You might try looking for a storage tub, like a rubbermaid tub.Something that would hold 10 or 20 gallons. You could put a filter and heater in one of those.You don't need to separate them immediately. When they start getting aggressive with each other, you put the males each in their own container and the females can stay together in the spawning tank.
You might try looking for a storage tub, like a rubbermaid tub.Something that would hold 10 or 20 gallons. You could put a filter and heater in one of those.You don't need to separate them immediately. When they start getting aggressive with each other, you put the males each in their own container and the females can stay together in the spawning tank.
Yah that sounds like a good plan. I plan on spawning them in a 10g, then if they get too big I can put them in a big rubbermaid, and if they start fighting I can just find containers as I need them. One question though, if I were to give/sell them to a petstore how would I get the fish to them? Do they have spares of those little containers or am I supposed to supply those?
-Is there any issues I'm not seeing about using the spawning tank as a permanent female sorority, like just ween out the other ones until there are 6-7 females left.
-I heard you should not have any substrate so the male doesnt lose any of the eggs in it, but you also need lots of plants for the female to hide. Well how do you anchor the plants without substrate?
-Does freeze dried food work for conditioning, I will be using other stuff too but I already some freezedried blood-worms.
-I think I already asked but, do you feed them the conditioning food EVERY day or is it still once a week type of thing.
I also need to build small caves, add fake plants, and maybe driftwood or terracotta pots, should I add these before I attempt to spawn or after I decide which females will be the permanent ones.
Alright, whats the best substrate for a spawn tank, if any. Id prefer to have none for cleaning/expense easyness but I cant see anchoring anything without it.
I think it needs to be bare bottomed because the eggs fall and the male picks them up off the bottom to put them back in the nest. Also, the babies need to be able to find their food. You might need to use large glass rocks or something like that to hold down the plants. I had a problem with mine floating to the top because they aren't secured to the bottom. Hmmm, I wonder if suction cups would work? I may have to try that! lol
Last edited by dramaqueen; 05-07-2009 at 09:00 PM.
It needs to be bare bottomed. Both for the male to catch the eggs, but for the fry as well - in the first couple weeks they will spend a lot of time laying on the bottom. The live food they will be eating should also not be able to get away from them (aka go hide in the rocks). You need a bare bottom for cleaning, so you can tell the difference between fry and poop and can keep the tank clean.
Java fern is one a plan on using for breeding, I've got it in several of my tanks now. It does not need to be anchored down. It will sink n down to the bottom on its own, and it isn't supposed to have it's roots buried anyhow. Water sprite, which floats on the top of the water, is also looking promising, and I'm considering trying some of that in the future too. I'm just worried the male might use it to build his bubble nest under instead of the cup! There's also Java moss, which sinks to the bottom, just lay it out in a few spots in the tank, it will give the fry some thing of a grass-like environment to sit in.
I've seen a lot of breeders use little terracotta pots for caves during the breeding, they seem to work for when either fish wants a cave to go hide. They are then removed after the breeding (around the same time the female is removed) to help keep the tank somewhat more clear for the sake of cleaning later.
Freeze-dried works for conditioning. And yes, conditioning is a high-protein diet. That means more than a day. Most breeders I've read up on tend to feed a mix of live, frozen and freeze-dried depending upon availability, along with a few pellets (in particular, Hikari), but over half the betta's intake during conditioning should be the freeze-dried/frozen/live stuff.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
