Why are bettas so hard to keep alive, much less breed?

[Goofball]

While I was living in my parents home, I got into bettas. My mom had been able to keep a storebought veil tail alive for so long so I figured surely I could keep the quality-bred ones alive too. I ordered some and when my mom saw how that there were more tail varieties than just veils, she ordered a bunch too. Everything seemed to be going good. Then we got the idea to try breeding. We did everything you're supposed to do, getting a big tank (20 gallon), a plant for the female to hide, half a styro cup (also tried bubblewrap) to shelter a bubblenest, the right heat for breeding and the right pH. Those fish would not breed. None of the prespective fathers would build a nest, and I never really noticed any of the prespective mothers getting the breeding stripes. I tried with the female in the glass lantern and I also tried without the glass lantern. There was one point where we had a possible spawn (we saw on the bottom what we thought might be eggs, but we weren't sure), and one by one they disappeared, so maybe the fish spawned and then ate the eggs?

No success with breeding, but then one by one all the bettas died. We had around 25 bettas and just couldn't keep them alive.

We fed them betta bites, freeze dried bloodworms, and some freeze dried daphnea.

What happened?

[Millimi]

Maybe it was something in the water? Maybe your town put some chemicals in the water that changed and killed the bettas?

[lixx]

I dunno, but try Betta talk, They have many more answers there. I don't think anyone here breeds them. (Could be wrong...)

[Goofball]

Actually it was well water. No city chemicals.

[Amethystbelle]

Did you use dechlorinator in your water? As could be chemicals in your water that you don't know about as even the purest water should be treated as if they all died in a short space of time sounds to me like the water could be the source of the problem!

Bettas are hard to breed and its a risky business and conditons have to be perfect!

[Goofball]

Well it could I suppose be the water (no we didn't use dechlorinator, although we let the water age for 24 hours before any water change), I have actually had a similar hypothesis:

We're in Michigan, and none of the bettas we got (except for the storebought veil tail) were originally from Michigan. I wondered if maybe it had to do with the water in general that we have in Michigan that maybe the VT from the store was used to it having always been in Michigan? Because the VT was the last betta to die and we had had him for like 2-3 years so he was an old betta anyway.

[GeorgetteDragon]

Don't feel bad about breeding bettas- for the newcomer or even intermediate fish hobbyist, it's next to impossible. Betta's live for 8 years in the wild, and between 2-4 in captivity. Your betta could have died of old age, or your betta's could have been stressed to the point of causing prolonged sickness. Breeding bettas is very stressful to both fish and breeder. Also, using plastic plants in your breeding setup is the worst- plastic plants are too abrasive, and can scratch the slime coat off of the fish, and can cause abrasions on the fish, leading to a host of problems. Sorry about unsuccessful breeding. It's not you.

[Goofball]

Actually if I recall I think we got real plants for them.

I'm not sure if I'm ever going to try again. I might, but not for a while. And it seems like I've heard that the breeding is the easiest part (easiest not meaning easy). I guess the hard part comes in keeping the fry alive.

[Amethystbelle]

Yes, that is another very good factor as you don't know the age of the fish you are buying unless they are babies when you acquire them! I think it will be down to water quality although bettas are normally very hardy fish, if you was to try it again i think you would be best of getting dechlorinator as it removes all nasties out of water and makes ita perfect environment for your fish