Planning to Breed

[turtle10]

Hey guys so I am thinking about breeding Bellino (my avatar). He is my marble HMDT from Aquabid seller Greatbettas. I got him the middle of January when he was about 4 months old. I would like to find a similar female (marble HM) to breed him to eventually, but that isn't the issue now :)

Before I even start to plan this, I was wondering if you guys could go over this checklist I made. Thanks!

I would prefer only experienced breeders to input advice.

Materials I have/will have:
-see through plastic tub (20 g)
-heater
-thermometer
-plastic beanie babies containers (LOTS)
-anacharis, java fern, hornwort
-see through jar for female (when in spawning tank)
-Indian almond leaves
-Plastic lid/styrofoam cup/bubble wrap for bubblenest
-small siphon
-large siphon
-filter
-air pump
-air line tubing thingy
-air stone

Foods for adults and fry:
-freeze dried brine shrimp
-New life spectrum betta pellets
-microworms
-vinegar eels
-freshly hatched baby brine shrimp (12 hrs apart?)
-infusoria will be in spawning tank
-frozen mosquito larvae

Let me know if I left something out!

This is how I plan to do it:

1-Condition adults for at least two weeks on freeze dried brine shrimp, frozen mosquito larvae, and live microworms plus their usual pellets.

2-Put male in plastic tub filled up about 5-6 inches in about 82-84*. Water is conditioned with Prime and will add water steeped with Indian Almond Leaves, and I will probably put part of a leaf in the tub.

3-Put male and female in separate jars in the tub. If they flirt and flare and everything looks pretty, um, romantic I guess I will let male out.

4-Check on male to see if he has made bubblenest. If he acts interested in her and she looks equally as interested, I will let female go in tub (but leave jar in their for protection).

5-Keep an eye on fish. Male should be working on bubblenest, female should come check it out every now and then. Male will be showing off colors and fins, but may be a bit aggressive.

6-If all goes well, female and male will try to embrace. Eggs might not fall the first embrace, but there will be more embraces. Less and less eggs will fall. When no eggs fall, the spawning is done.

7-Female removed and put into a quarantine tub until she heals and recooperates.

8-Male will maintain nest and care after eggs.

9- Eggs hatch in about two days. They first feed off their egg sack thing and then infusoria for 3-5 days, sometimes up to a week.

10-Remove male when fry are free swimming and put him in a quarantine where he can also heal and recooperate.

FEEDING FRY:

Days 1-5 - egg sack and infusoria
Days 5-12 - Microworms and Vinegar Eels
Days 12-30 - Microworms and BBS
Days 30+ - BBS, microworms, crushed betta pellets/flakes, freeze dried BBS,
frozen mosquito larvae, daphnia

Some questions:
-How many water changes and how much water do I change at a time?
-When can I start raising the water level higher?
-When culling, what do I look for besides obvious deformities?
-Where can I research betta genetics? Specifically marbles.

Those are all the questions that come to mind so far. Hopefully all goes well and I am able to produce some beautiful Summer fry!

[Oldfishlady]

Looks like you did your research...good job......

Good luck and I hope all goes well for you....I am excited for you too...first spawns are so much fun....do plan to be home so you can watch..Duh...lol.....

I have found that if I have my water temp too high-the eggs hatch too fast and I get weaker fry...I like to stay in the 80F area and I will get hatch in 24-28h with few fallers and the ones that do fall can usually get themselves back to the nest and I use the full to the top with water 10g NPT's.

The sign I see when the female is ready to spawn is that she will approach the nest in a head down position and the male swimming/leading in an "S" pattern

I know they are done when he runs her off and he won't let her return

Depending on how long the tank has been set up and how many and type of plants along with common snail-will determine how much infusoria or microorganism are in the tank for the fry to free range feed from....this can vary.....I found that their tummy will appear round and look like little black dots are in it...this tells me that they are feeding off the microorganism/infusoria.

Good luck and look forward to following your spawn.....

[coolcucumber]

Dont forget the jars for the spawn :) You'll need to jar all the males once they are sexable.

[MrVampire181]

Don't make a feeding schedule...Every spawn is different...not all will go with a schedule.

[Oldfishlady]

So true MrV...I have found the same thing....it is good to have a general idea or schedule of sorts...but I change mine up with just about every spawn...its never the same...lol.....from spawn to spawn and even day to day......but at least turtle has a good plan...kudos....

[dramaqueen]

Sounds good. Good luck with the spawn!

[MrVampire181]

I add water after I remove the male...I fill it up all the way. Keep in mind my spawning tanks are much smaller than yours will be (which BTW is a bit big IMO) and I fill it up all the way. I never use tanks over 10 gallons for spawning. You can fill it up slowly over the first few days. Maybe an inch every few days....drip the water down to reduce temp fluctuations.

[indjo]

20g tub .... nice!
Frequency and amount of wc depends on how your system works (plants, snails, filters, etc). To be on the safe side, do wc or at least siphon waste and refill when you start feeding food that will die if not eaten. Btw, I wouldn't rely on infusoria alone, I would add other food as well since they become free swimming.

Betta fry will survive even if you have your tub full. So you can add depth any time you want. As far as I know many US breeders add water instead of siphon out once you start feeding. They start siphoning when it's full.

Your tub is big enough to be a grow out. But IME it would be best scrub the tub every month or so. Keep in mind that I age my water for a month or so and is usually filled with all sorts of insect larva and snail wastes before I begin to breed and that I only use airstones without filters. I seldom succeed using new clean water thus don't know if scrubbing is needed .... Hope MrV or someone who uses new clean water would comment on this.

Culling depends on your goal. When creating a line, I sometimes cull the whole batch. But in general you only need to cull deformed fry. When selecting, not necessarily culling; you look for the best form and color that suits your goals - separate them from the others. You can cull, sell, or give away your "rejects".

Good luck.