Tanks size for mating

[Tempestuousfury]

I am thinking about buying a 1 gallon tank and 1 male and 1 female betta. The tank I'm looking at has an undergravel filter, so i'm not sure if the eggs will get sucked in when they drop. Is this enough room for the bubblenest? Or would a five gallon be better?

 

[MAM]

no!!!!! a one gal will NOT work.
not enough room for two fish, let alone two bettas. they won't mate in this. check out hte pinned article on betta breeding in the betta section. i've never bred bettas, but i'm pretty sure you'd need bigger than the five too. read that article, will tell you what you need to know.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

The pinned message didn't have anything listed about size. I read in another post that it depends on the fish whether or not they like big tanks. I'd like to know what the smallest tank that'll work b/c of low funds...

I'm not going to risk killing the fish, though. I'm not going to risk it until I find info on the subject. (Maybe I'll check out a book from the library on the subject)

 

[Cali]

I've never bred my bettas...but, I have read a bit about the process. I believe the smallest tank you could use would be a 5 gallon. From what I have read, a 5 or a 10 gallon tank would work just fine.



...you can get a 10 gallon at Walmart for $8.00. The reason I decided not to breed my bettas just yet is because of funds...not only do you need the tank, you need a WHOLE lot of other things to make it a success. I think BettaTalk.com has the best listing of what you will need and how much each thing costs. I think the total came up to something like $300.00 or something like that. Check it out, though, because I could be incorrect.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Is the $8.00 tank at Walmart just the tank? I've never seen anything like that... What are the extra things I would need? Are they needed for it to be successful, to keep the parents alive, keep the fry alive, etc.?

 

[FishHeads]

The pinned message didn't have anything listed about size. I read in another post that it depends on the fish whether or not they like big tanks. I'd like to know what the smallest tank that'll work b/c of low funds...

I'm not going to risk killing the fish, though. I'm not going to risk it until I find info on the subject. (Maybe I'll check out a book from the library on the subject)

I recomend a 5 gallon minimum for Beta breeding. Lots of hiding places, with sand on the bottom with a sponge filter. You do not want a filter that moves water very fats or at all....it will disturb the bubble nest and Betas do not like moving water anyways. My best luck came with planting a 5 gallon with bog wood or plastic wood replicas all over the bottom of the tank...The male actually built his bubble nest under the bogwood where there are air pockets. I was greatly successful with this method. Oh, and lots of plants too...not just the wood. Make it look like a tributary if you can do it.

 

[Cali]

Is the $8.00 tank at Walmart just the tank? I've never seen anything like that... What are the extra things I would need? Are they needed for it to be successful, to keep the parents alive, keep the fry alive, etc.?

Oh yes, indeed...it's the tank ONLY! No cover, no filter, no nothing...LOL



Without looking at that site I gave you, I can only remember a few things you need: different types of food for the fry babies; medicine for the injured male (and or female betta); many extra glass jars for all the fry babies; etc. etc. You really should check out that site because it gives you lots of information about breeding bettas...most of which came to a suprise to me, otherwise I would have done it a long time ago.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Wow! I went there and it's just full of links. I'll look through the site anyways. Thanks

 

[BettaBoyz]

you don't necessarily need a tank. go to WalMart, get a Penn-Plax sponge filter kit, a desk lamp, a sterlite tub with double lock-in cover, and saran wrap. only flip one half of the cover on the bin down, put saran over it and put the desk lamp on the closed part with the light over the saran. pop holes in the saran for air. add the filter in, fill with water, add a half a styrofoam cup.

haven't tried it, but i am planning on breeding my boys in the future with that type of setup.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Are you sure that'll work.

Some of that was lost on me (the double-lock bin...?). But if i can get a cheap 5 gallon tank w/o equipment, I could probably still do the same thing. What do you think?

 

[Morrgan]

I've been curious about breeding bettas too. What I wonder is how long can you raise the fry in a 5 gal? I would've thought it'd be better to get a 10 gal so that you could keep them there longer without overstocking the tank.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Yeah. But does it also depend on how many survive? I'd like to know how many would survive before digging into my wallet.

 

[BettaBoyz]

ahh ^^; sorry for seeming confusing, i'll try and explain it better!

supplies
1: lock bin - it's pretty much a normal sterlite-type tub you'd use for storage, the only difference is instead of coming off the top is 'hinged' on and divided in two, when closed properly the two parts of the top lock together.
2: small desk lamps
1: box of saran wrap
1: 25w submersible heater
2: small sponge filters
1: air pump
1: roll of aquarium tubing
2: airline connectors - one to divide the two, the other to cut airflow down so both can have equal flow and one filter isn't excessively aerated.
5: bushy silk plants
1: styrofoam cup
1: power bar or three-way extension cord
1: livebearer breeding trap

procedure
1: put the bin somewhere unobtrusive, preferably near an outlet to plug in the air pump, lamps and heater. close the back half of the lid.
2: stick the heater and filters onto the tub, hooking up the filters with the airline tubing. cut two long pieces of tubing, and two short pieces. take short piece #1 and attach it to the pump, then the other end of it to the first dividing connector. then the second piece of tubing goes between the divider and the second connector, which should have a small screw-valve to cut down air flow. hook the third piece of tubing up to the second divider and into one filter, then the second long piece from the divider to the second filter. rest the air pump on the lid.
3: add water.
4: tie the silk plants together with a twist tie, wire, a cable tie, anything that will hold well. put the bunch in one corner, preferably away from the filters and on the far side of the tank. on the other side, put half of the styrofoam cup and anchor it down however you need to, if at all.
5: put the lamps on the part of the lid that is closed. cover the other half of the top with saran wrap, and poke holes through the saran wrap so oxygen can pass through.
6: plug in the heater, air pump, and both lamps.
7: introduce the pair. first, the male, add him directly to the tank and let him get a feel for it. then, the female, in the breeding trap. leave her there for about 24 hours, so they get a chance to know the other is there, then release her. watch for 48 hours, if they do not spawn or attempt to spawn, remove the female.

this is not a 'tried and true' method, it's just something a soon-to-be-backyard-breeder thought up in her spare (-cough- school) time!

 

[FishHeads]

I've been curious about breeding bettas too. What I wonder is how long can you raise the fry in a 5 gal? I would've thought it'd be better to get a 10 gal so that you could keep them there longer without overstocking the tank.

Well the parents don't stay with the fry anyways...The male stays the longest, but he will eventually start to eat the fry and must be removed. You can raise many fry in a 5 gallon....I had up to 25....When they started to grow, I started to mve them.

 

[LiquidLife]

1 gallon is too small for breeding. The male may kill the female after she's released all her eggs just because he feels she may try to eat his eggs and there'll be no where for her to run far enough away to get out of his space. Plus they may not breed immediately and you'll have two full grown fish in a very small space fouling up the water which you're babies will be born (and probably have to live in for a week or two).

We've been breed bettas for a while now and we use 5 gallon tanks, but we generally limit the number of fry in any spawn to under 50 (by removing the female when she's released about that many eggs). Bare bottom so any gunk can quickly be sucked out and so the fish can see eggs/fry that drop out of the nest. Makes sure your tank and everything you use inside of it is sterile so your fry won't have to deal with diseases and fungus and all that immediately. Plenty of plants for hiding in; live plants also provide infusoria as fry food for the first few days after they've consumed their egg sacs and are still very tiny. Also seems to calm the adult fish and gives the male a choice as to where to build his nest (they don't always want to nest where you want them to). We don't use any kind of filtering since you don't want to disturb the bubblenest, plus too much water motion makes the daddy fish get crazy and he'll either forsake his nest w/eggs/babies or else he may destroy it. Water should be a constant 80F degrees (a couple degrees either way is okay). There are betta site with good breeding info on them. Before you even begin a breeding make sure you have all the supplies you will need for the babies--waiting until the babies come is too late and you'll lose your entire spawn. We have about a 99% survival rate; however, the more babies your fish have, the greater your initial loss will be since 500 babies in a 10 gallon tank are going to make a lot of waste and will need enough food yet any uneaten food is going to rot. Babies can get ick and fungus real easily so you have to make sure you do what you can not to encourage bad stuff from happening. And after spawning, you'll need a tank to put your female in since you'll need to remove her. Then when the babies are free swimming (usually within 2-4 days after spawning), you'll need to remove the dad and put him in a tank to recover too. Both need to be kept warm, real clean and well fed because they are in a depleted state and can easily surcome to disease. So right here you'll need at least 3 tanks.

And you don't keep the babies in the same tank until adulthood. At some point you are going to have to clean the tank out because it's going to get messy in there with all those little bodies. At about 2 weeks, you can start a sponge filter (so babies cant' get sucked up into the filter) which has been primed already with "good" bacteria. At 2 weeks, we usually move all the babies to a new clean tank and get an accurate head count, plus cull any that are already showing signs of deformity. As they get bigger, we move some to grow out tanks, boys will need to be put into separate containers when they start nipping each other (some girls too) so you'll need containers which will have to be cleaned every day. And then there's the question: what are you going to do with all those babies? As many people have found out, just because your local fish store says they will probably buy your babies, they may already be overstocked when your lot comes of age. It's not a simple "I want to breed babies" thing.