# Want to get into breeding



## kapbob8 (Mar 29, 2015)

I'm looking for a project for the rest of this year and decided I would explore betta breeding and see if its something I would like to do. 

What is the most desirable pheno/genotype? Or what do I want to breed away from?

Between what ages do Bettas breed at?

Where can I buy live food online for the fry?

What special equipment do I need for the fry tank?

Any tips on selling the fry? What age are they typically sold at?

Any certain genes that should never be bred together?

Tips on selecting a breeding pair?


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Most desirable is anything show quality, fish that could hold their own at a show. Breed away from anything that would embarrass itself in a show. Colour and formwise depends on what you like best, no point raising some fish when you dont even like the colour. But for easy selling then full masked mables usually sell to pet homes quite easily due to their flashy colours. 
If you choose ct then make sure your water is soft, the rays can curl up very easily and turn them ugly and unsellable

they can start breeding quite early, but usually 4-6 is the main breeding age. Too early and you wont know if your fish is going to develop excessive branching, tumors, diamond eye etc

Online, just type bbs eggs for sale into google and you should find pages of them. Ebay is usually quite cheap.

Youll need a breeding tank/tub, good quality food, growout tank, enough jars to house young fish, a way to cull unwanted ones, a way to heat every single tank/tub/jar, and a lot of time since you will be water changing like crazy until youve gotten rid of the fry

A good camera/good photos are the most important thing imo. Full side on flare. So many times a nice fish has been passed by because the owner took a crappy picture of it, and you will see many sub par fish get snapped up due to a pretty photo. Makes all the difference
Also learn to ship, if you dont you will be limiting how many customers you get, and find some online fish sales pages like facebook, they usually have people looking for bettas

Basically dont breed rosetail to hm, dt to dt, ct to anything else (unless you want to work with the line for generations to fix it up)

Id look at the show standards for they type you like most, and select your pairs based on that. And dont skimp on the female either, she will be contributing 50% to her babies so she could easily ruin a batch if you pair a stunning male with a sub par girl


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## kapbob8 (Mar 29, 2015)

Thank you for the advice!


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## kapbob8 (Mar 29, 2015)

I was thinking for heating the jars, could I fill up large tubs and heat the water in there and place the jars in the heated tub water? Hopefully that makes sense!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Yep thats what I used to do, its definitely the easiest and cheapest way. You could also put holes in the jars and add a filter so you get some water circulation too


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## kapbob8 (Mar 29, 2015)

Oh, good idea!


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## ZoroZalieFishys (Mar 13, 2016)

trilobite said:


> Basically dont breed rosetail to hm, dt to dt, ct to anything else (unless you want to work with the line for generations to fix it up)



Why shouldnt you breed crowntail?


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Ct x ct looks nice, but ct x with any other type doesn't, you will end up with messy raggy fins for many generations. Ugly fish are hard to place in homes. 

Personally Id only cross a ct to another type if I had a goal for the line and culled hard for many generations until they tidied back up


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