# Breeding "king" betta



## Fisherman J (Nov 30, 2012)

Okay, what i have is a male King betta from petco (red and blue) thats darker colored but the fins are very bright. The female is a female veiltail from petsmart (white body with neon red fins). The setup is a 5.5 gallon filled with 4" of water covered with artificial plants floating around and a spongefilter (turned off for now). Well I kept the female in a glass jar in the tank for 24 hours and then released her. Within 10 min they were breeding and have been for the past 2 hours. for conditioning i had the female in a 1.5 and the male in a 2.5 side by side for a week and fed them hikari sinking carnivore, brine shrimp, and freeze dried blood worms. well shortly after the eggs started hatching i thought that the male ate all the children, so i took him out and the tank sat for a day with the sponge filter running. well i thought it was time to try and breed the bettas again so i started using air tubing to syphon out the debris and saw shomething tiny dart away from the tube. well, turns out that there are about 30ish babies that were still alive! So that is where i am currently. I have roughly 25-30 babies in a 5.5, half filled. I juss purchased a live plant (not sure what kind) and have been feeding the fry live baby brine shimp 2 to 3 times a day. This is my first time ever breeding bettas so I'm pretty suprised that I made it this far. Any advice on rasing the babies would be greatly appreciated!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Microworms can be eaten by more fry.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

wow! Lucky! I bet they were probably feasting on any daphnia or infusoria lurking in the tank 

Microworms are another good source of food. Clean the tank every day to maximize growth - since they do end up stunting each other, if the pheromone (don't quiz me on what it really i I'm tired :lol in the water becomes too strong. Nothing different other than if some of the fry are a lot larger, you will be feeding a lot more!


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## Fisherman J (Nov 30, 2012)

I've been feeding them twice a day and doing daily 30% water changes and syphoning out any debris on the bottom of the tank. So far everything is going great!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Good job! I wish you luck


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## Fisherman J (Nov 30, 2012)

As soon as I can find my camera I will be sure to try and post pictures!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Awesome!!!


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## Option (Oct 20, 2012)

I'm very curious to see how the babies will look like....


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

As am I.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I hope they are not pet store fish.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Choclate, there are very many respectable breeders who started with petstore fish. This is not a forum for "high quality only" fish, and it's up to us to provide friendly information to the new breeders and give suggestions. If they want to breed pet store fish we can give advice and friendly warnings, plus point to higher end stores and alternatives to gaurentee them a healthy spawn.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Pet store fish are often past there prime breeding age.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

And yet many spawns are resulted from spunky older fish. They already mentioned they are pet store fish, if you do not agree with their methods unsubscribe. Again, we can give them tips and warnings, but cannot and should not control their thoughts, minds, or actions. 

We still have to encourage, not discourage. I'm glad this person does take care of their fish!


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Even Sakura agreed pet store fish are past there prime. I would get micro worms.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

We all agree on that Choclate. But this is NOT a forum to discourage people from owning, breeding, or rehoming their fish if they see fit. I started out with pet store fish! I've made my way to quality fish. And have over 200 fry from one spawn. We all start somewhere. Don't try to discourage people. Give them advice and let them choose their way and learn first hand


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

That is why I am reccomending fry food. Sponge Filters allow fry food to grow.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

That's true. Sponge filters also help keep the water from forming sludge on the surface


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

IAL release Tannins and food grows on them.


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## hannah16 (Mar 3, 2011)

Fisherman J said:


> Okay, what i have is a* male King betta from petco *(red and blue) thats darker colored but the fins are very bright. The *female is a female veiltail from petsmart* (white body with neon red fins).


They are.


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

ChoclateBetta said:


> That is why I am reccomending fry food. Sponge Filters allow fry food to grow.


choc I didn't know you were a breeder!


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## Fisherman J (Nov 30, 2012)

I do plan on trying to get breeding stock started from these fish, I am hoping to be able to try and get the king bettas size and the finnage of a veiltail. Once I get going a little more, and i get a little bit of money I will look into getting micro worms. For right now I am using baby brine shrimp, and hikari baby fish food. I am these fry foods are working great for me right now so getting different food right now is not a major concern. I will look into it more down the road juss a bit however, thank you for the advice!


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Kings are commercial names for half giants (personal opinion). You might get bigger bettas (your cross) but not big enough to be Kings. You will have to selectively breed the larger ones. It would be best to wait at least 6 months so they have less to no growing ahead of them - some greedy fry may grow faster but not have the genes and end up smaller than the slower growers. But they should inherit the King's appetite. You want to feed them 3 - 6 times daily so they can grow to a maximum.

Off topic: is this going to be a spawn log? Do you want me to move it to the spawn log section?
If you want, this could be a thread to discuss possibilities/theories. Then you can make a new thread in the "spawn log section" . . . your choice.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I am on the side that kings/ giants are hybrids.


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## Fisherman J (Nov 30, 2012)

I think this thread will be for possibilities and I'll make a new thread in that section. So, how many generations do you think it will have to take before I can get back to the "king" size?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Maybe - no proof and king/giants don't show any Raja traits (the wild species allegedly crossed to). 
Original giant creators claimed that they were selectively bred to be big - more reasonable

If you choose the right pairing, probably 3 generations. But that's the problem - identifying the genos. So you might achieve it in 3 - 5 generations.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Bettas have been crossed with B.Smarginia, B,Imbellis, and B.Splendens. Why is it being hybridized again unreasonable?


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Forgot who, but it was said that King betts were hybrids between splendens and raja (king). Splendens are nesters while rajas are mouthbrooders. So these two species are unlikely to cross breed. 

Selectively breeding them to be bigger is more reasonable.

Smaragdina, imbillis, and mahachai are very similar to splendens and breed in the same way - bubble nests. So they can and have been crossed bred to splendens.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

As long as there genes are similar its still possible to breed.


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## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

I have a male in the breeding tank right now that I got from a pet store.. I also have some very lovely, show quality ones from breeders too. 

So far, don't see an issue with a pet store betta. He's as gentle as a butterfly and just as pretty. Only negative to pet store bettas is that you don't know the parents or what coloration(s) are in their genes. But with proper care and conditioning.. they are just as healthy as any other and many pet store bettas produced award winning babies. And you do realize... pet store bettas do come from breeders. They are just in dirty water for a few days to a few weeks - which again, with proper care they will bounce back.

Definitely want to look into better food (Hikari is pretty much sub-par now) in the future - will make a big difference in their health and growth.

Keep an eye on their size and start moving them over to the grow out tank once they get bigger.. the longer they are in the grow out tank, the larger they get quickly. 

Good luck!


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I started out with pet store fish. Now I found a store (over an hour away) that does import, and gets the most gorgeous fish. Not everyone can buy online (shipping can get expensive). It's not up to us, it's up to you  and we'll help you out with your plans.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Many pet store bettas came from great breeders. As long as you know what to look for, they'll produce gorgeous fry just the same.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

King Bettas from what I have read are more aggressive and less hardy so they might be a little harder to breed.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

How are they less hardy? And aggressive? Out of curiosity? I got myself a Giant and he is no more aggressive then my dumbo, halfmoon or crowntail. Unless its during breeding.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I read it and the vidoes I have seen of them they seemed more aggressive. In all honesty if they were less hardy you would not see it because you are too good of an owner.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Well, thanks :lol: the only problem with a "less hardy" I have had was Dusk who was such a drama queen for everything. Guess his immune system was weaker. My giant gets his 10 gallon tomorrow <3 if I had a giant female (non existent here except some plakats who are larger) I wouldn't mind trying to breed giants.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter is very hardy. Some if the Giants here I have never seen an active one. I have seen a few active Bettas that were not giants.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I found BeautifulBetta's new male crowntail very mean. He outright attacked the mirror a good few times whereas most of my males just flare. o_o And he is still going at it though the mirror is gone. I could try that with my giant (who will be getting a filtered 10)


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

I have never put a mirror to Carter.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

It is good to do it once in a while just to exercise their fins  Just not over-using it though... Since they can blow a fin (tear their fin) or get stressed.


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Carter seems to already get plenty of excerise.


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