Breeding Bettas Supply List

[ncguppy830]

its been a childhood dream of mine to do this and i now have disposible income to waste on it. 1 have a male Vt and im getting a female and possibly aking a sorority, im prepared to buy more males and females if one pair cant breed and need know to find out a supply list for doing this i think a 20 gallon breeding tank? what else?

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Unless you have lots of room and time to spend on the Bettas don't do it.
 
But, I'll tell you some of the stuff that is needed (I've never bred Bettas so I don't know everything sorry.)
 
A 10 gallon tank for breeding.
At least 2 5-10 gallon tank for each Betta you are planning to breed from
At least 200 tanks for Betta fry, bear in mind most females will be able to stay in one tank so a 20-30 gallon tank would be good for this. All males need their own tanks.
Live food culture of brine shrimp to feed the fry
A heated room/tank heaters for every tank.
Bloodworms to condition the parents.
Lids for all of the tanks.
 
There's probably more things that I have forgotten. I'm sure Wildbetta will fill in the rest
 
Also, I recommend that you get your breeding pair/s from a Betta breeder.

 

[ncguppy830]

ok for the babies im giving them to my fiend who is a fish breeder,who maybe i can get a pair from as for room and tanks i have plenty of.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

You will still need to have temporary tanks for them until they're old enough to be sold.
Just make sure to research heaps first so you know what you're in for.

 

[ncguppy830]

yea research helps been lookiin in to this for a long time

 

[SamB]

A+ list blondie - we should combine this with my list..

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Its just some info I've picked up around the place.
You can if you want.......

 

[372xp]

Unless you have lots of room and time to spend on the Bettas don't do it.
 
But, I'll tell you some of the stuff that is needed (I've never bred Bettas so I don't know everything sorry.)
 
A 10 gallon tank for breeding.
At least 2 5-10 gallon tank for each Betta you are planning to breed from
At least 200 tanks for Betta fry, bear in mind most females will be able to stay in one tank so a 20-30 gallon tank would be good for this. All males need their own tanks.
Live food culture of brine shrimp to feed the fry
A heated room/tank heaters for every tank.
Bloodworms to condition the parents.
Lids for all of the tanks.
 
There's probably more things that I have forgotten. I'm sure Wildbetta will fill in the rest
 
Also, I recommend that you get your breeding pair/s from a Betta breeder.

"200 tanks" I'm guessing ncguppy is a first time breeder. If he can achieve a spawn of 200 fry and bring them to a stage where they need seperating into individual tanks then he truly is a master.
Bearing in mind approx 50% will be female you can half that number of tanks, also allowing for casualties you can half that again. At the end of the day when you come to seperate the juvenile males they can go in jars (Not for too long) before you move the final few survivors into there new homes.
Be carefull with young brine shrimp for the fry it can cause swim bladder problems. Infusoria or micro worms are good.
Good luck my freind.

 

[ncguppy830]

yup only fish ive bred were livebearers and black skirts but thanks for the advice everyone now could i get a 500 gallon heated pond to put them in because my old koi pond is done for and i could get some heaters and supplies?

 

[372xp]

Hmmm, dont know. Depends where you live in the states.

 

[Wildbetta]

Baby brine shrimp are the best food for betta fry after the first week.  There are many reports of ventral issues in betta fry that have been fed microworms(or the other worms) past the first week as a staple diet.  You do have to make sure you get the fully hatched baby brine shrimp though and not the shells cause the unhatched eggs can cause swim bladder issues for sure.  
 
Yeah most breeders can not get a spawn of 200 to the selling age but there is that possibility.  In a big enough tank, the females can be kept together until selling time except for some individuals that are way to aggressive for this.  The males will need to be kept in jars/containters of at least 1 gallon and floated in a bigger tank to maintain temperature and have daily water changes.  This does serve a purpose though as the males start to really exhibit their finnage once they are moved to the smaller containers and separated from their siblings.  
 
Your spawning pair should be conditioned on a high quality diet for 2 weeks before spawning.  It is best to use live or frozen foods fed twice a day for this.  Bloodworms, brine shrimp, glassworms, grindal worms, or blackworms are all great choices to use.
 
As far as the pond, I have heard of it being done but you woukd really have to monitor the temp of the water.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Baby brine shrimp are the best food for betta fry after the first week.  There are many reports of ventral issues in betta fry that have been fed microworms(or the other worms) past the first week as a staple diet.  You do have to make sure you get the fully hatched baby brine shrimp though and not the shells cause the unhatched eggs can cause swim bladder issues for sure.  
 
Yeah most breeders can not get a spawn of 200 to the selling age but there is that possibility.  In a big enough tank, the females can be kept together until selling time except for some individuals that are way to aggressive for this.  The males will need to be kept in jars/containters of at least 1 gallon and floated in a bigger tank to maintain temperature and have daily water changes.  This does serve a purpose though as the males start to really exhibit their finnage once they are moved to the smaller containers and separated from their siblings.  
 
Your spawning pair should be conditioned on a high quality diet for 2 weeks before spawning.  It is best to use live or frozen foods fed twice a day for this.  Bloodworms, brine shrimp, glassworms, grindal worms, or blackworms are all great choices to use.
 
As far as the pond, I have heard of it being done but you woukd really have to monitor the temp of the water.

 
I'm glad to read this, as someone in chat last night was asking, and this was my guess. (Told them such as well... don't want to be thought of as an expert, when I'm not.)  Didn't know about the shells part though.

 

[SamB]

I can imagine they would be hard to keep up with in a pond!

 

[372xp]

I would still head down the infusoria or microworms route. As with any babies the first feed is impotant and after they have used up their yolk sack it is best to give them something that is as near as normal for the species.
When raising young b.splendens it is important not to overfeed as this can cause problems. I have heard of people doing this on purpose so as to eliminate half the fry. At such a young age the quality of the water is crucial as is the temprature, it is quite comon to loose an entire brood to pneumonia.
Brine shrimp are too difficult untill the fish are older, Mine love them now but I wouldnt feed them to early on.
If you want to get this right read and research as much as you can. We are all here to give advice but everyones experience is different.
Read learn and choose the right path,
Good luck.

 

[ncguppy830]

the pond is in a greenhouse and had koi and chiclids in it before actually so ive been able to control the temp that for the advice and such i will start creatin g cultures now.