The Culling!

[ibbledibble]

i only cull a fish if its grosely disfigured. from my last surviving spawn i have one female with a bent spine and deformed tail, but she gets along fine. she eats and is healthy and seldom shows stress bars. i did have to cull one male who had a severe back deformity that was geting worse as he got older, it was causing him problems swimming and feeding froperly.

Yeah.. I think if I ever got into breeding bettas, I wouldn't be able to cull unless the fish was extremely disfigured and I saw that it was having trouble. Even then I'd feel aweful about doing it. That's just me though. I can understand why people would do it.

i agree, i don't think i could just kill my babies after worrying so much over them and looking after them but i guess i'm just pretty soft hearted.

 

[modaz]

its not a nice feeling , trust me on that, esp when youve tried your hardest to make them better after an illness hits them and it just doesnt work, ive got some platy at the moment that have been in quarantine for 4 weeks from something i cant suss out, but aint had the heart to cull them as im still hoping for a bit of a miracle to happen but it might have to get to the point where i will have no choice, fingers crossed and this last treatment works

 

[wuvmybetta]

I see what you're saying but only up to a point. The betta is designed to be alpha in all situations. I believe they have a nature to nurture their young, but they also have a nature to take out others of their sex, especially those that might step up to the plate. Male cats have been known for killing their sons, as have male lions. I suppose I just see it like that. Like I said, it's only my opinion.

I've kept sibling males together entirely longer than you're 'supposed' to. Many times all was well as long as I left the alpha male in the tank. If I removed the alpha male there would be quarreling and ripped finnage over who would be next in line. And at other times I've found alpha males ripped to shreds and dead and a new alpha strutting around taking his place. They're tricky fish.

its like that with all species of cat, when a male moves into a territory, displacing the previous male, first thing he does is find all the suckling cubs and kill them, he cant waste time protecting cubs that are not his. the female will come into heat within a few days of her cubs being killed. he will also drive off or kill any weaned male cubs, and has an uneasy tollerance of female cubs that are not his but are weaned and hot inhibiting their mother coming into heat. that why cats kill their own species young. males that kill thier own young are usualy suffering behavioural problems as a result of inbreeding, something that females suffer from at times too.

with regards to the betta, the best person to ask would i guess be "cracker"(where is he these days?). i seem to remember a thread he had with a male that was in with his fry for 16 days without any problems

A lot of bettas are about as inbred as they come. Males all have different behavioral problems of there own, females as well. I've kept mahachai fathers with their fry for months and still had a large number of males come out the spawns. But mahachai aren't nearly as overbred nor do they have adominant nature by any means.

cracker floats in and out. I'm sure he's around.

 

[nakomis90]

Wow ive been out far too long, and i admit i thought this may get out of hand...
but your all doing well!
Yep with spoon head my drawing was crap and the example was not you overly spoon headed you get some that are as bent as spoons... im sure daz knows what i mean...
I am talking as one who would be showing my bettas and slight spoon heads are allowed...

i am thinking of starting a "Cull bank thread" or something where if the fish is slightly mutated ill give it a chance home....
I have pets at home wanting some fry but the man there is a breeder and know what there getting in... so hell notice mutants...

 

[CathyGo]

Bettatalk, who is a HUGE breeder, doesn't believe in culling unless the fish is extremely deformed. If that large a breeder can not cull her fish and still do okay I don't think anybody else has an excuse to cull pointlessly. The only culling she'll support is a breeder who doesn't have enough room for a ton of babies scooping some eggs out of the nest right after they are laid. They aren't really alive yet so it's not pointlessly killing. She also sends out her "culls" to people who buy bettas from her. When you order there's a space on her order form to designate if you have space for culls and if so how many. Offer your culls to informed pet homes. They get pretty fish that are just not show standard or have some sort of flaw and you don't have to kill fish for no reason.

 

[dusky]

Thanks for adding this, i always wondered what cull meant

Lovely website

 

[nakomis90]

Bettatalk, who is a HUGE breeder, doesn't believe in culling unless the fish is extremely deformed. If that large a breeder can not cull her fish and still do okay I don't think anybody else has an excuse to cull pointlessly. The only culling she'll support is a breeder who doesn't have enough room for a ton of babies scooping some eggs out of the nest right after they are laid. They aren't really alive yet so it's not pointlessly killing. She also sends out her "culls" to people who buy bettas from her. When you order there's a space on her order form to designate if you have space for culls and if so how many. Offer your culls to informed pet homes. They get pretty fish that are just not show standard or have some sort of flaw and you don't have to kill fish for no reason.
true alo i have not bred my guys yet and i am not culling but i know many people who do....
i love the idea on the order form...

 

[groupiekilla06]

After 4 months I culled my teeniest (less than 1/4 inch!) zebra danio fry because their much larger brothers and sisters (1 inch) were eating all the food before they could and the runts looked like they hadn't grown much after hatching. A couple of them had swimbladder issues where they would swim sideways too. I wanted to give them a chance though.

A while back I saw a breeder who posted pictures of his culls. He culled 20 out of 25 four month old bettas because they weren't the right color. That sickened me. He apologized for the offense and said he wouldn't post pictures of the fish he culled in the future though. I'm still sad about it.

 

[Amunet]

After 4 months I culled my teeniest (less than 1/4 inch!) zebra danio fry because their much larger brothers and sisters (1 inch) were eating all the food before they could and the runts looked like they hadn't grown much after hatching. A couple of them had swimbladder issues where they would swim sideways too. I wanted to give them a chance though.

A while back I saw a breeder who posted pictures of his culls. He culled 20 out of 25 four month old bettas because they weren't the right color. That sickened me. He apologized for the offense and said he wouldn't post pictures of the fish he culled in the future though. I'm still sad about it.

Are you talking about cracker? I remember him posting a pic of the fish he was going to cull. Think he said they were going to be fed to a larger fish or something.

 

[NightLad]

the drawing is a bit of an exaggeration

These 2 have spoon heads
>>> broken image links

This is what the head should ideally look like
>>> broken image links

Hi everybody.

I have my tank setup all ready for my bouncing baby Betta. I've even contacted the transhipper I'd be using, and he will let me pick the Betta up at his house which will save me lots of $$$. That means I'll really get a $5 from Thailand shipping fee. Yay! (I guess its less work for him, too.)

So, I am currently hunting the AquaBid site every so often, just checking out what I like and don't like.

This thread has been very helpful. However, I would really like to see the example pictures of a 'proper' Betta head vs. a Spoon shape. Just to be clear.

Can anybody help? Thank you!

 

[nakomis90]

the drawing is a bit of an exaggeration

These 2 have spoon heads
>>> broken image links

This is what the head should ideally look like
>>> broken image links

Hi everybody.

I have my tank setup all ready for my bouncing baby Betta. I've even contacted the transhipper I'd be using, and he will let me pick the Betta up at his house which will save me lots of $$. That means I'll really get a $5 from Thailand shipping fee. Yay! (I guess its less work for him, too.)

So, I am currently hunting the AquaBid site every so often, just checking out what I like and don't like.

This thread has been very helpful. However, I would really like to see the example pictures of a 'proper' Betta head vs. a Spoon shape. Just to be clear.

Can anybody help? Thank you!

keep checking ill go look ive got a proper pic somewhere