Betta Breeding

[teenfish-E]

Congrats! The best of luck with the fry!
I think a 20 gal long would be ok, but you need somewhere to put all the males separately. What are you planning to do with the males?

If there are only a few males i might just keep them all, lol, but there will probably be more, so i will probably either give them away and if no-one is interested i might sell/give them to a petshop, i will probably keep the females because i can house them together. Yeah once the males start getting agresive il probably separate them into small fish bowls, possibly larger depends on how expensive they are. Im still not sure it all depends on the amount of babies that survive.

 

[wackystarfish]

Great! Sounds like you have got it all sussed! How are the babies?

 

[teenfish-E]

Great! Sounds like you have got it all sussed! How are the babies?

the babies are doing pretty good i just had one question, the male has still not moved or become uninterested in the nest and still blows them back up when they try to swim, i've seen them swim but when the male sees them he goes to get them and blows them back up to the top. Is this ok? its been quite awhile and i thought i should take the male out but it says when he leaves the nest and goes in search of food is when i should move him. So the babies stay up at the top of the tank and don't move, should i take the male out and feed the babies now? Hes going on the forth day and i dont think there is that much food in the duckweed and plants around them to keep them alive they cant go anywhere, because the male is always watching them. i might have gotten a couple deaths, like ive seen the male pick up a baby and blow it up and it will fall down, but the male will keep blowin it back up, can he be loving them to death?

 

[Netty]

Sounds like he's done a super job and not all males will leave the nest. If the fry are now swimming on their own I would take him out and feed them

You are bound to lose some of the fry but hopefully you'll end up with the strongest and healthiest fish, which is what you want.

 

[teenfish-E]

Sounds like he's done a super job and not all males will leave the nest. If the fry are now swimming on their own I would take him out and feed them

You are bound to lose some of the fry but hopefully you'll end up with the strongest and healthiest fish, which is what you want.

Ok male is out and i fed the fry some microworms. Only thing is i cant see them, lol, where-ever they are, hopefully hiding not dead, should i turn the light of i did turn it off and put like a night light in the plug next to the tank to provide some light but not strong light, they should have plenty off food like i said the hornwort covers the whole middle of the tank and the duckweeds everywhere, along with the 2 sponge filters. You have any idea when they would be large enough to easily spot? I saw in my book at three weeks they sorta looked like feeder guppies, lol.

 

[Netty]

They will be hiding in all your plants probably Natural daylight is fine for them and leave them in darkness at nightime so they can sleep and get some rest They are really tiny and I use a magnifying glass to see them properly....but then I need that for most things lol

This is a good growth chart to check against if you haven't already seen it.

http/www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm

 

[teenfish-E]

They will be hiding in all your plants probably Natural daylight is fine for them and leave them in darkness at nightime so they can sleep and get some rest They are really tiny and I use a magnifying glass to see them properly....but then I need that for most things lol

This is a good growth chart to check against if you haven't already seen it.

[URL="http/www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm"]http/www.bettatalk.com/fry_growth.htm[/URL]

but i thought they might be afriad of the dark , ok ill turn off there nightlight, thanks for the chart, do you know how long the microworms will live underwater? thanks.

 

[Netty]

I think they'll cope!!!

Microworm don't last 2 long......Maybe 24hrs if your lucky so you will need to feed small amounts 2 - 3 times a day. As tempting as it is.....try not to do any cleaning until they are at least a week old and then you'll be able to suck up any dead worms. You'll need to check you haven't sucked up any live ones too and pop them back in. You can make a good syphon from some airline tubing attached to a rigid piece of plastic so you can move it exactly where you want to

 

[teenfish-E]

I think they'll cope!!!

Microworm don't last 2 long......Maybe 24hrs if your lucky so you will need to feed small amounts 2 - 3 times a day. As tempting as it is.....try not to do any cleaning until they are at least a week old and then you'll be able to suck up any dead worms. You'll need to check you haven't sucked up any live ones too and pop them back in. You can make a good syphon from some airline tubing attached to a rigid piece of plastic so you can move it exactly where you want to

All right i believe its been one week from the spawning date and compared to the chart they seem to be right on schedule or they are a little bigger, and ahead of it! I have a new estimate of about 20-40 fry hard to tell, and this is before the water changes, like i said it was a small spawn but the babies in there seem to be strong and thriving. Should i keep track of anything while starting the betta breeding hobby? I think im going to stick with it, and it will become a permanent hobby. Like not water temp, water quality, etc i know all that but like dates of spawns, number of fry, quality, possible pricing, etc. I will probably keep all the fry from this spawn or at least most of them, or possibly give them away/sell. If i do get into buisness with them, i wont over spawn or mass produce them, but i think it would be interesting entering one into a show or something if i can get a nice looking one. Have any of you been to or been in a betta show before? I know its still quite awhile before the bettas will get to that age, and theres still alot of work to do. If i do in the future get a larger spawn say 100 or more survivors what do you put all the males in to separate them, in know of the small betta cups, but is there something larger or is that the only way to go? And if you are in the buisness where do you get the containers in bulk to keep up with the betta population? Thanks for your help

 

[Netty]

Definately worth keeping a log of your breeding especially if you carry on plus it's handy to look back on and compare differences etc.

We've never done any shows so can't give any advice on that. As for the housing......here's a pic of part of our set up for fry once we've separated the males out. They are heated on a large reptile heat mat. The large jars had fruit in them which we emptied out and put in the freezer......just about half way through eating the fruit lol.

 

[Peter Bako]

I Would put her back with the male when she recovers. If u have baby bettas remove the male and female for survival reasons.If u cant put a bunch of hideing places. till u can move the fish.

 

[Netty]

I Would put her back with the male when she recovers. If u have baby bettas remove the male and female for survival reasons.If u cant put a bunch of hideing places. till u can move the fish.

Why put the female back in. The male and female are both out and the fry are almost a week old now??

 

[teenfish-E]

I Would put her back with the male when she recovers. If u have baby bettas remove the male and female for survival reasons.If u cant put a bunch of hideing places. till u can move the fish.

Why put the female back in. The male and female are both out and the fry are almost a week old now??

lol confused me too,

to the forum Peter Bako

Thanks netty, ill have to start eating jared fruit now, lol, what about applesauce jars are they big enough? How big are the jars in the pic? Right now i just made a spread sheet on excel for a log on the breeding, it has the title "BETTA BREEDING INFORMATION", and it includes The betta spawn date, Estimate number of fry, Total fry, quality, and pricing. I was thinking about adding an expense colum too, to help with pricing them. Is there anything else that would be usefull to have?
You were right about having enough microworms, i went to the pint size container and i have 9 cultures, everytime i use one the next day its back on the lid again and i have only been using one culture since i started feeding them, lol.

 

[Netty]

No probs

You could keep a note on:

Temp
Feeding.....what, how often
Sex of fish when they're older
How you conditioned the parents and for how long

As you progress to further spawns you could then change a few things eg temp/foods and see what differences you see in the spawns and fry.

The jars in the pic are about 1 litre.....so are ideal when they are small. I must admit I'm running out of ideas of different things to make with all the fruit lol

 

[azulfire24]

i would leave the babies in the spawn tank and disturbe them asd little as possible for the first 3 weeks, they need humid air to breath and moving them arounf might be too much for the as theyb are very delicate right now. after that maby 4 weeks then i would move them only if they seem to be too many for the tank size you have,, they might not all make it but dont get upset,, you somtimes can lose alot in the process, i have 20 ish in a twenty gal and will probally be jaring them out to their own space at 8 weeks. some people wait till 12 all depends on the number of fry and the aggresion levels, anover crowded tanks will have more fighting them a understocked tank.i have heard of people using plastice totes for grown out tanks that great anad they afe cheep too, just try them out for a day or two to make sure that the tote wont melt,, cause of the heater. some have cheeper plastic then others, and make sure they have lids weather tank, tote or jar they are in , with air holes,, cause theycan jump. good luck

Thanks, sorry if i forgot to mension yeah i wasn't going to plan moving them until there growout time(3-4weeks) from what ive read in a book i have. right now i covered the area that is open in the back (where the heater, filter go) with cling wrap stuff, and the aquarium seems to be really humid inside when i open it a put my hand in i can feel the warmth and the sides of the tank, are covered with water dorplets, do to humidity, if i only get say 20-30 fish because this was a very small spawn would the 20 gallon long be big enough for the growout? And when should i top it off with water and start water changes? would that be at the 3-4week period? thanks for your help

yes probaly big enough for a grow out, till 8 to 12 weks when they start fighting, at that point i jar everybody out and let them live seperatly, cause i always seem to guess wrong and have a ''girl'' turn in to a boy, then they rip the s@#$ out of their sisters, espicaly sience the girls do seem to grow slower. my jar are about well the smaller spagitte jars are 26 oz and the big applesause jars are 50 oz. i then have the boyfriend dril holes in to the lid for air, [ pointing } away from the fish cause the edges can be sharp, or i get somt tin foil squares and put holes in them , then i just mold the foil to each jar lid, keeps fish from jumping out but still easy to get off to clean or feed.