• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

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    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Supplies for betta keeping and breeding

It's been years since I've worked with bettas, but do have one piece of advice to pass along.

Unless you want to break your back cleaning jars endlessly, definitely buy or build a barracks system to house them!
 
I housed mine in beanie baby display boxes. They're tall and easy to clean and lightweight. (And not glass!)

Breeding was done in 10 g tanks, filled about 1/3 full. Once the male had eggs to care for, the female went back into her 'jar' and he cared for the eggs until the babies hatched and were free swimming(or attempting to free swim, dad will keep spitting them back into the nest). Once dad is out, the water can be raised to 2/3 full or even full, and the babies are fed on any of several various diets.

Diets can be trout chow(available from feed stores) and babies sometimes can be fed the same food, ground up in a blender. The very tiny babies do better on things like vinegar eels or the teeny nemotodes you raise in oatmeal. I can't think of the name right now. Brain no worky yet, havin't had tea yet this morning.

Some people told me to expect several failed tries before having any success, and that certain colors were known to fight instead of breed, that many issues would arise and frustrate me in my efforts to breed bettas. Instead I ended having bred the hardest(reds) the first time and ended up with over a hundred 1 inch babies in the first try.

Of course, I had spent the last 4-5 years breeding seahorses. I was a ringer, you could say.

All in all, it can be way fun to do. I'd suggest bypassing the pet store fish altogether though. Go ahead and get quality bettas and get a few pairs to begin with, in case someone decided to fight instead of breed, you'll still have another pair to try with.

Feed quality food, and breed your own foods when possible.
 
Microworms. I think that's what you're trying to think of. Fresh hatched live brine shrimp are good too.

You can probably find them elsewhere, but I used to frequent aquabid for feeder starter cultures, BS eggs, and bettas.
 
thank you guys for the advise but what cages would i need for the adults and could i put her babies in a small pond that has small organisms in it and what about aeration for the baby tank and filtration
 
Adults I used the beanie boxes. I might still have a bag full of them in my shed in fact.

You're in Illinois so, no you can't use a pond. The larger ones can eat mosquito larvae, but outdoor ponds can teem with bad stuff too.

For aeration I used a single airline with a regulator(little valve, you cut the airline, then hook each end to a plastic valve, costs a buck, AWESOME things). If you set it really low, you're good. For "filtering" you have to basically remove water and replace it with fresh. Filters will suck up babies and make too much current.

I took about half the water out(siphoned it using a piece of rigid airline hooked to regular airline) vacuuming the bottom to remove poo. Then I put a bucket with the clean water up on a shelf with a airline running to the tank, started a suction and let it siphon into the tank slowly so the water doesn't change pH, temp, etc(you let the water sit to be the same temps anyway). To keep the water flowing slowly, I used a kink in the line, with it fastened into place with a rubber band. Hard to explain, but it worked a real treat and was cheap and easy.

Remember that bettas live naturally in stagnant warm rice paddy water. So cold water or currents are no good. Shallow or small containers work just fine.
 
www.ultimatebettas.com is a really good place to do research.

Keep in mind that bettas can easily produce 200-300 offspring in a single spawn, and that you'll have to start separating out the males and more aggressive female pretty quickly to prevent fin damage (which will hurt your ability to sell them if that's your idea). I used quart mason jars back when I was breeding, and doing weekly water changes on 100+ of those once or twice a week is WORK! So I agree with setting up a barracks system if at all possible- if you reduce the amount of work, there's a better chance you'll actually enjoy it and produce healthier babies that grow that much more quickly.
 
i have a female and a male the female is a double tail the male is a crown tail i put her in a cup in a new tank after some conditioning and she is full of eggs but the male hasnt made a bubble nest yet and its been a full day that they have been together he is just flaring at her and not making a nest and she has vertical bars
 
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