I want to breed in the future

[mysquishy]

My hubby and I have talked about breeding bettas in the future. Not anytime soon it is just something we have discussed a little. I have a few questions. Could I use my 10 gallon as the spawn tank and then once the fry are free swimming and have grown a little would a 30 gallon be fine to put them in? Also what size of jars would be best for when they are older and have to be seperated??? Also when the fry have hatched do I need any plants in the tank or do I leave it pretty empty? What about filter use? SOme good information would be helpful so that someday if we decide to breed bettas we will be ready. I would like to do a lot of researching. Thanks so much. :)

[dramaqueen]

Here is a sticky to start you out. Lots of plants is a good idea to give the female and the fry a lace to hide. I think a 1 gallon would be ok to spawn in but the bigger the tank the easier it is to maintain water quality.I'm not sure what size jars you will need for the fry. Hopefully, DragonFish, MrVampire and some others will see this thread and give their imput. And, yes, do lots of research before attempting this.http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/b...-bettas-30005/

[Oldfishlady]

Spawning this species is so much fun...a bit of work and maybe a little money depending on what you have and the method you want to try and...success......

I have 2 methods that have worked well for me, there are lots of good methods too, but these have worked best for me.
Bare bottom and heavy planted both in a 10 gallon tank and I like to use a full tank of water, I keep my breeders well conditioned so I don't worry about them getting to tired with a full tank of water during spawning and after care.

I keep my breeders conditioned with my homemade food and lots of live food, one week before I plan to spawn I put the female in my guppy tank so she can eat all the guppy fry she wants and I will feed the male breeder guppy fry daily along with mosquito larva the week before spawn.
I found that good conditioning will get me healthier stronger eggs, then wiggles, then fry and I have very few fallers, once the eggs are in the nest they will rarely fall.
I found I get best hatch and healthy wigglers/fry in water temps of 80F, they will hatch within 24-28h, when I use higher temp the eggs tend to hatch too fast and the wigglers are a bit weaker.
I like the planted tank method the best and I also keep lots of ramshorn, pond and trumpet snail in the spawning tank and the reason I like this method is for the natural infursoria development a great first food once the fry are free swimming. With plants you also get all kinds of good micro-critters for fry food and good hiding/resting places for the fry
I feed the fry at different stages of growth and development-infusoria, daphina, seed shrimp, NHBBS, supplemented BBS, mosquito larva, white worms, I don't feed any dry or homemade food until they are moved into the grow-out tank at about 6-8 weeks.
I make daily 50% water changes on the fry tank once I start feeding or adding live foods, usually by day 2-3 of free swimming stage and this is when I remove the male unless I am doing a multi spawn
I remove the female right after spawn unless it is a multi spawn
I cover the top of the 10g tank with a plastic veggie wrap after I remove the male or at least by week two so that I can keep the air above the water warm and humid for the fry first breath at 3-4 weeks.
I move them to other tank as per their growth and development, you almost always will have some that out grow the others. The 30g tank you have will be perfect for grow out.
When I cup them I use pint size canning jars and make 100% daily water changes and feed the heck out of them to get healthy body and fin growth. Mine are near full size and fining out by 10-14 weeks...the runts a bit longer...lol......

[mysquishy]

Thanks!

Well, I was thinking about doing the 1/2 gallon jars for them when they are bigger. At the moment I am collecting some 1 gallon jars and I want to post wanted ads for more 1 gallon jars on freecycle and craigslist and see how many of those I can round up.