WHAT ARE THE DEAL WITH BREEADING VEILTAILS

[RodsSexiMami]

What is the deal with breeding veil tails both of my males are veil tails is that why they wont breed or something?

 

[AlexsDaddy]

The deal with breeding veil tails is that there is already tens of thousands of sick veil tails rotting away on store shelves, and that's probably under-estimating by alot. The only thing anyone would do by breeding VT's would be to add to the number of mistreated bettas that are already out there sick and dying on the store shelves. No matter what the quality or color, they are still veil tails. Even if someone tried to sell them on a website, it would be doubtful that anyone would buy them cause the shipping alone would be more then the value of the fish.

 

[BettaMomma]

Exactly as AD said -
You shouldn't even try to breed them.

 

[mm_simb]

I agree with both of you. I hate when people even try to breed VTs...

 

[BettaMomma]

RSM - the entire reason me having for almost every single betta that I have is because of the horrid condition they wound up in before they came to be with me. These poor things sit around on shelves just waiting for someone to take them home, with no instructions on how to care for them - just a plastic cup and water. It's incredibly pathetic, actually.

One of my bettas is blind, another one is furiously trying to grow a severed off tail back, others have battled back from such things as acute viral hemmoraghic septicemia and the list goes on.

I saved all these bettas because of the way they were - pathetic, sick, lonely, sad, in pain, bored, cramped, dying, etc. - I would have 1000 of them if I had room. I've passed on ones with eyes missing, severe swim bladder malfunctions so they either swam under the water and then just floated back up or just gave up and rested on their side, had gill diseases so bad they looked like they were flaring constantly, were missing entire fins, not just pieces of them, etc. etc. It breaks my heart.

I'm pretty sure that for every story I tell like this that there are a thousand little guys who have suffered and died a pretty horrible death.

Please don't add to the problem.

 

[GuppyDude]

there is nothing wrong with breeding veiltails in my opinion, but u better be absolutely sure u can care for all of the fry or find all 100+ of them good homes (not ur lfs)

i have plans to breed my veiltail male with my crowntail girl, they are a perfect match. i know this could leave me with a number of differant tail types, but iv also made it my first priority to know what i will do with them once they are grown, i make sure i plan backwards and prepare myself for what could happen.

it would be much easier to buy good quality fish and breed some good quality fry so that u will ahve no problems finding them all good homes.

 

[BettaMomma]

I agree with you to some extent GuppyDude - BUT... it's like breeding guinea pigs. Why would you when there are thousands upon thousands of them out there ALREADY that can't find good homes?

I just don't understand why.

 

[mm_simb]

I agree...if anyone wants a VT they can go to any Petstore and get one. People want quality bettas more and I highly doubt anybody knows 100+ people that want VTs. It's also much easier to give/sell quality bettas to a LFS or LPS because they don't have any.

 

[RandomWiktor]

Wait a minute... are you asking why the fish won't breed, or why you shouldn't breed them? You said:

both of my males are veil tails is that why they wont breed

Please do tell me you're not trying to breed two males... that might explain why right there. However, I'm assuming this is a miscommunication.

Have you tried breeding and failed and you think it is because the males are VTs? That's the impression I am getting from your post. If they're not breeding, the conditions probably aren't right; there is a sticky thread at the top of this forum on breeding bettas.

HOWEVER

As everyone said, no one should be breeding veiltails. They're like those bunnies they give out on easter or those custom mix breeds; they're a fad right now, and as a result, many are being mistreated, and no responsible person would breed them.

 

[nashnut]

I hate to say this, but the only difference between the VT, CT's and HM's are the way they end up. The VT sit on shelves while the CT's & HM's get culled before they live too long. Only the top few CT's & HM's make it to market. The very best are kept by the breeders which means that what we see and buy is not the very best and never will be. We breed, we keep the best and pass on the others so that the chain continues on, and on.

Think about it. The breeder gets 300 fry.... he culls 200... he keeps perhaps 4 maybe none.... you buy one... with a spawn sister which might be number 99 on the best scale of that group. The male might be number 35 perhaps.... you're breeding backwards at that point as you are not breeding best to best. Your spawn is 75... you keep them all alive. You keep the best and pass on the others... again the chain goes on and on. The reason these fish have such large spawns is because only one or two are meant to survive in the wild... not all 300 or whatever the spawn might be.

Just think... a cod fish spawns and lays approximately 3 million eggs of which just a handful survive. That says a lot.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

well, soon, there will be no veil tails. probably in 20 years, halfmoons and deltas will take their place