Breeding

[carrera]

hello betta section

i havent had many posts here, ive been more of a silent reader for the last couple of months

since i joined this forum, ive been researching breeding bettas, its kind of the thing im aiming to 'specialise' in, in the world of fishkeeping. ive read pretty much everything i can find on this forum and ive visited a good few sites, read mucho contradicting info etc im down to just a few unclear things i was hoping for some help with.

im planning to breed a nice pair of CTs. the male, i already have. he came from my LFS, the guy who works there knows a breeder personally and got him especially for me. my female is coming from an online breeder sometime next week, she will be going in my Rekord for the time being (in sig). oh and i have a pic of her if anyone is interested

i have my grow out tank, 35 gallons (UK) but i dont have my breeding tank yet. something im still stumped on, is that ive read i need a 5-10g breeding tank, and a 40g growout tank. can i not just breed in the growout tank? is it too big? why?

when it comes the point where i have to seperate the males, someone said pint glasses? that seems small to me. what size jars have you used? where do you get them from? (UK?) how often/how much do you change the water? how do you heat them? (UK, again) do you just keep them in a warm room?

well thats pretty much my loose ends thread, any answers appreciated, also any comments and critisicms welcome

 

[Rediahs]

Note: I don't breed bettas so this is not from personal experience.

Since bettas really only need clean water to survive, a betta can be kept in small bowls of water such as a quart of water, as long as you give him water changes OFTEN, as in, 100% water change every day to keep it very clean. Many breeders keep their bettas in much smaller containers than we would ever think of keeping our pets in, because it's more efficient to keep them in small containers, and they do ok in them.

If you are uncomfortable with keeping them in such a small space (I know I would be) you can always get something bigger. It will just take more room. If it were me, I'd go with a gallon each, to give them lots of space but still stay fairly small. Just think... a gallon is only 6 inches cubed. That isn't a lot. Half a foot cubed makes up a gallon (if you were able to find a cube tank.)

I aim to breed bettas eventually too! It's just not possible right now in my current situation

 

[Taridan]

I would think the problem with them breeding in the 35 gallon is that a) The male might hae trouble convincing her to come to the bubble nest B) He might get stressed patrolling that much area, and c) Imagine how he'll feel keeping small fry afloat in that space? I've never bred, so this is all guess's on my part.

As for what to keep them in, I personally like majesticbettas.com if you click on the supply shop and then on the betta tubs they just seem a little bigger than the normal betta 'cups'.

 

[Joby]

Problems with using the grow-out to spawn in could be that the female could hide too well from the male and he will wear himself out trying to find her and patrol it. You could possibly divide it till the spawn is done then take the divider out later

I use beanie baby boxes from Ebay I usually jar at 6-10 weeks and then move them into divided or on to new homes soon as I can as its not a huge amount of space for them. I have a purpose built barracks which delivers heated and freshly filtered water every 2 hours to each beanie. Before I had this I used to sit beanies in a tank with just water and a heater to keep them warm. Space heating a room could also work. Its a lot of hard work water changing all those beanies I used to do 100% every other day to help them grow and to avoid ammonia build up. Imagine doing all that for a spawn of up to 500

Good luck if you go ahead with breeding

 

[carrera]

thanks for the great replies

i get why the grow out tank would be too big now, thanks. i may divide a section off, or just buy a new smaller tank.

also thanks for the advice on containers

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

dividing the grow out tank and then when they are ready removing the divide will be fine