Beginners Betta Breeding?

[JohnW171]

Hi Guys,
I recently got a 30 litre Ocra MT30 on the cheap (w/ heater and filter). Was thinkin about breeding Betta fish. I have two other tanks (240l & 60l), but never bred anythin before. Been reading a lot on the net but it kinda confused me more than anythin. Can anyone lay it all out for me? ?

Is that tank alright for this purpose?
And what else do I need to do?

 

[kelly528]

Okay I don't kow much about breeding bettas because I have never attempted it but I can tell you a few things...

-Don't use pet-store bettas as breeding stock. They will be on the older side and since their genetic backgrounds are a mystery, you have no idea how healthy the fry will be.

-You will need live food. A lot. You can hatch BBS and culture live microworms, vinegar eels, etc.

-A single spawn can yield well over a hundered fry. You will need separate tanks for all the males. somewhere around 50, according to the math.

-Make sure you have a buyer for the fry before you start breeding!

 

[aly_starh]

^^ agreed.
this is an extract from my website, it is the quick version, bhut you will need to research loads:
The decision of breeding bettas should not be taken lightly, it requires extensive research and much thought, time and money.
2 of the healthiest bettas should be used. Each betta will require conditioning; this is basically feeding them lots of live foods.

A spawning tank should be set up (5g-10g) with a heater set at 29C,and a sponge filter. The female should be put into a chimney until the male has built a bubble nest, after 2 days the female can be released.
After spawning takes place, remove the female immediately, the male might kill her if he feels threatened. 3 days later fry should be free swimming, it is now time to remove the male or he will eat them.

Whilst taking care of the fry, it is also important to check on the health of the parents, carry on feeding them live foods for 2 days or so before weaning them back onto dry food.

Feed the fry 3 times a day with high protein live food, micro worms, vinegar eels, baby Brine Shrimp are all excellent.
For the first 2 weeks tank should not be cleaned, but after this switch on the sponge filter and do daily water changes of around 50%. The fry will dramatically grow with water changes.

At around 6 weeks, start feeding fry dry food, along with the live cultures. By this time they will have developed their labyrinth organs. It’s now also the time to separate all the males into individual containers as they will start being aggressive. These containers should be 1l minimum, and daily water changes will need to be done. As there is no heater for these, they will need to be kept in a warm room.

At around 16 weeks they can be sold on.

 

[JohnW171]

Right........
Dono are there too many warm places around my house.

Dono if i'll go with the bettas at all yet.
Any other egglayers that are easy to breed?

I hear corys, danios or gouramis are relatively easy.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi JohnW171

If you would like to start out breeding egg layers, I'd recommend corydoras. Here's an article that will give you an idea what to expect with them:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=165155

C. aeneus, either bronze or albino are good corydoras to start out with. Feel free to ask more questions about them in the Corydoras section of the forum.

 

[OldMan47]

I would suggest that an easy egg layer to start with are rainbow cichlids, Herotilapia multispinosa. The fry are large compared to a betta and the care they require is much easier to supply than a hundred quart jars that need multiple water changes per week each. Once they have bred, you just siphon off the number that you want to rear into a separate container, I use a 10 gallon tank, and feed microscopic food until they get big enough for commercial foods. As adults, they look like this.

When they have fry they look like this, breeding colors showing. You can see about 20 fry in the picture too.

 

[LauraFrog]

Hey OldMan, how big are they as adults and where do you get them (never seen them before but now I'm tempted!)

I wouldn't recommend that a first time breeder of egglayers go with bettas... they are too difficult to breed TBH.

 

[OldMan47]

Bettas are really very easy to breed. They are a bit hard to raise because of the intra-specific aggression issues though.
Herotilapia multispinosa are easy to find at the LFS from time to time. They are not one of the basic staple fish that they have on hand all the time like guppies, bettas or platies but they are far from rare. I got mine from my son who also breeds them. They grow to a full size of 3 to 5 inches long. Each fish is an individual and acquires his own maximum size. The picture of my male in breeding colors is the smallest of the adults in my tank at 3 inches and is seemingly done growing. The female he usually mates with is about 4 1/2 inches long. They are said to be the smallest of the "true" cichlids, as opposed to dwarf cichlids. I wouldn't know a true cichlid from a dwarf cichlid unless I read the label on the tank. I try to keep mine in a tank in the mid 70s F and don't take especially careful care of the fish, just regular feeding and occasional water changes to keep things clean.
When I want to kick off a breeding frenzy in my tank, I cover the entire surface of the water with duckweed from my other tanks in at least a single layer but more often 2 or 3 plants deep. The rainbows will clean up every scrap of it because they really love their veggies. In the process of clearing the duckweed, they come into breeding condition and will often breed before it is all gone.

 

[GuppyGoddess]

Hi,

I have four bettas (two male and two female) and am *so* tempted to breed them. The reality is, though, that a person will need A LOT of time and room to house all the bettas because all the males cannot be kept in the same tank. Just like you see at the petstore, in your home, the males will have to be kept in individual jars to prevent them attacking each other. They also need 100% daily water changes and trust me, that is A LOT of work. Fun for a week or two then the novelty wears off. . .

That said, I haven't entirely ruled out breeding my bettas. . .in the meantime, however, I'm going to breed my guppies

 

[JohnW171]

Got some kribs, n we'll see how that goes.

Thanks for the help.