What Would I Be Getting Myself Into?

[Ritingyou]

My friend has this beautiful female betta with a white body(and a couple very small bule dots here and there) with with a blue edge around the body on the fins and then the rest of the fins are red, she also has a gold shimmer on her body. I couldnt get over how she looked and wanted her so much my friend actually gave her to me!

But now my mom has a male betta and he's making a bubble nest and she mentioned breeding our bettas.. Im not to concerned about the space but more as of feeding. I did a bit of research, and I have a 10 gallon that has been set up 3 months ago with no fish and would be perfect for when they mated. But as for what else I would need, and what i would feed the fry I am clueless.

I give them bloodworms every day as a main meal, but I do have a brine shrimp hatchery if I ever needed it with a couple refil packets. But after 3 days the brine shrimp dies.

What do the experts do? Any advice would be helpful

 

[Didge007]

Watching this thread Also very interested in breeding Bettas one day!!

*nudge* Photos of the lady in question?

 

[Ritingyou]

This is the picture my friend took when she first got her. She called her Miss America. She was actually going to breed bettas too but her male isnt interested.

Mom's male betta is a dark blue, but I might just get my own male well have to see depending on what I'm really getting myself into with how much space providing feeding is going to take up. If it will be a lot then most likely I'll use hers. I just realized that the she has a blue simmer to her too.. doesnt show much when I look at her though, only saw it in the picture. Hmmmm....

 

[Better is Betta]

Lovely fish and that is some friend to relinquish their fish to you. Breeding bettas is a great experience and preparation and patience is important. I suggest you google "breeding bettas" to get a good insight as to what to do and what is required. After you have done some research because its quite in-depth then you can start with confidence and we can help you out along the way. Another thing is the diet of your fish. Blood worms are great but not as a main diet as it is a high protein food and could cause problems further on down the track. Try them on a good quality betta food, flake or pellets, it has a variety of vitamins and goodies that your betta needs to stay healthy. I prefer pellets and give them blood worms once or twice a week as well as brine shrimps. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Tolak]

Reverse engineer it. First figure out what you are going to do with 50 to 100+ fish. Then figure out how you are going to keep 50 to 100+ large jars at a constant 80F. Infusoria is a good first food, then move to bbs. A bbs hatchery must be drained, rinsed, and refilled every 24 hours, buy artemia cysts in a one pound can if you are to the point that you need them.

 

[Ritingyou]

Thanks,

I've done the research on how the process goes when I was in middle school and my 8th grade science teacher was breeding his two crown tail bettas. Although I see on a lot of sites that they put a almond leaf in their tank for the betta to make the nest under, I've never seen thoes before nor know where to get them and buying online is not exactly an option for me.. so I was wondering if it was possible to maybe use something else instead?

I also just read on here that pulperaized flake food could be fed to the betta fry.. is that true? Would I have to add water to it before adding it to the tank so it would sink down? My room keeps everything around 78-80 even though I'm freezeing! Florida temps tend to keep it up so we always have to have our house extra cold so it doesnt fry our fish.

Ill also be sure to switch them onto betta pellets.

 

[sausagewinkle]

half a polystyrene cup is used quite often in betta breeding, research it and have a look.

As for feeding flake food I wouldn't recommend it. Although they can survive on it it will reduce the growth rate.
Live food are the best to feed. I feed mine on microworm.

As others have said, research research research

 

[Better is Betta]

Thanks,

I've done the research on how the process goes when I was in middle school and my 8th grade science teacher was breeding his two crown tail bettas. Although I see on a lot of sites that they put a almond leaf in their tank for the betta to make the nest under, I've never seen thoes before nor know where to get them and buying online is not exactly an option for me.. so I was wondering if it was possible to maybe use something else instead?

I also just read on here that pulperaized flake food could be fed to the betta fry.. is that true? Would I have to add water to it before adding it to the tank so it would sink down? My room keeps everything around 78-80 even though I'm freezeing! Florida temps tend to keep it up so we always have to have our house extra cold so it doesnt fry our fish.

Ill also be sure to switch them onto betta pellets.

Your weather is like mine in the tropics one or two cold days in winter. We have two seasons here, summer and summer The temperature is normally around 32-324c and my tank water sits around 26-28c sometimes higher but they don't seem to mind it a bit hotter. A lot of people use almond leaves because not only is it good to make bubble nest under it also has antibacterial properties. But if you haven't got any like me then you'll just have to make do with aquatic plants and artificial silk plants. As for food you can use boiled egg yolk or buy liquid fry food which has egg yolk in it and very fine crumbled up flake sprinkled on the surface. Having plants in your tank encourages little microscopic animals to flourish and fry will feed on those. But you know what was successful for me? good old hatched brine shrimps. I know they don't live long thats why it can be hard work keeping a batch going every 3rd day. I live close to salt water so I can grab a bucket every day to start a new batch. I'm sure someone on this forum will advise you on what they use for fry food but just remember uneaten food causes problems. You may not be successful with your first lot of fry, hatching is easy its keeping them alive to adulthood that poses a problem. But don't be deterred by this keep trying and learning new techniques and pretty soon you will have bettas coming out of your ears Oh and where will you be housing all your new fish once they start getting bigger? I hope you have a lot of friends to give them too. Good luck

 

[Ritingyou]

I dont really mind if it takes them a long time to grow, I have all the time in the world to wait I'm really in no rush. The 10 gallon I have my female in has a few live plants, would it be best if i moved them into the tank I will have them mate in? I was planning to get more anyway.. What I'm really worried about is if I add more water (it tends to evaporate quickly because of the heat) it might cause the bubble nest to mess up a bit. But I heard that males rebuild their nest while the eggs are in it so I'm hoping that it wont be a problem.

I have one brine shrimp hatchery so maybe it would be possible to switch once in a while? Like once they hatch I'll continue to feed them the brine shrimp till I cant anymore then feed off the egg yoke and get a new batch started for brine shrimp and switch back and forth?

As for space I have a shelp over 6 feet tall that I am cleaning off specifically for bettas and I do happen to have a lot of friends that wants some too

But I am curious, how fast do they normally grow?

 

[Better is Betta]

I dont really mind if it takes them a long time to grow, I have all the time in the world to wait I'm really in no rush. The 10 gallon I have my female in has a few live plants, would it be best if i moved them into the tank I will have them mate in? I was planning to get more anyway.. What I'm really worried about is if I add more water (it tends to evaporate quickly because of the heat) it might cause the bubble nest to mess up a bit. But I heard that males rebuild their nest while the eggs are in it so I'm hoping that it wont be a problem.

I have one brine shrimp hatchery so maybe it would be possible to switch once in a while? Like once they hatch I'll continue to feed them the brine shrimp till I cant anymore then feed off the egg yoke and get a new batch started for brine shrimp and switch back and forth?

As for space I have a shelp over 6 feet tall that I am cleaning off specifically for bettas and I do happen to have a lot of friends that wants some too

But I am curious, how fast do they normally grow?

I use a tank just for breeding and have it sectioned off with a clear polycarbonate panel. I have broad leaf silk plants for the male to bubble nest in and a lot of live plants clustered around them. Looks a real mess but they like it. Try the polystyrene cup as Fishaholic mentioned. I have never tried it as yet and am quite willing to give that a shot next time. Give the male and female a week or two to get to know each other and when the male has made a good bubble nest and she looks interested, take out the divider and let them at it. I would top up the water on the females side. Once its all done put the female back in her own tank, section off the tank again because when the fry are swimming like - then you can remove the male to the other section. If you feed them egg yolk try crumbling it up and put it in a squirt bottle mixed with water and squirt that on the water. Just remember to clean the bottom of your tank regularly as the food will rot and cause more problems. My fry are about 2 months and you can tell the males from the females easily at that age. They are ready for new homes want some? ha ha ha.

 

[seizethecupcake]

I'd love to breed bettas. My husband, sadly, would murder me if I brought one more fish into this house. I had to pass on a lovely white HM today...sigh. Good luck with your breeding and finding homes for your little fry once they've grown!

 

[Better is Betta]

I'd love to breed bettas. My husband, sadly, would murder me if I brought one more fish into this house. I had to pass on a lovely white HM today...sigh. Good luck with your breeding and finding homes for your little fry once they've grown!

You should work on that husband of yours. You gotta have a go at breeding its what owning bettas is all about. You know the way to a mans heart is through is stomach I'm sure he'll let you have just one more

 

[seizethecupcake]

Maybe when we move into a house...

 

[Tolak]

The breeding & raising really isn't that difficult;

I have a lot of fry to get rid of. Last count was 30. My problem is how do I ? I want them to go to good homes not end up in some pathetic container that only holds a cup of water.
Bev.

This is often the most difficult part. There is nothing worse than working out how to breed a particular species, having success, only to find out you can't even give away the results of all your work. Expect at least every other prospective outlet for your fish to back out, usually you'll see 1 out of 3 come through for you. To get an idea, look at how bettas don't sell on aquabid.

This can be very discouraging, do some serious research on the last part before attempting the first part.

 

[clgklg]

I have cory fry, which were not expected. (i only have two and usually you need 6 for sucsessful spawning) anyway I feed then first bites, a powder that you soak and then put in the fry water and then frozen baby brine. I would like to point out that you get very attatched to 'YOUR' babies that you raise from eggs and worry about getting them into good homes, which is hard because majority of fish keepers do not know how involved it is, especially Bettas since people and stores think it's okay to keep them in a cup... Good luck on whatever you do