How can you tell if your Betta's are good for breeding?

[Creat]

Green will mostly throw blues with that male ... but 14 seems a little big to me to much room for first timers for my taste. I would fill it and leave it to cycle with some media but dont put him in. You want to grow some yummies in it for the babies. I would condition the female for at least a week after you get her travel stress can weaken a fish... I talk from experience... give her time to get eggy again.

[prosthetik]

Well its only a second hand tank I got from a lady on FB. The closest thing around here was a 9 gallon for $76 whereas the one I got was $50. Theres not much choice where I live unfortunately & geting things sent here online costs a heap :(

& yeah I wanna get enough live plants in there to grow food for the Fry. I read somewhere on here about 10 mins ago that brine shrimp can be used too if they are chopped up finely? Also micro pellets? Again not much in the way of food here for Fry, just adults, trying not to buy online unless I really have to.

[indjo]

Pet store bettas nowadays are often "breeder's" rejects. And often, some quality specimens are included to meet quota. I have nothing against breeding them - I too often do. What's important is having a plan and or a goal.

Starting with deltas is not a problem - even when your goal is producing show bettas. Simply look for those (specially females) with rather pointy caudal edges and keep breeding the ones with the widest spread. You will produce great HM in no time. As stated above, the only problem with them is not knowing their actual genetic background. But then again even knowing their background is no guarantee to producing something certain.

Keeping bettas differs between hobbyist and breeder. The former can keep 10 2.5g tanks but breeders need to house hundreds thus most often uses tiny jars. The advantage of tiny jars is it reduces body growth, giving fins a chance to develop.

@prosthetic; Summer should be near in NSW. Can you get a hold of daphnia and live tubifex? Can you age at least 5g of water (with dried leaves and some aquatic plants) outside for about a month - while you wait/prepare other things, including the breeders. This should give you adequate live micro critters for fry's first few days. You can also add egg yolk if you can't get hold of other live foods. In a few days, fry should have doubled in size and you can start adding a cup of daphnia per day (or every other day - depending on their survival rate). Fry probably won't eat them, but hopefully they will reproduce and fry will eat the newly hatched. You should be able to introduce crushed pellets after a week or two. . . . forgot, place a thumb full of tubifex in the tank just before you breed. If parents eat them add more. Make sure there's something they can cling to - pebbles, plant - anything.

Btw, chopped shrimps may cause more harm than good. Even adults may not touch them. It might only foul the water. You can try them when fry are bigger, but not for newly hatched fry - make a dot with a pen. That's how big they are. You need particle sized food.

If you use the 14g, you won't need to do water changes in the first week, specially if you only fill to 1/3 or 1/4. You only need to add more water daily until it's full. By then, fry should be big enough to avoid soft/slow siphon.

Your guy seems to be a result from green x cambodian. So you should produce various green/turquoise if he is paired to a green.

[prosthetik]

Thanks! Im going to have a look into the daphnia thing, see what I can find. I;'ve been looking at ways to grow infusoria as well - not sure which would be the better option though.

[ravenwinds]

The 5g of aged water outside w/leaves that Injo suggests IS infusoria!
Daphnia would be for after first few days since you can only count on fry eating infusoria for first few days...after they double in size they are looking around for something a bit bigger :)

[prosthetik]

Yeah I went looking for baby brine shrimp today with no luck but Im going outta town on Saturday to check out other pet stores to see what they might have. No one here will order it in which kinda sucks :(

[Myates]

Originally Posted by ChoclateBetta

It's a bad idea to breed pet store bettas and you should not order more bettas than you have room for that is hoarding. The administrator said 2.5 gallon minimum.

Definitely have to disagree.. many winners from different shows have been spawns (different generations) from pet store breeders. It tends to be recommended for first time breeders, and it easily ends up creating wonderful looking fish. And as for the 2.5 gallon quote, that is an opinion for the most part, many people will disagree with that statement (me included) and wish it was removed as it gives people a reason to make others feel bad for using gallon size tanks.

Originally Posted by ChoclateBetta

Thialand Breeders breed for mass not quality.

Depends.. many American breeders are the same way. You are looking at businesses that do that, but the millions of ordinary people breed for quality there just as they do elsewhere in the world. My breeding female came from parents from there, and her parents were not mass bred. :)

Originally Posted by ChoclateBetta

Pet store Bettas are harder to get rid of it is like breeding Puppy mill dogs.

As mentioned before, personal opinion of yours.. when you breed your own fish, they are not pet store bettas anymore. There are some tail types (such as VT) that are not as popular when it comes to selling on sites such as Aquabid or Ebay, but are welcomed by pet stores. Your statement really doesn't make sense all that much to me, so I really can't respond.


You may have to order the BBS online, not a whole lot of stores carry them as they tend to be refrigerated. They can get costly though. I think for my first set up I have spent a total of around $600 give or take, if not more.. and that is to breed only one pair of bettas.

[prosthetik]

Originally Posted by Myates

You may have to order the BBS online, not a whole lot of stores carry them as they tend to be refrigerated. They can get costly though. I think for my first set up I have spent a total of around $600 give or take, if not more.. and that is to breed only one pair of bettas.

Yeah, I'll see how I go over the weekend finding some outta town.

Another question; its pretty much summer here & the temp in my tanks is usually around the 80-82 area even at night. Do I still need a heater for a more constant temp or is this fine?

[indjo]

Breeding can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it. During summer you won't need filters. Slight fluctuation should be fine - mine are out side and fluctuates slightly. I don't use any heaters.

If tanks are expensive, try using plastic tubs (I do). For jarring, I use 2 Ltr used drinking bottles - free. My highest expenses are for food, I can no longer gather them and buy instead.

[prosthetik]

Well I've already got the tanks, the containers for jarring mum has millions around the house & if I need anymore, large Chinese containers I can get from the local supermarket for like $2 for a pack of 6.

I just need the early Fry food, a light source & the sponge filter.

At least I wont need a heater which is nice. The room I'll be breeding in gets all the afternoon sun so it gets pretty warm in there.