What do you do with the ones with undesireable traits?

[RayneForhest]

I see a lot of threads where people are discovering the wonderful world of breeding bettas.... some of you are really adventurous when pairing up your fish.

Ok... say they breed, and produce LESS than desirable offspring...

What do you do with THOSE ones?

[LolaQuigs]

If they are deformed, the ethical thing to do is cull them rather than live out a shortened, pain-filled life. As far as fish that don't have the desired finnage or colors, but are otherwise healthy...that is a personal, ethical decision; different people have different opinions about what to do. Some people cull them because it'll be harder to find homes, others try to sell them at a "pet quality" price or give them away.

[RayneForhest]

Thank you for the response.

:)

[melbot]

This may sound cruel, but I am planning on feeding any defective ones to our green severums. It seems like the quickest way for them to go, right? Much better than flushing them down the toilet.

[cajunamy]

Color wise and fin wise (as in not the full finnage you're going for) I plan to give those away if possible.

[nowzem]

I've heard of people giving or selling those to pet stores. One of my girls is a" reject" pet store find and she's one of my favorite fish, although I'd never breed her. She looks more like a kissing gourami than a betta :) and I think her body may have deformities that I can't quite pin-point (she swims weird). She still makes for a fabbo pet, though! <3

[melbot]

BTW, I was only referring to any extremely deformed fish (which apparently are quite common, from what I have read). Please no one be offended by my "feeding them to my other fish" comment...I have struggled with the culling issue for quite a while.

[LolaQuigs]

Originally Posted by melbot

BTW, I was only referring to any extremely deformed fish (which apparently are quite common, from what I have read). Please no one be offended by my "feeding them to my other fish" comment...I have struggled with the culling issue for quite a while.

I imagine culling would be the hardest part of breeding, which is why I don't breed...I just couldn't do it, even though I know it's better than letting deformed fry grow up and suffer. Nobody would be offended by your comments, all breeders must cull severely deformed fish, and I think feeding them to larger fish is quite a common method. That way, the fry is actually being utilized (to nourish another fish) rather than the body simply being wasted.

[dramaqueen]

I agree with Lola. Letting other fish eat deformed fry and getting nourishment from them is better than letting them suffer.