Betta Tanks - Suitable Ones?

[Mertus]

Hi there,
New to the boards.

I just got a wee little question to ask.

Right then, Ive kept bettas before one at a time with other suitable fish. Have very fond memories of my bettas. However I have just recently decided to breed them.

So I wanna get small suitable tanks to keep seperate bettas in.
The thing is Im not sure on what kind of tank to get exactly for my betta's.

I dont wanna spend too much and ofcourse want something small, the smallest suitable tank I can get really. Also how would I heat small tanks, I mean are there suitable little heaters that I can get. (I ask this as till now Ive only had rather big tanks and didnt need to worry about that too much, was pretty straight forward).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Oh and if anyone can link me to places I can buy any suitable tanks itd be rly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Do you mean tanks for the fry or tanks for the breeding pair?

 

[nativecollector]

Are you refering to the babies of the pair you breed or are you just refering to grown fish that you are wanting to have separate tanks.

If the babies are what you are refering to then there is several options, beanie baby boxes (only practical if you are planning on breeding more than one time), 2 liter pop bottles (very practical if you are only breeding one time and not looking to show off your babies), then there is the sterilite and rubber maid containers (ok for either long term use or temp use). All of these are good options but it just depends on what you are wanting to do.

Now if you are loking for some houses for a few adult bettas then you could get a 10 or 20 gallon tank and divide it into several different compartments. Like this one Here


It is a 20 gallon that houses 5 bettas (3 males and 2 females). This is one of 4 tanks that I have divided like that. They house my breeding stock while I use rubbermaid tubs for growout tanks. I use 2 liter pop bottles in a barracks system for individual homes for the males that have to be removed from the grow out tanks.

 

[Mertus]

I initially need tanks to house the adult bettas that im planning on breeding and then a tank to hold the fry and lastly tank(s) to put the fry into once theyve grown and need to be seperated.

Sorry if I wasnt clear enough on my first post, hope that answers ur queries.

Again thanks for any help.

Oh and I plan on breeding more than once, gonna be my new hobby

 

[nativecollector]

well for the breeding pair I would just divide a 10 gallon like the one in the pic i posted earlier.
for the babies if it is going to be a new hobby, then I would suggest starting a betta barracks, I will try to post you some pics up later on what some look like. But you will eventually thank yourself for doing it this way versus trying to jar individual males and then do water changes on them regularly. The barracks will take care of that part for ya. In this case I would also go for the beanie baby boxes if you can afford them. They are about $3-4 each, and when you are like me and need around 150+ that is not reasonable that is why I use 2 liter pop bottles, plus at the rate I drink pop I never run out of new baby homes.

 

[Mertus]

great advice so far thank you. The pics would help loads.

So lets say I used pop bottles how would I keep the water temp right in them?

 

[nativecollector]

In a barracks system you will only heat the sump and the water pumped into each of the bottles will already be heated. It might take a little while to figure out how warm you will need the sump to keep the bottles at the right temps. I keep my sump right around 84 F and the bottles stay right around 78. Now during the summer I turn the heater off and the bottles stay right around 76-80 depending on the how hot the day is. I will be reassembling my barracks here in the next month or so for the new 185 babies that are now in the grow out tanks. I will be posting some of them up for sale here before too much longer. Black and White HMPK's.

here is a link to one of the barracks that a member here built
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=86856

 

[Mertus]

I read that article, its very large scale, would I need something that big a scale? That article was also rather confusing, probably because I havnt done anything of the sort before.
Too much plumbing and pipe work
Im a diy disaster.

Ill read through it a few times again just incase tho. In the meantime is there something on a smaller scale? Im thinking of havving about 4 females and 4 females to start off with and who knows after that

 

[nativecollector]

Well the scale on which you build a barracks will be determined for you sort of. Bettas can have 200-300 babies at a time. Now if you only have 1/4 or the spawn turn out to be male and there is 200 then you will need at least 50 little homes. Not all spawns are that big but the potential is there so you need to be prepared for it. You can always do the old jar routine but then you will need to do constant water changes on 50 jars using the above conditions.

Here is a prefect example, the 185 babies I have right now are from just one spawn. Within the next few weeks I expect to have to start separating them, they are a month old now and I already have some pushy ones showing up. That mainly could be from the size difference, but all the same sometimes you will have to separate even females. I plan on having around 100 bottles set up this time around, that should be way more than enough for this spawn but will cover me for the next spawnings that are in the making.

 

[Mertus]

Makes sense, Ok i can get 50 bottles np. Its just setting up the filtering and heating system that is like argh to me. All the pipe work and stuff just seems too much for me lol. Im a D.I.Y disaster.

I read that article, I understand how it should work (i think) but how I gotta set it up to work is where I'm getting confused.

Ive bred livebearers before but theyre easy and dont need this much preparation ofcourse.

Ok well I think for now ill start collecting the pieces I need and get a females betta. Ill start off with 2 females and 1 male I think. So now I am ofcourse going to seperate my betta from my main tank. For the time being I think Ill just get a small tank for my male, whats the smallest size tank I can get that will be suitable for a single betta?

Sorry if im asking for too much.

 

[nativecollector]

I am assuming that most are agreeing with me, but remember this is only how I do things others may do things differently. Just like you, you will find the way that works best for you.

I like to house my breeding fish in a 10 gallon divided 3 ways, or a 20 divided 5 ways. I also breed in a rubbermaid 24-31 qt tub. Once they are free swimming and about 2 weeks old I will move them to a 10 gallon tank or bigger if need be. Depending on what the temp of your house stays at will depend on if you need to heat them or not. I dont worry so much about my breeding pairs except when I go to breed them. Thier tank temps stay around 74-76, then get raised to around 80-82 when I am ready to breed them. The fry tanks are kept at 80-82 until they are grown and singled out.

The best size for a grown betta can vary as much as opinions but it should be at least 1 gallon at a bare minimum.

My turn to ask you a question,
Have you read the information on how to go about breeding them?
If not here is some recommended reading
This one is from the betta rep on this forum wuvmybetta
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=37944
This is one of the most known betta breeder (at least that I know of)
http/www.bettas-jimsonnier.com/spawning.htm
An assortment of breeding topics
http/www.bettysplendens.com/articles/catview.imp?catid=855

 

[Mertus]

Yar ive read up on the breeding its just i wanted to be sure on the accomodation for the betas. Ima get a 26 gal tank in the weekend and divide it up then go get me some betas. Then ill strt collecting some pop bottles and once that is rdy and my barracks (i think im starting to understand how the barrack system works) ill start breeding.

 

[nativecollector]

This is a newly built barracks from a person on another site but he just finished it up. Best I can tell it holds 96 beanie baby boxes or something similar sized. I like how the post went the pics are good and you can see some pretty good details on how it is put together. I think he is considering making it a kit and trying to sell them as such. Might be a thought if you are not a very good DIY'r.

Either way here it is Click here

well dont try the link for some reason the site is blocked on this website, I hate it when sites do that especially when there is good information on them. Oh well must be attitude issues between the admins here and the ones there.

 

[Mertus]

Maybe u can send me the address on pm?
danke