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Breeding..

853 views 21 replies 6 participants last post by  MattsBettas 
#1 ·
I have a girl she isn't very big (about 1 1/2 inches), I want to breed her someday. But how big should she be to breed?

Here she is



I might not even breed her but if I do it would be to him..



I would actually love to hear what people who breed say about this pairing.. If I do breed it will be my first time.
 
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#2 ·
I dont really go on size, mainly whether she is full of eggs or not. I guess minimum 3.5 cm. At the moment she doesnt look very fat.

If you bred these two you will most likely get blue/red multicoloured vts. If the father is carrying the cambodian gene then you might also get some cambodians and light bodied fish :)
 
#3 ·
Okay also, after breeding the female can have torn fins and stuff. How would I treat them? Salt?
 
#5 ·
I wouldn't breed either of them. They are both vts with common colors. Of course, it is your choice, but you will get undesirable and hard to sell fry. Remember that it takes just as much time and effort to raise fish like that as it does show stoppers. And warm clean water is all that is needed for the female, one of my girls got really ripped up and two weeks later was compleatly healed.
 
#6 ·
I have my female by my males tank (not the one above) and he is dancing and flaring at her :p

Here is the male that is interested.
 
#8 ·
+1 Matt!
If you breed any of those fish you will end up with after all your hard work, undesirable fry that face it, are mutts.
I hold nothing against higher quality vt an responsible vt breeding but you are making yourself sound desperate and it appears to me as if you could have walked into any pectoral grabbed the first two fish you saw that were cheap and wanted to breed them, why? For a little extra money, that is not going to work unless you are breeding high quality bettas and showing and advertising you will not make a penny.

Also if you are just breeding for hobby then purchase high quality fish so you might enjoy the much prettier fish that make people go "wow" not mass bred vt.
If breeding for pet then you are no better than people who mass breed random vt for chain pet stores! Breeding for pet is fine if you once again do it responsibly

I am all for breeding if you do it properly and if you have any questions please feel free to ask :)
 
#11 ·
Well I have had Opal since he was a baby, and I have had him for a few months. I got Phyre and Ruby, a few days ago, not planning on breeding. But I was thinking it after I got them. I didn't even know that Ruby was a girl. Opal was a babyish betta labeled as "female veiltail" so I was a little skeptical that ruby was a girl. But people here have said she is a she.

And anyways, I just thought I would ask questions to experienced betta keepers/breeders.

Its not like I went into a store and bought random 2. I just got them because I like bettas.


If I did breed I would probably cull A LOT and keep the ones I didn't cull.. Sounds crazy, but that is what I would do. I would never be a successful(sp?) breeder of anything because I would want to keep them all :p
 
#12 ·
Honestly, if you plan to keep them then it is your decision to breed. While there are a lot of VTs, you very much could work on a nice line in VTs if you put in the time and effort. I hope you have a plan for all of the fry, though. If you're culling heavily you can use them as fertilizer or feed something else with them. (As an example, I will be giving all of the fry I plan to cull to a classmate who owns many reptiles who would LOVE fish to eat and the rest will be used as plant fertilizer). The reason most breeders are against VTs is mainly because 1.) Most chain pet stores over-sell these and mark them for other tail types for the extra buck, and 2.) IBC does not have a class for them. These two reasons make it hard to sell VTs, which is why everyone is telling you no on this. However, if you really want to cull heavily and keep them, then go for it. They are your fish and as long as you do all of the research ahead of time, then you should be fine.
 
#13 ·
Is it really worth hundreds+ dollars, hours a day of work to just keep a couple babies? You will want to grow them large enough to see what you are keeping.. can you also kill off a hundred+ young bettas?

Better to just go and buy a couple $3 fish than kill hundreds because you want a couple. It's A LOT of time and money to breed these fish successfully...
 
#15 ·
While I agree that heavy culling like that is not good at all, I have a hard time telling people that they can't do something if it is easily attainable. I guess I just need to grow a back bone for the good of fish...or whatever. :oops:
 
#16 ·
I don't think non breeders understand the whole process.. it's a lot of work, patience, time, money, etc for one successful spawn. To consider breeding just for a couple fish means this person has no idea what it involves. These aren't guppies that breed all the time and have babies every time you turn around.

It's not worth the lives of a few hundred fish, and a few hundred dollars for a couple fish that are very common/cheap. Save a life or two and buy at the store, not kill a couple hundred, imo.. BUT if you are serious about wanting to breed, have the money/time/space needed, etc.. then that is a different story. But just to make a couple babies.. not worth it.
 
#18 ·
If I do breed it will be my first time.
If I did breed I would
I might not even breed
I never said I would actually breed! I kept saying If I breed, but I probably wont.
I do realize it takes hours/weeks, and a lot of money to breed the couple and then raise all the fry. That is why I said IF. Because I am not sure I even want to.
 
#19 ·
1.) Most chain pet stores over-sell these and mark them for other tail types for the extra buck
I actually never notice that at like Petco, but they probably do. It wouldn't surprise me.
 
#20 ·
I understand you said IF, I was just saying it in case you decided to breed for just a few. Breeding can be a lot of fun, and I will encourage and help if you ever want to :) I have seen others say they want to breed just for a couple fish and in a way, that's fine.. some spawns I may keep one or two from, others I won't keep any. But selling them is the plan.. some spawns only 10 may survive culling, some more, etc.

There are no rules when it comes to breeding - just what the fish requires is the only thing one must follow when breeding. Breeding VTs isn't a bad thing - yes they are harder to find homes for (except the new ones coming out with dragonscales, etc).. but if you love them and don't mind keeping hundreds until you find a place to rehome them then that is your choice. If it were easier to find homes for VTs, I would be breeding them in a heartbeat as I love them. So it's understandable wanting to breed fish you love.. I wish I could breed my old VT pair - but blue VTs are too common and I don't want to end up killing so many babies just because I want to create them.

So, if this is something you wish to do, we will be glad to help - even if you are wanting to breed VTs. Can PM some breeders here, or I can point you to other places for advice, etc. Sometimes we feel so strong for these fish (because a lot of them don't get the care they deserve) that imagining someone killing so many babies for no reason other then they are not wanted is hard to imagine. We don't mean to be rude, and I apologize for that - but some of us who do breed see the babies, and raise them from tiny tiny dots, we already know how hard it is to cull, so we can't imagine killing for the sake of not wanting to care for them all.

I mean.. look at this little one :) It's 7 days old here in this picture.. I have at least a couple hundred in this spawn and just thinking of culling any kills me :(
 
#21 ·
That part of the reason I am not sure I want to breed, because its not like guppies, bettas have so many more fry. I would hate to kill a lot of them.

Does it being a females first time make her have less eggs? How many eggs do they even lay? I haven't really been able to find good info on that..


I also think Opal isn't a full veiltail, because I have a full veiltail. They look different....


But either way... What would happen if you bred a part crowntail to another part crowntail? ORa a crown tail to a part crowntail?
 
#22 ·
There's no such thing as a "part crowntail". Form your pictures, all of your fish are veiltails. And IMO you obviously have no concept of the time and money you need to invest when you breed these fish, or you wouldn't breed "just to get a few." Virgin females usually do have less eggs, and the number that they lay varies depending on the fish itself and how well you conditioned them. Do not kill hundreds of fish so that you can get a few for your own pleasure. Go to the store and rescue a few three doller fish.
 
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