Beginer Breeder!

[ninjaboy]

Hey everyone! Im new to this forum, so please be nice =). Well I was interested in breeding bettas, which I have heard isn't easy, but isn't hard, and I wanted to know if a 5 gallon tank would work. Im going to have to be selective as to which fry to keep when they have spawned and what not, but I want to know if a 5 gallon tank would be sufficient. Along with that Ill get a 25 W heater, sponge filter, air pump, tube, and the gauge(or what you wanna call the thing that regulates the air flow), the cup, and plants.


The funny thing is that I just recently bought a female betta, and I thought she had ich because there was a white dot by her anal fin. I just realized that means shes ready to breed or lay eggs. =) Im just waiting for my fish.

Now here is the thing. At my LFS, I have fallen in love with their bettas. They're the Metallica Hybrid Imbellis. They are beautiful, most of them that is, and I want to breed them with my female. I am also getting two males from a breeder online,which is a mix between a CT and a Plakat. Along with the males will be two sibling females.

Any pointers as to where to start out with breeding would be great!

Thanks for any replies. Thanks!

PS>> I will be buying containers for the males when they get bigger, but is it necessary? I've talked to another guy at my LFS, and he said he has bred bettas and kept them in a tank together. From the ones he selected, he has had no fin damage and very little actual fighting. Thanks again!

 

[Dart]

you may want to read up on the sticky in this forum, there is a page for general breeding questions

 

[splashluff]

hrm. I say, definitely check out the sticky on this board about Betta spawning!!!

To answer your questions ~ just because I'm bored right now ~ a 5g will suffice for roughly 1 week, during the actual spawning and until the fry are free-swimming. With a 5g and with a decent-sized spawn, you'll be cleaning the tank every 1-2 days and doing continuous water changes. After they fry start to grow, you NEED a BIG grow-out tank. 20 gallons is the bare minimum!! For larger spawns, 30-50gallons is the ideal size. By 10 weeks, basically right when you can start id-ing the males and females, you will NEED to start jarring the aggressive larger males (Bettas are not called Siamese Fighting Fish for no reason, they LOVE to rip up each others fins). Within a few weeks from then, all of the males will need to be jarred. Your jars will need to be at the very least 1/2 gallon, therefore, if you have a spawn of 100, you'll have at least 50 1/2 gallon jars sitting around! Many of the females will also need to be jarred after 10 weeks, as the larger girls will be picking on the younger girls. ASK SYNIRR! She had a spawn of 200, and all of the boys and many of the girls are in seperate 1 gallon jars because a LOT of the girls were trying to rip each other up.

I don't know who told you that spawning Bettas is "not hard"! IT IS HARD! It takes tonnes of time, patience, money, preparation and practice. If I were you, I would not start with a cross-breeding... I'd start with a nice pair, like 2 Super-Deltas or 2 CT's, just to get your feet wet. Then decide if you want to start crossing lines and researching Betta genetics and such.

 

[ninjaboy]

Awesome! Thanks!