Questions...

[NinjaSmurf]

I was thinking about breeding bettas, but there are just a few things I wanted to ask.

1. Can I keep the females in my thirty gallon? (see below)

2. Do the fry like to hang out in Java moss? I'd like to put some in the breeding tank so once they are free swimming they'll have a place to hide from the male until I take him out.

3. I hate to sound stupid, but the say the only stupid question is one you don't ask so... what exactly does bb's stand for? I know it has something to do with brine shrimp, but the only thing I can think of is baby brines and I don't know if that's right.

4. I read something about beheaded brines, but I don't understand why you need to behead them.

5. Can you put brine shrimp eggs in the breeding tank so when they hatch the baby bettas can get them right away?

6. (Last one, I promise) I can't afford to get some of the really awesome bettas yet because shipping is a little out of my budget and I can't find them anywhere near where I live, so out of your average fs bettas, what type/color do you like the most? I just want to make sure that my fry will get homes, so I'd like to breed colors that most people really like. (of course, knowing me, I'll end up keeping some anyways)

 

[cutecotton]

heya,

well i've only spaned my bettas once, i'm sure other people here can answer more accurately, but i'll try my best anyways

1) the 30G seems fine, but how many feamle betats are you planning to put in? i dont 'know anything about pictus so i can't tell you if they're aggressive (i literally dont' know what they are). The coriesa nd guppies should be fine. Personally, here's what i keep my feamles in and they seem to be happy:

25G
3 otos
3 guppies
5 feamle betats
2 kribs
2 snails

2) personally i never used java moss becuase my store didnt' have it, however if i HAD java moss i'd defintiily use it. I heard it provides good infurosia for hte fry to munch on the first few things grab some if you can

3) bb? never heard of that being used, i use bbs which stands for baby brine shrimp, so i think bb would be somewhere around those lines too

4) do you mean decapping the brine? that's where you use chlorine to dissolve that hard outer cryst of the egg, which will increase hatch rate and make htem better food for the fry

5) i woudlnt' reocmmend just putting brine shrimp int eh tank to hatch, they need lots of aeration and a dark cover in order for htem to lunch, while i like to leave a light on for my fry. Also, if a fry eats an unatched brine shrimp egg it'll be very hard to digest and most likely lead to swim bladder disorder.

6)well, my first spawn was nothing fancy either (same situation as you), i had a white male veiltail (he was oqaque), and a female cambodian (white and red) combtail/crowntail. Veiltails dont' sell for much, and i'm not going to bother putting htem online becuase i can't imagine anyone pyaing shipping for veiltails. My lfs will take them for $1.00, though i might be able to get better rpices since they are a light color (seems to be rare *shrugs*)

well, hoep i answered some of ur questions wuv wrote an excellent article about breeding bettas, good luck with teh spawn

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Thanks cutecotton! I was getting really confused about the 'decapping', I thought they wanted you to cut the heads off the baby brines, but I was wondering how you were supposed to do that since they would be so tiny. Haha, at least it's a funny mistake... Oh, the pictus is a catfish but he doesn't bug the other fish so the bettas will be fine. I just don't how many to put in the tank. Also, I might be getting a few more bucks so does I was thinking about getting some bettas off of aquabid and I was wondering if anyone could tell me who they buy from in the US, that way I know they can be trusted, because I really don't want to get screwed over. And thanks again for the help!