This little male errrrrr

I recently bought a show qualtiy male and a red cambodian female with the intent to breed. Now they have been together 4 times and only spawned once, the only spawning still resulted in no fry because the male ignored the tiny nest he had built. Now he won't even build a nest. Beauitful fish but terrible breeder.

Sorry for your boy's lack of romantic interests - but you've made me feel a little better about my similar lack of progress. I've decided that maybe my planted tanks are just too darned stimulating for my males to think about love - so I'm trying to get my oldest HM bored by removing him from the excitement for a while. I've also added some vitamins to his water and added more freeze dried carnivore snacks. Trying to 'up' his testosterone levels.

Maybe your boy is also too busy thinking about other things?

Both of you need to feed nothing but frozen bloodworms for the next few weeks to the male and the females to get them will conditioned. Put the female in a jar or some sort of container and place it right next to the males so he can see her for that time. Then try again in a few weeks. Bar bottom tank 2.5g or 5g at the most with the tank only filled to about 5" of water.

Trodai - I would like to see pictures of your male and female. Also who did you get them from?

I agree with Whisper. There's a period of conditioning to "fatten" them up and get them ready to do the dirty. Can't do the divine without the wine and dine, lol

I've been feeding all of my bettas freeze dried bloodworms for the last 4-6 weeks. They've also been picking on the shrimps' algae waifers and shrimp pellets. (They are all in different planted tanks with shrimps/snails/Oto algae eaters.
Last week I purchased some freeze dried brine shrimp to add to the variety. I've considered bringing home the brine shrimp communities my classes have been studying (research is now done) and giving a few of them a day to the pair I want to breed - I'm just afraid that it will trigger the predatory instincts and put any potential offspring at greater risk.

I rigged a large shallow tuppaware container to float in the window 10G (It takes up most of the surface area, 5" deep. Doesn't hurt my plants this way) and put my oldest male 'Copperman' in it on Thursday. He swam all around trying to get out so that he could continue patrolling his tank and playing with the amanos for the first day. Second day, he slowed down and began to study the bubblewrap square floating in his new quarters. This morning I notice a few areas of bubbles have been added underneath it. We'll see if he keeps building this week. Then I'll stick half-king female in a container in it.

The more I watch my males, who are all super-active and always exploring their planted tanks and their fellow inhabitants and never building nests - and compare them to store bettas who have nothing else to do but fill their little containers with bubbles - I'm hypothesizing that my males are just too distracted to bother with reproductive responsibilities.

Not freeze DRIED, LIVE FROZEN bloodworms. As you know they are carnivores and love that meaty taste not to mention how much better they are. Some people take the time to count out four or five of them to feed. I just take a large pinch of them and feed. Also the live shrimp would be excellent for them and will have no ill effects on them......Instead of the bubble wrap try a styrofoam cup cut lengthwise for him to build under. I have found that some males are picky about there nesting areas. I have even had some that don't want anything and will build just on the water surface but that is rare................Your right about the distractions. That is why we use just the bar bottom tanks with nothing else in it ( except of course the heater.) Have no bubblers going at this time.

I keep a large ball of Tubifex and a dozon or so shrimp in each bettas tank for grazing and they are all in healthy breeding condition. When I set up to breed I use bus tubs with a heater and some Najas grass in the corner for the female to hid in when they are done spawning. Other than that I only add about 3 inches of water and the male betta and the female in her glass jar. I have never had a problem with males needing a cup or anything else to build a nest under all of mine build on the water in the corner of the tub. I did give this male a few things to bulid under after the first failed attempt, he did as the others and chose to build in the corner away from everything else. My problem is when does actually build and spwan the female was the one to put the eggs in the nest and he just kept chasing her wanting more. He has the spawning part down theres no doubt but he doesn't seem to care about taking care of the nest at all. Once I removed the famale he just swam around looking for her and curling around the water trying to spawn with himself. I did finally find a crazy answer to the problem tho. I still have my first betta (a veiltail) that is amazing at careing for the nest and I used him as a nanny. I set up both males in different tubs with females (putting a very young female with the veiltail, as she would likly produce a much smaller batch of eggs) and my show pair together. Once my HM male was done spawning and the eggs were in the nest and the veiltail was done I would gently remove the HM nest and add it to the veiltails. I was nervous about this idea as my boss told me the veiltail would eat the HM eggs but as I watched him, he simply picked up the ones that fell and spit them in with his. he continued for about an hour moving the HM eggs into the center of his nest. I don't like doing this because the fry will likely be more prone to not care for the nest but it is the first time I've tried this I will just have to wait and see how they do when they are old enough to breed.