Breeding

[BethK]

I have a Veil betta, could I breed him with females from other types of betta or does he have to go with veil?

 

[tom130691]

yep you can

 

[silverrabbit]

You can mix, but you'd end up with a bit of a mish-mash of tail types, lol

 

[BethK]

So, if I can't find a female VT, would it be better to find a female betta who is from one of the longer tailed family?

 

[silverrabbit]

TBH, it would be worthwhile investing in a nice male, like a halfmoon or crowntail, and then find a female to match. VT's are so common in pet shops that you might find it hard to rehome all the babies, whereas people are becoming more and more interested in the other tail types

Ebay is a good place to find nice bettas, they will cost a fair bit more than prob a standard VT, but you'll be able to home them with much more ease.

 

[BethK]

Means I have to buy another tank

I have an 18ltr one, it would be too small to section half off for females and males

Or I could scout on ebay for another tank.

My LFS has a massive load of female bettas coming in, well, when the flights to and from the UK are lifted. She will be over stocked with them, as another order was delayed, so two orders in one!

 

[silverrabbit]

Hopefully you'll get a nice choice then The problem with LFS females is that they are usually all Plakats.

I'd say go for another tank, hehe. If you got a larger one, say 3ft/100litres, you could divide it so that on each end you have a male in a section of 15-20litres, and in the middle you could have a larger section of 60-70 litres for a group of 5-6 girls

 

[BethK]

It's space and money that is the issue, I've seen another 30ltr tank I can afford. I'm currently bidding on 4 crowntail females on ebay, £6 so far but it is a 5 day bid

I have come across something like this breeding trap/betta container. Would that be too cruel for breeding? Or should I get a proper breeding trap? I have a breeding net already, which I thought I could use, if I got some females and one of them was too feisty?

 

[silverrabbit]

That sort of thing is OK for a temporary measure (sick fish, aggression and needing time out etc), but isn't suitable for long term housing unfortunately. Females will really need a minimum of 10gal tank, as they need the space to all establish their own territories and it has to be well planted so the line of sight is broken and bullied fish can hide. Best number is 5-6 bettas

You can't breed in a breeding net/trap either. The spawning tank needs to be around 10gals as well, because you need space for the chimneyed female, the corner for the male to build his nest, and planty of hidey holes for the female as during spawning it can get a bit aggressive and she will need somewhere to escape to. Hope that helps

 

[BethK]

That helps a lot, thanks x

I am now thinking then, to keep my breeding net as a safety measure, in case one of the females gets narky with the others.

I have just seen these breeding pair of crowntailson ebay for a fab price. But it's the homing of them that is the issue, #40## it!

I think I'd rather start from scratch though, with a few females etc. Will help me learn in the long run x

 

[silverrabbit]

Oh, another thing to consider with space issues is that you will need a heated, regularly water-changed 20-30gal grow-out tank for fry, individual jars for the males once they start to bicker and become identifiable, lots of live food like worm cultures (from ebay) and baby brine shrimp, blood worms etc etc.

It is handy to have a trap spare just in case. I have a couple of moody girls who needed time out to learn their places

 

[BethK]

Ahh so the 'trap' is the eqv to the 'naughty step'

When you say jars, hw big/small?

I have a 2ft tank which has no set up or lid to it and I can't find a lid to fit it. I am thinking to keep that as a grow out tank, get a good filter/heater for it and possibly cover it with netting, rather than a lid.

 

[silverrabbit]

You'd probably be better off with a condensation tray rather than mesh. The fry will be sensitive to differences in air temp to water temp.

Jars need to be about 1-2litres each, and need water changes 1-2 times per day to stop ammonia building up etc. They will need to be kept warm too I don't think a 2ft tank will be big enough for a grow-out tank. The fish give off a hormone as they are growing that will inhibit growth in other fish (kind of like a warning indication system to tell them there's not enough space for fully grown fish) if not diluted enough through space and frequent water changes. A 3-4ft tank would be much better, and then you could maybe have the males in large plastic cups with holes in for water circulation.

 

[Assaye]

If considering breeding, there are a lot of things to think about:

+ Unmatched bettas (those with different tail types) or bettas that you don't know the heritage of (so where you don't know about their parents/grand parents) present a huge risk of giving you "mongrel" fish that don't have desireable traits. These are very difficult to find homes for and you may end up getting a higher rate of "culls" (bettas that are too sickly or deformed to be sold and may require being euthanised).

+ You cannot house the males and females together and expect them to get on with it. It's not like breeding guppies or something whre you leave them un a tank and reap the rewards when they decide to get jiggy. If you put them together before they are ready to breed they are very likely to either fight or become very upset and stressed from being kept together. They are solitary animals.

+ The set-up could end up being quite expensive. You need a spawning tank (10 gallons should be fine), a grow out tank (a 3 foot tank is best as it give the fry room and hopefully will stop them getting stressed from being crowded) and lots of small tanks, tubs or jars (at least 0.5 gallon each, IMO) for the males and feisty females as they start fighting. Everything needs to be heated (so you'll need a very hot room or a heating system that can cope with multiple tanks) and you need to have a method of filtering each tank/tub or some other way of keeping the ammonia down (so daily water changes on potentially 100 jars or tubs).

+ It is a lot of work and a lot of mouths to feed. You need dedicated fry food and live food cultures for something like baby brine shrimp. You'll need to dedicate maybe a couple of hours a day to water changes and general maintainence. You'll probably lose money because selling on the babies can be very hard and you might not meet your costs.

Don't go into it without an excessive amount of research. Join several dedicated betta forums, find local breeders and ask them how they do it, look online for breeders and e-mail them for advice. Ignore people that say it's "easy" and you just "put them together and let them get on with it". However if after a considerable amount of research and with a clear plan for housing the babies and finding homes for them when the time comes you still want to give it a go, good luck.

Remember - prepare everything in advance, even the stuff you might not need for a month or so. If you wait until the last minute and don't manage to get something sorted in time, you're just failing the little creatures you have helped bring into the world.

 

[BethK]

I've picked up alot from this forum, I also went to visit a local man who breeds Bettas and I got to watch a spawning 'ritual' today, rather interesting.

He's offered to donate me a big enough tank for the fry, if it's a route that I wish to go down. He has a few big paying customers (chain stores and private collectors) that he said would be willing to take on big stocks, if it's something I want to do. He has even said he will go through my inventory before trying to breed. He does say it's very important to match a pair, therefore, you need a min of 3 - 4 females, for him to chose from. If I can not find female VTs, he will loan me his. But I am hoping to purchase some CTs, fingers crossed.

I am really going to delve into th research, before I actually do any of this. Time isn't an issue, space on the other hand I only have so many work tops

Least I'm looking into this before committing x