corykitty516
Fish Crazy
I did read the pinned posts on breeding and it sort of addressed part my question (like don’t breed VT’s as the world has so many) but doesn’t really discuss this. I've also done some searching through some old stuff.
First of all let me say that I currently own one betta, named Mars, a veil tail I believe, purchased from my LFS and I ADORE him
. I would not want to breed him though. That is him superimposed with my cat in my avatar.
My background: When I was growing up my family raised show quality dogs, AKC registered with champion pedigrees. We showed all over the region and I finished my first champion when I was 10 years old. We only bred a few or less litters a year (and usually only when we had requests) and sold puppies to people we trusted. All “pet quality” dogs (those not meeting the highest standard) were not registered, spayed or neutered, then adopted to loving homes. We had a farm with tons of space for them to run and a heated building for them to live in winter. We would never purchase a dog from a pet store as most of them were from “puppy mills” and especially would never breed anything from a pet store, registered or not. Currently my parents own 2 dogs total and are sort of retired from the breeding/showing thing.
So here are my questions: If I should ever decide that I want some baby bettas, should I try to follow these same standards? The only thing that my LFS generally has is the veil tails, although I did once see a sort of sad looking CT at petsmart once. Where is the best source to obtain breeding stock? Mail order? I’d prefer to have something unusual in color and type. I am also afraid that I would not be able to place the babies. We have one LFS that I’m not sure would even want any and the other two stores are giant general pet stores(petsmart & superpetz) with bettas in little cups. Is there such a thing as “mutts”? Do you avoid mixing varieties? How do you avoid line breeding and inbreeding? I don’t think there any clubs or organizations in my area (still looking though). Most people in this state seem to be focused on marine set ups.
This is not something that I will be ready for in the immediate future but I’d just like some opinions. I like to be fully prepared before I get into anything.
Thanks all!
Em
First of all let me say that I currently own one betta, named Mars, a veil tail I believe, purchased from my LFS and I ADORE him
. I would not want to breed him though. That is him superimposed with my cat in my avatar.My background: When I was growing up my family raised show quality dogs, AKC registered with champion pedigrees. We showed all over the region and I finished my first champion when I was 10 years old. We only bred a few or less litters a year (and usually only when we had requests) and sold puppies to people we trusted. All “pet quality” dogs (those not meeting the highest standard) were not registered, spayed or neutered, then adopted to loving homes. We had a farm with tons of space for them to run and a heated building for them to live in winter. We would never purchase a dog from a pet store as most of them were from “puppy mills” and especially would never breed anything from a pet store, registered or not. Currently my parents own 2 dogs total and are sort of retired from the breeding/showing thing.
So here are my questions: If I should ever decide that I want some baby bettas, should I try to follow these same standards? The only thing that my LFS generally has is the veil tails, although I did once see a sort of sad looking CT at petsmart once. Where is the best source to obtain breeding stock? Mail order? I’d prefer to have something unusual in color and type. I am also afraid that I would not be able to place the babies. We have one LFS that I’m not sure would even want any and the other two stores are giant general pet stores(petsmart & superpetz) with bettas in little cups. Is there such a thing as “mutts”? Do you avoid mixing varieties? How do you avoid line breeding and inbreeding? I don’t think there any clubs or organizations in my area (still looking though). Most people in this state seem to be focused on marine set ups.
This is not something that I will be ready for in the immediate future but I’d just like some opinions. I like to be fully prepared before I get into anything.
Thanks all!
Em
When you buy from a breeder you have the benefit of knowing genetics of the fish 
