it. First set the tank fill water and keep sometime and put the male fighter fish to it. For the tank there is no need of more plants or sand or pebbles. Just put an aquatic plant like Vallisneria with some stones. In order to breed we can’t add the female fighter fish to the tank itself because they are fighting to the death to mark their territory. To avoid that use a separate transparent beaker inside the tank to keep the female fish. Insert an aquatic plant to the beaker too.
When they used to see themselves, these male and female fighters start to show some mating behaviors. We must keep the female one in a transparent beaker because, to attract the female towards the male they want to see each other. Male fish will swim around the beaker with the female as a courtship behavior.
These fighters are building a special nest called a bubble nest to place their eggs. This is prepared by the male fish. When we breed them at home we should insert a rigid form piece or a polythene piece or something that can be used by the male fighter to make the bubble nest.
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When they are ready the male fish make the bubble nest under the substrate we provide. It is visible to our eyes and then we can put the female fish into the tank to be with the male fighter. At first you may see that the male is chasing the female. It will be seen like they are fighting. But they are not. During their breeding they are not fighting. But the male fish chase the female until it lay eggs. If it don’t lay eggs the male will surely fight with the female.
The female lays the eggs, but the most important things like parental care are taken to its hands by the male. This papa fish is going to look after the eggs and the babies when the eggs are laid. We should make sure not to disturb them during this period because if we disturb them they will surely eat the eggs. And also make sure to remove the female back to the beaker soon after it lay eggs cuz the mama fighter feeds on its own laid eggs. This is known as cannibalism.
The male fighter takes his responsibility to attach the eggs in the bubble nest which are fallen on the tank floor by holding them in their mouth. Eggs can be seen as small black dots inside the bubbles.
After the eggs hatched we should feed those hatchlings by using feed like egg yolk and also make sure to feed the parents during this period. It is said that these hatched little babies can only breath inside the bubble nest in first few days. So the male fish makes sure no hatchlings escape the bubble nest that time. After the babies are free to swim we can separate the babies from their parents and provide sufficient factors for their growth and survival.
This is how we can breed them at home. We breed them at our faculty in our aquarium it is very nice to observe their behavioral pattern. This seems quite hard, because of some circumstances at most times eggs are eaten or the babies were died. But if you try you can surely have some nice fighters on your own.
As looking at fish behavior relax your mind this will help with your health too. So try it..
I’m gonna stop here and I think you will be interested in culturing fish. Hoping to catch up with another amazing story of a fish with you again. Thank you..
I had a few male fighters when I was schooling. They are very beautiful, but when they fight they are ruthless. Thank you for sharing the breeding technique. It will be useful for the fish lovers.
Yeah .They really suit the name fighters .😅♥️
interesting article Akka❤️❤️hope to see another one soon.
Thankyou nngii