Want To Learn More About Breeding Bettas...

[comocrayfish5]

Can you tell me the user on eBay? Sounds like a good deal. I know someone who has a old dirty 10 gallon in a corner with some paper on it. I'm hoping she'll let me have it but we don't know each other well. I hope it can be used as a Grow Out/Breeding Tank. Hope I get it!

I don't plan on breeding for a couple years but it's always good to have a extra 10gal and save $20.

here is the link. mine has not some yet, it is at a post office in another town
http/www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320842862637&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:MOTORS:3160#ht_948wt_1340

for the tank i get them at walmart- if you have walmarts in canada- for like 12.97$

 

[Sly13Cat]

We do have a lot of Wal-Marts in Canada (I have 1 within walking distance and one within driving distance of 5 minutes. They're everywhere.). Actually that's where I got my 10 gal kit less than a month ago for 40$. Very good deal. Came with hood, filter, lights, food and conditioner. But they don't sell tanks alone. There's a Big Al's near me where they sell 10 gals for 18$ which is basically 20$ with tax. So the tank will hopefully be a save of a few dollars but I'll have to buy everything else separately and the hood will be about 30$ by itself. That eBay user is sold out of Micro worms but it doesn't matter because by the time I start breeding (2 Years Min) I'm sure they'll all be gone. But I'll just keep researching and learning about new methods until I can successfully breed Bettas professionally. We plan on selling them online by using a new website that we're creating. It'll take a while to gain some publicity though. I'll hopefully post a forum linking everyone to it so they can see.

 

[LeviathanGirl]

I forgot to mention that you can also breed and raise them in clear plastic storage bins using a submersible heater and sponge filter. Their cheep, easy to clean and you can easily punch a hole through the lid for tubing and chords. Many of the people I know in the betta hobby have used them instead of tanks.

 

[OldMan47]

Sly13cat:
Your external link does give a new perspective on breeding Betta splendens. I no longer breed them but find the article quite interesting. I must think about what it would mean to me as a breeder of fish. In the meantime you have some good comments from other members basically telling you to forget trying to start from scratch. If you want good bettas, start with good bettas.

A quick side comment. Microworms are not to buy and use, they are to buy and reproduce. I always have a culture of both microworms and banana worms going. It takes only about 30 minutes every 2 weeks to always have more of both than you could possibly need. A simple culture can be started using nothing but a bit of cheap oatmeal and some yeast, the kind you use for baking bread works fine. Make the oatmeal a bit on the moist side and let it cool. Place a 1 cm layer in the bottom of a cheap container, like a used betta cup. (I use a container from the dollar store at 4 for a dollar.) On the top of that oatmeal place a sprinkling of yeast. (An envelope of yeast lasts me for several batches) Add a spoonful of the existing culture to the new culture. Wait a week or so before the new culture is producing enough to feed a new hatch of bettas.
A culture that is in full production. Just use the ones crawling up the side of your container.

Note A culture must breathe. Unless you cover the culture you will get fruit fly maggots. I use a small piece of cloth to act as a window screen and prevent them contaminating my culture. The hole in my lid is maybe 2cm on a side and a piece of cloth works fine to protect it from fruit flies. Just tape it in place using cellophane tape on your lid like this.

Yes I label my cultures and lids. With both microworms and banana worms being produced every 2 weeks, it can be hard to keep track without labels. Even adult fish love these as a treat between needs as fry food and it helps keep the cultures in robust health for when I need them for fry. The 30 minutes every 2 weeks to renew my cultures is essential. If I don't do that, as has happened to me, the cultures die off and I must start again.

 

[Sly13Cat]

So the 30 mins a week are for the starting of the new culture right? I plan on buying a plastic container because I can probably get a 30 gallon plastic container for way less than a glass one. One question, how to you light a tank like that? Also, can you start a microworm culture from scratch without buying it from dealers? I plan on feeding infusoria to the fry for the first week by adding java moss and having them feed on that infusoria until 1 week when I'll start feeding microworms until I waen them on adult food. I plan on selling them to local breeders at auctions because there's a few fish communities near me, using my website which I'll show to everyone here once it's completed and using kijiji for local sales.

 

[Sly13Cat]

Anyone have any advice?

 

[OldMan47]

I found a thread in this section called microworms and filled it with pictures on my own culturing method. Here is a link.

 

[Sly13Cat]

Anything else?