Running With The Bettas

[GuppyDude]

Nice pics.

If you do breed your bettas, keep in mind that rearing the fry will be a FULL time job. Because your school age i would suggest instructing one of your parents on how to feed the fry while your away, should school become an issue. You'll also need something to feed them on. BBS might be alright, but i would suggest a micro-worm culture be prepared a week or so in advance. Also, you'll need to be testing the water every 12 hours or more to ensure everything is in check, for this you'd be smart to buy a proper test kit (liquid).

Good Luck.

 

[FBTgirl]

I have a BBS hachery and frozen BBS for when they are older.

 

[afishdude]

do you have vinager eels or micro worms to feed them when they are young?

 

[GuppyDude]

They cant eat BBS when they first hatch, takes a week or so to be able to woof one of those down. Micro worms and vinager eels are a couple of the few things they'll eat at that size.

 

[lljdma06]

It is usually not the best idea to breed a betta from a LFS, even if he's a fancy variety. You can't verify the age with any certainty and sometimes the fancies that are found at LFS are retired breeding stock and perhaps too old to yield good results.

Raising bettas is a full-time job and I'm not even considering when the fry are tiny. What happens if you are successful and get 198 growing fry? Figure about nearly 100 juvie males to jar, perhaps? That would take up a lot of space. Finding them homes, this takes time, energy, and resources. Do you honestly feel like changing 100+ jars daily?

I will only consider the joys of betta breeding for one and only one time in my life. When I'm retired, the kids move out, and the mortgage is paid. Considering none of these things have happened yet (I'm not even married, and certainly don't have kids), it's going to be a long, long time before I have that kind of time on my hands.

llj

 

[garethusa]

not to rag on fbt, but i don't think she even does daily water changes. she doesn't even have a full water testing kit.

her babies are going to be cursed with bad food, less than favorable water conditions, and questionable genetics from the bettas she does have.

plus, she herself has said she doesn't have time to deal with fish. but she keeps getting them from family.

****

fbtgirl, next time, it would be polite to give your dad or mom or brother or sis who gives you a betta a really big big hug and kiss and say that it would be the right thing to do to return it to the LFS and get a refund. no hurt feelings and you will feel much much better.


****
because of her situation, it is very sad that she has babies now on her hands.

this is not a reflection on you fbtgirl but your situation.

 

[afishdude]

not to rag on fbt, but i don't think she even does daily water changes. she doesn't even have a full water testing kit.

her babies are going to be cursed with bad food, less than favorable water conditions, and questionable genetics from the bettas she does have.

plus, she herself has said she doesn't have time to deal with fish. but she keeps getting them from family.

****

fbtgirl, next time, it would be polite to give your dad or mom or brother or sis who gives you a betta a really big big hug and kiss and say that it would be the right thing to do to return it to the LFS and get a refund. no hurt feelings and you will feel much much better.


****
because of her situation, it is very sad that she has babies now on her hands.

this is not a reflection on you fbtgirl but your situation.

ok this is getting old, stop repeating it, its her choice if she wants to listen to advise or not.

 

[FBTgirl]

Bling is being spoiled and wont build a bubble nest so I am not going to breed

 

[nemosworld]

did you try putting in half of a styrofoam cup? or you can move a bubble nest from another male's tank

 

[FBTgirl]

The half cup is in there. But there was an extra leaf and he blew like 4 bubbles around it in 2 days... garethusa that hurts me that you do not believe I am cleaning the tanks every day. And since when do I have Betta fry on my hands?

 

[lljdma06]

because of her situation, it is very sad that she has babies now on her hands.

this is not a reflection on you fbtgirl but your situation.

She doesn't have betta babies, though she may still have guppy babies, unless she implemented the "llj survival of the fittest" method of rearing fry. Nobody said she had babies yet. Don't jump into conclusions. She is only considering breeding at this point, though she really shouldn't be as the male is of a questionable origin and shouldn't be used for breeding stock IMO. Just because it is has the lovely appearence of a Black and white butterfly HM, doesn't necessarily mean it is Homozygous for those specific gene traits. It can still manifest the physical appearence and only be Heterozygous, which may mean that it may or may not pass these lovely traits to his young, especially if the female being used isn't Homozygous for her respective traits either. Of course, I'm probably butchering the spelling of the genetic terminology. I'm a musician by trade and haven't used these terms since undergrad biology. The only way to be pretty positive is to use quality stock from a breeder who has been line-breeding. You then know the genetic ancestry of your fish and you can predict the appearence of the fry with some certainty. But stock like that is relatively expensive, especially for young students.

Good for you on making the choice not to breed. Sometimes the fish just won't cooperate and it is pointless to pursue the issue further. He is a lovely fish and just enjoy him for what he is, a gorgeous specimen. Once you have things in your life settled, have a read at the pinned topics here or check out this book, Labyrinth fish by Horst Linke. A bit dated, but a nice book that details all the anabantoid species. It gives an account on how to breed betta splendens. Also do a search here on Adoption threads or spawn logs. This will turn up some past spawn logs. Some incredible logs include Synirr's first spawn (where I got the huge fry survival number, which was complete craziness ) and Wubmybetta's DTPK log. Some impressive breeding went on there, but they are very detailed in all the aspects of breeding including stock acquisition and fry rearing. There are tons more, but I can't remember them off-hand, those two stick out.

llj

 

[garethusa]

no, i was simply referring to FBT saying she had a bloom of baby guppies the other day.

FBT i am sorry if i hurt your feelings. it's not my intention. (((hugs to you)))) that's not the way i wanted my email to come out.

i think i ask you every day if you change the water but you never answer me so i don't know if you do or not.



and if i lived in your neighborhood, i would simply just buy you the water test kit myself so that you can get going with your fish projects.

***

for now, i am only assuming since you don't answer me back that you are not taking care of the fishies - whether they be bettas or guppies or what else you may have - appropriately. as you can see, even with having everything on hand, i still had a fishy die last weekend. so it happens to everyone.

***

yes please don't breed your bettas. as tempting and fun as it may sound, from what you have shared with us, it doesn't seem you are equipped with the necessary items and time to do this.

....

no hard feelings, i hope.

i know you are excited about fishies just as i am.

have a happy wednesday FBTgirl!

 

[FBTgirl]

I only have one guppy fry.. I had fry that lived for a few weeks before while spawning, but then I did not evan have BBS.

 

[girl4God81]

in the future if you do decide to breed, please consider first fry foods (live foods that is). i remember trying to convince you of this before your spawn died off months back and even offered to give you free microworms. just please, in the future get some live first foods. good that you have other cultures going though.

 

[afishdude]

I only have one guppy fry.. I had fry that lived for a few weeks before while spawning, but then I did not evan have BBS.

just to let you no that guppie fry dont need BBS, they can go directly to crushed or powderd flakes. BBS will give more nutrients but its not needed for guppies.