Question About Fry

[MermaidMel]

OK so I've noticed some things that raise questions in my mind, I would like cleared up if poss?

There's all this talk about hundreds of eggs/fry, but when it comes to sell, I've seen breeders with only 5-10 males at most. What is happening to these others? Are they dying, or purposely culled? If the latter, what's this based on and what point can you tell they aren't growing as much as the others, and how do you cull them?

Sorry if that's a lot of weird questions, I just find it weird that out of 100's of fry, there are 5 males to sell.

Cheers

 

[Bubblenester]

Many eggs never make it to adulthood... there are a lot of deaths early on no matter how good you are. Some fry are born with deformities or problems, and even healthy ones are very fragile.

For my latest spawn, I have about 50 that made it- my live cultures all decided to crash at once, when they were very young. The "best of the best" I will be keeping or selling here, the second best will be given to friends who want a pretty betta but not necessarily breeding quality, and the third best will be sold to the LFS. So yes, out of my couple hundred fry that hatched, I'll probably only sell 5 or so males here (remember out of 50 fish only about 25 will be male!)

I hope a few other breeders chime in, because I'm curious as to where other peoples' fish end up going.