Before breeding questions....

[baylee767]

Okay, here's the place where I ask all of my breeding questions. I haven't bred Bettas before, so I'm calling it before breeding questions.

First. How much will this cost? I'm not looking to make a profit. I wont ship out because I want my Bettas to be completely healthy, and setting up all the transhippers and shipping costs seems too complicated (Plus I'm not a super breeder or anything... some spawns, but not a bunch) I already have a 20 gallon tub I can use for a growout. I plan on putting up craigslist adds before the Bettas even breed in advance so I know people want them. If there is some sort of Betta breeder organization anyone knows about in Oahu, someone tell me! So basically, minus growout tank and shipping, how much will this cost me? And how much should I charge so I cover the expenses?

Next. BBS sound like a huge pain. I can't really buy live baby brine shrimp... is there an alternative? And when could I introduce the first non-living food?

Next. How exactly condition them? Do you keep them out of sight from eachother and feed all protein stuff for a week then keep their tanks next to eachother while feeding all protein stuff, then place the male in the tank for ? hours and put the female in the container in the tank?

And lastly for now. What's good and what's bad HMPK finage? (Pics and/or links please! or a description!) I see HMPK's that look great finagewise to me but everyone says they look terrible... so I need some clarification.

In case you're wondering, I plan on doing Yellow marble HMPK's. My goal (For now) is to establish a line of yellow (marble, butterfly, solid, cello) HMPK's with blue eyes 0.0 (Then again I haven't studied up on eye genetics yet... so IDK if that last part is possible yet).

[baylee767]

(sorry to double post the edit button disappeared)

WHY? What did I do to deserve this?????? http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/aucti...hmp&1295920172

He's perfect. bright yellow, and you can see he has the marbeling gene and blue eyes.IDK about finage, because as I said before, I don't know the standards for that very well. This male is almost perfect, but I would like to see one with a bit more marbeling going on..

[monroe0704]

The only thing I can give ya is this site: http://www.bettaterritory.nl/BT-AABPKproposal.htm

It helped me when judging plakat quality...

[dramaqueen]

You can get microworm and vinegar eel cultures. I think most breeders condition the pair out of sight of each other and I think most condition for about 2 weeks. Breeders, correct me if I'm wrong, please. :)

[MrVampire181]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

You can get microworm and vinegar eel cultures. I think most breeders condition the pair out of sight of each other and I think most condition for about 2 weeks. Breeders, correct me if I'm wrong, please. :)

@baylee
I'll see if I can sell you some. I'm not sure how much Priority shipping is to Hawaii but I can find out. It's $2 per culture.

[baylee767]

Okay I've got new ideas now. And I need more answers.

1. My PH is super high at 8.2 and hard. Will this harm fry?

2. I'll have a half full 10g tank with IAL and 4 sponge filters. Do I Add my aquasafe and like 5 IAL's and take the IAL's out after breeding and then do like 2-4 gallon waterchanges everyday and start when the fry hatch? Or how does this order go?

3. Feeding. I just found out IBC sells instant BBS! Yes, I hate hatcheries. So how would this feeding scedule be?
1. don't feed for 2 days
2. vinegar eels until 1 week old
3. introduce microworms and BBS at 1 weeks and feed until week 4 (With crushed flakes/pellets starting week 3)
4. introduce some kind of "First bite" Food for Betta fry (Not sure which yet) at week 5.
5. start feeding more solid foods by week 6.

I have a feeling my scedule is a bit off.

4. When do I add fry to the growout tub and how do I do it?

Thanks! (Please answer)

EDIT: or to make feeding scedule more simple, how about feeding attisons Betta starter as instructed until the end of month one and start feeding the solid foods afterwards?

[Luimeril]

BBS aren't THAT much of a pain. i had Chappy on them at one month old, along with crushed New Life Spectrum Grow pellets. the biggest pain, is... uumm..... getting them OUT of the water. xD of course, the live Java moss in there helped a TON. <3

[MrVampire181]

Instant BBS go bad within 2 weeks. Feeding schedules......you can't plan those. Each spawn is different than others.

Keep the IAL in the tank...creates infusoria.

4 sponge filters??? You really only need 1/ no filtration at all.

[crowntail lover]

I personally do not feed BBS.. I feed MW, and VE and Infusoria and at about 2 1/2 weeks I feed frozen Daphina. At about a month I feed frozen bloodworms, frozen BS and live foods. And I sometimes feed Egg Yolk..
I would stay away from any type of powdered fry foods or anything like that. They will get you no where and will cause a lot of health issues with your fry.

And I agree with Mr.V, 4 sponge filters arent needed.. Only one will do.