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
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top