I want to breed, ugh

[styggian]

I want to breed bettas so badly. When I got my first ever betta as a teenager, I knew right away that I wanted to breed. They have always been my favorite fish ever, with amazing colors and personalities. I'm beside myself with how much I want to experience breeding them.

I read everything that comes up about breeding, and I have checked up on the cost of live food cultures (microworms, vinegar eels, and banana worms). I currently have a culture of d. hydei, though I'm waiting for the maggots to mature into adults. I may get one or more extra cultures so I'll have more available and not have to wait so long for them to reproduce. I also have d. melanogaster, which reproduce faster than d. hydei. I've been feeding my girls the fruit flies almost daily, and they flop all over each other for them.

I mix in frozen bloodworm and daphnia, and may add in frozen brine shrimp at some point. The girls also love them all, but Duckie doesn't want anything but pellets. He chewed on a few fruit flies, then started spitting them back out. The unnamed halfmoon does seem interested in the flies, but I think he may prefer the bigger ones once I have more adults I can feed. I haven't tried him on bloodworm or daphnia yet.

I have a heater to use, I already have live plants in my tanks, I can use the girls' tank water to seed a breeding/fry tank as it has infusoria and various microcritters I can see (the ghost shrimp hunt the micro-fauna as well, interesting to watch).

I'm waiting for some indian almond leaves, which will take a couple of weeks. A sponge filter will be no problem to purchase, same with airline tubing for the drip water change setup. I have no problem with purchasing clove oil for culling sick/deformed fry, and can easily house several females into the sorority. I could add a barracks system for males if there's any that I wanted to keep.

I can check into the LFSs nearby to see if any would be willing to purchase fish, or attempt to sell the best of what I can produce either here or through aquabid. I would prefer to see smaller spawns at the start while I gain experience.

I've also thought about what goals I'd want to pursue. I'm interested in the marble pattern for plakats and possibly crowns, and in halfmoons and trying to improve a strain with even finnage, working toward the "fullmoon" type, with mustard gas coloring (though mustard gas is a preference, the main goal is even finnage and symmetry).

I'm trying to keep my goals and desires in something that is within reason and obtainable.

It's driving me a little batty seeing so many people just breeding willy-nilly with no thought or preparation, no end goal, while I have to keep holding myself back, either because of fish sickness, lack of equipment, or lack of proper food cultures. I want to experience breeding and raising these fish that I've loved for the last 12 years that I've waited so long to get back into, and I want to do it right, but it's so tempting just to follow the bad examples, cross my fingers, and hope for the best.

My roommate has guppies, different color types chucked together, with no effort to raise the resulting fry. Some make it, and some have mass die-offs, there's no proper tank care or water change schedule (the water is visibly yellow from all the debris, rotting food and plant matter, etc floating in the water column). I've tried gently making suggestions, but it falls on deaf ears because it's "just guppies" and they're cheap. Who cares if they die, they cost a buck and breed like rabbits, right? Ugh. I've offered to water change, nope. I commented that she feeds way too much, but she has "a lot of fish". I've offered to share my daphnia and bloodworms, but she doesn't want that either.

And here I am, dying to breed my bettas, everyone around me is doing nothing right and getting fry. I want to tear out my hair or cry or both

Rawr That was a long ramble/rant, I've been stewing on it for the last week. I want to do this, produce good fish and improve on what I see, it's hard sitting on my hands and waiting.

[tpocicat]

I totally understand how you feel. It took me awhile before I had a male and female that I thought would give me a chance at sucess. All the time I was trying to get what was needed, more and more people were having sucesses, and I was still just hanging in there.
All I can say is keep looking and you will find what you are looking for sooner or later.
Best of luck to you, I love to hear from somebody that is really taking breeding bettas seriously. :)

[Oldfishlady]

Breeding this species can be so much fun and rewarding...its awesome just to watch them spawn.......and it sounds like you have done the research and have the passion.....whats holding you back......

[styggian]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

Breeding this species can be so much fun and rewarding...its awesome just to watch them spawn.......and it sounds like you have done the research and have the passion.....whats holding you back......

I need fry food cultures, more live plants, and a growout tank. I have my old 10gal, depending where the leak is it could be used as a breeding tank, though I may be able to repair it with silicone sealant for aquariums. So really, I need fry food cultures and a breeding/growout tank. It's not a lot of things holding me back, but I'm trying to resist rushing as well, and not risking my bettas or their fry. I might be able to order the cultures within the next week, I know they need to be running for a bit to make sure there's enough to feed, and condition the adults. I'm just lamenting a little about how many people who are already breeding and getting their first spawn.

[Edifiler]

I understand how you feel, I've been dieing to breed my bettas but the cost to purchase the needed equipment and the lack of space always puts me back. I know I'll get there one day, but for now, just looking at the spawns people have on the forum and their pictures of their amazing fry is whats motivating me to get what I need and hopefully, breed sometime soon.

[Curlyfatbottom]

What kind of culture u have at the moment n what your planning to

[bettasusa]

I'll set you up with micros, no problem. I need to test out my new shipping method. We are here for ya! Get that spawn going! Especially if the dad is the boy in your avatar!

[MrVampire181]

I think you're ready other than supplies! Trust me you're doing the right thing by making sure everything is perfect and ready. Good luck!

[styggian]

Originally Posted by bettasusa

I'll set you up with micros, no problem. I need to test out my new shipping method. We are here for ya! Get that spawn going! Especially if the dad is the boy in your avatar!

The boy in my avatar is Poseidon, sadly he was poisoned by the plastic tubs I got as an emergency containment when my 10gal started losing water. I really miss him and wish I had gotten the chance to breed him, he was an amazing little fish.

I'd really appreciate a micro culture, just PM me with what you'd like for shipping etc :)

[styggian]

Originally Posted by Curlyfatbottom

What kind of culture u have at the moment n what your planning to

All I have right now is d melanogaster and d hydei fruit flies for my adults. I was planning on getting microworms, banana worms, and vinegar eels for the fry, and decap baby brine shrimp.