# Sticky  Breeding questions.



## 1fish2fish

Want to breed? Don't know where to start? Here is a list of questions that you should have answered before you spawn. Remember, we can only help you if you help yourself. Prepare yourself with the information first and you will greatly increase your chances of having a successful spawn.

I'm not giving the answers. The point is for YOU to go out and find them yourself. At the end I'll provide you with some links to get you started. That and a search of breeding threads in the forum should get you very well informed for your first spawn.

I tried to group questions by categories (i.e. Food, water changes, etc)

1) Are you aware of how much time caring for a spawn takes?
2) Do you know what culling is?
3) Are you prepared to cull if necessary?
4) How will you find new homes for your fry?
5) How is your breeding going to help the Betta splendens species?
6) Are you aware of the general costs involved with breeding?
7) Are you willing to ship fish if need be?
8) Do you know how to go about packing and shipping correctly?
9) How do you pick the best breeders?
10) What are the general tail types and what happens if you cross them?

11) What is conditioning?
12) How long do you condition?
13)What foods do you use to condition?

14) What items do you need for the spawning tank?
15) What temperature should the spawning tank be?
16) How do you properly introduce the breeders?
17) What do vertical bars mean?
18) How do you know when to release the female?
19) How can you tell the difference between normal and abnormal aggression?
20) When do you remove the female?
21) When do you remove the male?

22) On average, how many eggs are produced per spawn?
23) On average, how many fry usually survive to adulthood?
24) How long does it take eggs to hatch?
25) How long does it take the fry to become free swimming?

26) At what day should you introduce foods to the tank?
27) Which foods are better: live, dried, or frozen?
28) How do you get live foods?
29) What foods are appropriate for newly hatched fry? 1 month old? 2+ months?
30) How often should you feed fry?

31) At what point should you start doing water changes?
32) What is the stunting hormone?
33) How often should you do water changes?
34) How much water should you change?

35) At what point do you jar males?
36) How do you keep jarred fry warm?


These are really just the basics but generally if you can answer these questions your ready to spawn. There's a lot more that goes into it such as genetics and form and finnage so make sure you try to take in as much as possible.

As promised here are some links that I believe will be helpful in your research. Fill in the gaps by asking questions 

www.bettaterritory.nl
www.ibcbettas.org


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## 1fish2fish

Great additions Dragon Lady!

On that same note I'll add

39) Do you know what the caudal, anal, dorsal, ventral, and pectoral fins are and where they are located on the fish?
40) What are rays and how do you count ray branching?


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