tons of new bettas

[iloveyou]

ok heres what i got..

2 male plakats... green/yellow/blue
1 female plakat

1 orange male
1 orange female
1 white male
2 white females
1 black/orage female

1 turquoise male
1 turquoise female

1 blue female

i also got a culture of microworms

and thats all for $40 CDN

www.bcbetta.com

I highly recommend her, great fish room, great quality fish, very nice person

pics tomorrow (i sense some nominations)

 

[iloveyou]

heres how i got them set up now..

in 1 10 gallon... split into 3 parts...


male + female turquoise

orangle male + blue female

male + female plakat

in the 8 gallon with females,

2 pure white females, orange/white female, red/black female
along with the 4 females in there alrdy

2 about 2 gallon vases...
1 pure white male, 1 'reject' plakat... (he was fat and didnt have short bottom fin like my other plakat, but i bought him anyways)

all the females in the split 10 are in breeding traps and the males are showin their stuff.. hopefully soon the females will start to 'want' to breed..

pics tomorrow !!

 

[bkk_group]

can't wait to see the pics i think i know what the plakats look like as last time i visited her i made sure she showed me all of them. good luck with the "pedigree" fish

 

[iloveyou]

dont ask me how, but mr plakat jumped like 6 inches high over the divider, then over the next divider, and into the turquoise's domain... luckily, they stayed far apart and neither were injured..... the top of the water is like 6 inches from top of divider... i donno how he got over... couldnt have slipped under or through the side... weird weird weird..... there are pics of what they look like on www.bcbetta.com .. on page 14 the 'special' page, i have an orange one, and a white one, just like the ones in the pic... they look so much better in real life tho

 

[juliethegr8t]

Just an fyi - I wouldn't breed for awhile, IMO it's a very good idea to wait a bit before you breed new fish. For one, they could have diseases that aren't apparent yet, but also I just think it's a good idea to let them get used to their new homes! Wouldn't you want to? I like to wait a month, but that's just me.

Also - if you're going to be breeding, condition them first. Don't just feed them normal food and then suddenly pop them in a breeding tank (you do have one?).

You have room for all the fry from these pairs? That's a ton of fish!!

Congrats, can't wait to see pics.

 

[iloveyou]

i have the females in breeding traps... the breeder says she feeds them live brine shrimp.... im gonna feed them freeze dried brine shrimp and microworms... the females are in breedin traps... so theyre not gonna breed yet... ill wait till the females get a bit fatter and stripe up... bkk group can take some of the babies lol... i can always make room if needed or buy another 10 gallon tank....

that is IF i get babies.

even my moms getting into it... she bought a vase, some rocks, and told me to go buy her a betta tomorrow lol... she actually doesnt mind them all over the house....

 

[juliethegr8t]

If you want to breed, then yes, go buy another 10 gallon. You have to have a seperate tank for breeding.

IMO, freeze dried foods aren't going to be enough to condition them, and microworms are too small (they're ideal for feeding fry...) You need at least frozen foods, live is best.

If you mean breeding traps as in the type for livebearers, those are much too small for an adult betta. A female just isn't gonna be happy in there.

I don't think you realize how many babies you could end up with. From just ONE spawn, you might end up with 200+ baby bettas... and the males will all need to be jarred seperately when they start acting aggressive. They need a growout tank if possible too.. 200 fish won't be able to live in a 10 gallon for long.

 

[iloveyou]

indeed... but... IF IF IF i get 200 babies, not all will survive i can almost guarantee you, i can easily get another 10 if i need to, IF IF IF i get babies i will be able to get things for them so they will be fine, but

but but but but

at a closer look, the plakat has a few bites out of his tail, the orange has 1/2 her tail gone, and the turquoise is totally fine... them crazy plakats... tomorrow im gonna try and find some sort of mesh so i can make another divider.... crazy plakat... alrdy causing problems... both the males are swimming fine, and flaring at their females.... if a breeding trap is too small for the females, what should i use?.... any ideas? the females look alright in the traps i donno

im deciding if i should put all the females in 1 tank, and condition them all together, or just leave em in their traps... i alrdy have 8 females in the 8 gallon, they all doin fine.... i have a 3 gallon i could put the 3 females in, but no heater for them ... i donno how well theyd do without the heater... hm hm hm ... ill see how things go tomorrow... im getting a splitter so i can run air into all 3 parts of the 10, and imma go to a craft store and see if they have anything i could use as a divider, since my crazy plakat likes to attack others ... if he doesnt behave he can live in a vase with the other plakat, and the pure white male can breed with the female plakat... ill figure things out... everything will be fine eventually.. just might take awhile... didnt expect to bring home 15 better either lol.. expected to bring home 4 ..... meh... meh meh meh meh meh maaaaaaaa

 

[juliethegr8t]

You could always try putting them in a tank together, but I dunno if I'd risk it. Female bettas are pretty unpredictable, and some are just mean to each other! They'd probably be ok without a heater if your house stays at a fairly warm, constant temp. You could also put them in seperate kritter keepers - that's what I do. At Walmart they're only a few bucks each.

As for materials for a divider, I recommend the plastic mesh type stuff. I don't know what it's called... craft canvas maybe. It's got large holes though so allows for good circulation. Also is cheap and can be cut to size.

15 bettas... wow. That's as many as I have gained in almost a year. I bet you're feeling a little in over your head! Good luck.

 

[bkk_group]

my advice? take it one step at a time, only breed on pair at a time and don't breed again until you have gotten rid of the bettas from first time around prepare everything you will need before hand, have at least a 5 gallon breeding tank, and at least a 20 gallon grow out tank ready. you have a lot of bettas right now and keeping them happy, healthy and alive is the most important thing right now. they are all young fish so mating them right away is not an issue. it's a lot of work taking care of fry too. not to discourage you as breeding bettas in an awesome experience but the more things you have in place before you jump in, the more sucessful you will be. i agree that micro worms should only be fed to new borns and fry as they are too small for adults. frozen over freeze dried any day as well. hikari betta pellets are a great staple food for adult fish and i recommend them but make sure you vary their diet as well, frozen blood worms are a good secondary food but don't rely on them on a daily basis. water changes will become a big part of your life and try to make them a routine that you stick with. with our juveniles in square glass "avalon dairy" milk jars we do 100% water changes every 3 days. the split tanks get 100% water changes every 7 days. the tank bottoms are cleaned of debris on a daily basis in between. we have good luck with using a water tank (plastic rubbermaid 18 gallon tub with lid) that we age our water in. aging your water (ie. letting it sit for a few days) if far less stressful than just using tap water that you throw water declorifier in. good luck and congrats again on the new additions.

 

[iloveyou]

heres what i do... i only keep the females in heated tanks.. had bad experiences with diseases without..... i have males in kritter keepers, and these cheap 1.5 or 2 gallon vases from micheals craft store... each one in the small things ie vase/kritter keeper get a piece of moss, and about a 10% water change everyday... i use a turkey baster and suck out all the poopies and water comes out with it... i use a 2 litre container with water in it to add water back to the bettas... i use water conditioner with that.... the split 10 is gonna get poopies sucked out everyday, and thatll probably be about 10% of its water everyday aswell... right now, im concentrating on keeping the females happy, tryin to get their stripes so theyre happy.... ive used freeze dried brine shrimp with the week old females, and 1 of them has her stripes, aswell as one of the new ones i jus got today, (red steel) has stripes aswell.. and ive only had her for 5-6 hours... i guess the microworms are too small... thought they would jus munch a big cloud of it, but they seem to love the brine shrimp... i have tublifex worms in cube form that they love also.... the 8 females in the 8 gallon seem to be ok.... one of them has 1 scale a little raggedy but shes a pig and wants to eat all the food all the time... shes the green one with stripes... they probably wont be ready to breed for a month AT LEAST... so i still have time to decide exactly what i'm going to do... bkk will help me out with fry if i get too many right ... hope so lol... goin tomorrow to get batteries for webcam, and air splitter, get mama her betta, and look for somethin at the craft store to be used as a divider... the plakats are so wicked... theyve got to be my fav.. them all white ones are crazy too

 

[juliethegr8t]

Just wanted to add one more thing... just because a female betta is striped doesn't mean she's happy. She is either showing dominance, or showing submission to the male. However, she may just be showing submission because she's skurred of the big bad boys! I have some girls who stripe vertically and then don't want to have anything to do as far as breeding. If you want happy gals, just watch them for good color, healthy appetites, and lots of activity. Stripes aren't a good indicator of happiness, IMO.

 

[iloveyou]

eeep... well.... ill get pics tomorrow... they are all pretty bright and excitingly colored now.... as i say its gonna be at least a month until i even consider trying to breed them.. theyre only 3 months old now, and pretty small.. the pics will be tomorrow... just hooked up new comp and its working !! imma go to chat if u wanna come again

 

[iloveyou]

i think i got a good idea.... put each male into one of the vases..... and just leave the females in the 10.... thats probably a better idea... what ya think?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi iloveyou

You have so many good betta keepers helping you, that I can't add much to what they are telling you. You did say that you have microworms though, and since I use them to feed my cory fry I've come to think highly of them as a food source. Let me point you in the direction of some information about them.

You will need to set up your microworm cultures and have them running for a few weeks before they will provide much food, so give them your regular attention. Until you have betta fry, you can feed them to any guppy fry you may have. They will love them and thrive on them.

Here's a link to another thread where microworms are discussed:

http/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?sh...=0&#entry223372

I'd be very interested in hearing what you think of them.