# What Supplies are Nescessary for Breeding?



## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

I'm 13 years old, and I want to start breeding betta fish.

I don't have a lot of money, and I love fish. So, I want to start breeding betta fish. I'm willing to make a bit of investment in supplies. I'm going to have a lot of time since its summer.

I think I know how this works. You introduce the female into the tank, seperated from the male. When the male makes his bubble nest, you release the female. If they fight too much, take the female out and seperate her, and try again later. Anyways, the male will embrace the female to release the eggs. They will pick up the eggs together. Then you take them out, and put them in seperate tanks.

Now, what I don't know is how to take care of fry. I heard you can feed them baby brine shrimp eggs. I've found them on Amazon but they're really expensive... I've also heard of a method which involves leaving some grass in a jar on the window sill in the sunlight and harvesting the worms that grow inside!?

Now, what else will I need? I know its going to cost a bit to buy all these tanks, filters and heaters to keep 100 betta fish in my room...


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

If you think bbs is expensive then you should hold back on breed.
That stuff that grow in green water is infusion

12 gram should be enough to Feed about 150+ fry till they're big enough to switch there diet

Read the sticky on the top.
It will help


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

Actually, I guess baby brine shrimp aren't that bad. I found some on Amazon, 3.5 oz (99.2g) of brine shrimp eggs for $20. I guess thats not so bad considering I can raise over 1,000 fry with that. I will just have to buy one of those huge jars of betta food that are like $20 since I will have 100 betta fish...
Shrimp eggs: http://www.amazon.com/0-21-Brine-Sh...PN4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336793423&sr=8-1


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Just buy enough to feed your for a few month.
What ever you don't use will go bad.
I have a tub of 6 gram from a year ago.
I'm trying to hatch it but no success
Don't chew on more then you can bite.


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> Just buy enough to feed your for a few month.
> What ever you don't use will go bad.
> I have a tub of 6 gram from a year ago.
> I'm trying to hatch it but no success
> Don't chew on more then you can bite.


You have to hatch the shrimp!? I thought the fry just ate the eggs.... people in the reviews are saying it doesn't hatch.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Decaps are cheap. A can of eggs that hatch goes for $40 at least. 

The stickies in this section are detailed on how to breed bettas.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

First of all, welcome to the forum.

It would be best if you at least read the stickies. Then as you get everything ready, do more research. Look at breeding and fighting videos to understand how they swim - to understand their body language.

You would at least need a 10g tank/tub. Live plants is good for hiding places and for the fry. Live food for fry. Thermometer and heater. Pumps and filters are optional but will be much better. And for later, you will need a lot of jars.

Fill up a 5g bucket (add about a cup of spring/lake water), add dead leaves for the substrate (optional) and water plants. Place it outside where it gets about an hour of direct sunlight daily. Set this up now - the longer this bucket is aged , the better. You should have micro critters to feed your fry..... You can set up your breeding tank this way as well (without dead leaves). !!! this bucket will only supply food for the first few days. You will still need other fry food like micro worms, BBS, etc.

If possible, you could also start a daphnia culture - same method as above + daphnia food like veggies, grass clippings, etc. Daphnia can be fed after fry are about 1 month old (5mm).

Patience is the key to successful breeding. So read as many information as you can and ask as many questions as possible.....


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## Fabian (Dec 16, 2011)

> They will pick up the eggs together. Then you take them out, and put them in seperate tanks.


You do not need to seperate the male until the fry becomes free swimming.
(Remember to let the female release all her eggs before taking her out)


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> Just buy enough to feed your for a few month.
> What ever you don't use will go bad.
> I have a tub of 6 gram from a year ago.
> I'm trying to hatch it but no success
> Don't chew on more then you can bite.


Where did you store your eggs? I'm told to freeze most, refrigerate the rest.

Jeff.


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Liquid said:


> I'm 13 years old, and I want to start breeding betta fish.


You don't need a lot, UNTIL it comes time to jar all those fish. THEN you will really need a dedicated fish room unless you can afford a lot of heaters....

Really it depends on how large a spawn you have. If you could limit the spawning to about 20 eggs, it could be manageable. Or an aggressive culling after a week or two? You have to have the strength to decide who will live and who will die.....:shock:

1 tank for male, 1 tank for female. both about 5 gal with heaters. One large tub for breeding and gro-out, with heater and sponge filter. At least one more large tub with heater to hold your jars unless you get a dedicated fish room.

This would be about the bare-minimum breeding kit.
Good luck,
Jeff.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

jeffegg2 said:


> Where did you store your eggs? I'm told to freeze most, refrigerate the rest.
> 
> Jeff.


In my room
Inside my desk
Egg was a little over a year 19 months


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

jeffegg2 said:


> You don't need a lot, UNTIL it comes time to jar all those fish. THEN you will really need a dedicated fish room unless you can afford a lot of heaters....
> 
> Really it depends on how large a spawn you have. If you could limit the spawning to about 20 eggs, it could be manageable. Or an aggressive culling after a week or two? You have to have the strength to decide who will live and who will die.....:shock:
> 
> ...


My brother is moving out soon. He has a room in the basement. Its kinda small, but perfect size for a betta breeding room. I'm going to buy a small electric heater and leave it on 81 degrees when I have bettas down there.

As for culling, I'd rather give them away and fill up all my own tanks with them before culling. If I ever did have to cull, I would let their father eat them instead of me doing it myself.

Whats going to be hardest for me is getting all these fry foods. I don't understand how to get daphnia, microworms, brine shrimp, etc......

Also when do I seperate the fry and jar them so they don't kill each other?


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

its a bit more complicated and expensive than that. I could sit here and type a page and a half on how to breed bettas. It requires multiple tanks, heaters, lights live foods, frozen foods, pellets, lots of plants live and plastic, lots of jars and then every disease cure you can think of for when they do get sick, its not if its when. ALso expect your parent's water bill to go up. you'll be doing LOTS of water changes


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

The microwowrm and brine shrimp you can order cultures online and get them shipped to your house. for a microworm culture it should cost under ten dollars, I'm not to sure about bbs. Also invest in Indian Almond Leaves. They help with the breeding process, and the fry's health


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

lvandert said:


> its a bit more complicated and expensive than that. I could sit here and type a page and a half on how to breed bettas. It requires multiple tanks, heaters, lights live foods, frozen foods, pellets, lots of plants live and plastic, lots of jars and then every disease cure you can think of for when they do get sick, its not if its when. ALso expect your parent's water bill to go up. you'll be doing LOTS of water changes


People make it seem so easy. X_X


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Plus electric bill to.
Running all the water pump,heater, light and air pump will raise the bill 20-40 month


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Liquid said:


> People make it seem so easy. X_X


It get easier once you have all the set up
By then you'll be like $2k down the whole


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Liquid said:


> Whats going to be hardest for me is getting all these fry foods. I don't understand how to get daphnia, microworms, brine shrimp, etc......
> 
> Also when do I seperate the fry and jar them so they don't kill each other?


Well, I use two 2L soda bottles for BBS, just salt water and eggs, then pump with airline and tubing to keep them aerated. Here is what I use here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8sNx9zTOnQ&list=PL5BCAA0DEF6B6246D&index=7&feature=plpp_video

I ordered a microworm culture online. Just have three dollar store tubs that I make a layer of oatmeal, add some yeast, and some worms of course... I rotate them as the oldest one goes bad.

Jeff.


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

jeffegg2 said:


> Well, I use two 2L soda bottles for BBS, just salt water and eggs, then pump with airline and tubing to keep them aerated. Here is what I use here:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8sNx9zTOnQ&list=PL5BCAA0DEF6B6246D&index=7&feature=plpp_video
> 
> ...


Found microworm culture and indian almond leaves.
Microworm: http://www.microworms4sale.com/
Indian almond leaves: http://www.amazon.com/Indian-Almond...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1336844265&sr=1-3


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

Daphnia
Best to buy for breeder
No disease or parasite
U can find them in lake or pond
But your taking a big risk of getting all your fish sick if u get them from pond n lake


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

@Curly, YES DAPHNIA ARE AMAZING. I love mine.

But to the OP. It takes a LOT to breed these fish. Bettas are considered an easy fish to breed but I know of several people who have bred difficult species of fresh and saltwater who can't raise bettas. They are easy to spawn but very difficult to raise. 

A basic fish room would require:

Two tanks for the adult pair
A large (30+ gallon) tank or tub
A 10 gallon tank or tub for spawning bettas
Hundreds of jars

I use a space heater in my fish room but 81F is too cold. You'll need to keep it up towards 83F-84F for ideal water temperature. Also as a newbie the odds are stacked against you. You should use some tank heaters to start so the fry don't have temperature shifts. This will kill them off. 

You need live BBS, micro worms, filters etc. It's also very time consuming. I spend at least four hours a day doing regular maintenance. 

Some good sites:

www.bettatalk.com
www.bettysplendens.com
www.bettaterritory.nl


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## Thomasdog (Jan 26, 2012)

+1 Mr. V 

What might also help is to read other spawning stories here. They really helped me a lot!! I kinda learned what works and what dosen't.


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> @Curly, YES DAPHNIA ARE AMAZING. I love mine.
> 
> But to the OP. It takes a LOT to breed these fish. Bettas are considered an easy fish to breed but I know of several people who have bred difficult species of fresh and saltwater who can't raise bettas. They are easy to spawn but very difficult to raise.
> 
> ...


I see... biggest thing for me would be getting hundreds of jars, and getting baby brine shrimp and micro worms. I could spend 4 hours a day since school is almost out and I'll be home during summer vacation. I wish bettas would have 10 fry. o_o


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> Daphnia
> Best to buy for breeder
> No disease or parasite
> U can find them in lake or pond
> But your taking a big risk of getting all your fish sick if u get them from pond n lake


Yes, if you start harvesting bugs out of a local swamp or pond expect to get parasites....

Jeff.:shock:


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Liquid said:


> I see... biggest thing for me would be getting hundreds of jars, and getting baby brine shrimp and micro worms. I could spend 4 hours a day since school is almost out and I'll be home during summer vacation. I wish bettas would have 10 fry. o_o


*Just don't leave them alone. Put them together, and if they don't spawn before you need to leave, then separate them. Keep doing that until they spawn. Remove the female when there are 10 eggs or what ever number you prefer......:shock: Most breeders will want the maximum so there are more fish to choose the best from and cull the rest.

Pretty simple if that is what you want. Expect to get mostly females though if you do that. I would suggest this method to anyone that wants to "Practice breed" and not jump in with both feet!

Jeff.*


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

jeffegg2 said:


> *Just don't leave them alone. Put them together, and if they don't spawn before you need to leave, then separate them. Keep doing that until they spawn. Remove the female when there are 10 eggs or what ever number you prefer......:shock: Most breeders will want the maximum so there are more fish to choose the best from and cull the rest.
> 
> Pretty simple if that is what you want. Expect to get mostly females though if you do that. I would suggest this method to anyone that wants to "Practice breed" and not jump in with both feet!
> 
> Jeff.*


Meh I'm not into culling. I'd rather select one or two betta to keep and sell the rest or give them away.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

When u harvest have two different type of net.
One with a bigger hole just to harvest the adult daphnia
Fin net to harvest the babies daphnia
So far I've have 8 tub just daphnia
Got high hope for my pond but it let me down.
My comet ate all the daphnia(put few thousand inside N still can't harvest any)


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

As others have said, research is very important. You have to have space, money and time. As Jeffegg pointed out, you can't leave the pair unsupervised and when the fry hatch you need to feed them frequently, like 3 times a day I think. You'll also have to do frequent water changes. If you're the kind of person who has an active social life, lots of after school activities and stuff like that then you won't have time to take care of fry.


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## indjo (Jun 6, 2010)

Curlyfatbottom said:


> Daphnia
> Best to buy for breeder
> No disease or parasite
> U can find them in lake or pond
> *But your taking a big risk of getting all your fish sick if u get them from pond n lake*


If you age the whole culture and after a few 25-50% water changes every 2-4 weeks, parasites will die out without a host. .... IME 1 week is adequate to avoid parasites (direct tap water + direct sunlight).

But if you immediately use them, problems do happen.


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

I do leave my pairs unsupervised. I only said if you wish to pull her premature to limit the number of eggs.....

Jeff.




dramaqueen said:


> As others have said, research is very important. You have to have space, money and time. As Jeffegg pointed out, you can't leave the pair unsupervised and when the fry hatch you need to feed them frequently, like 3 times a day I think. You'll also have to do frequent water changes. If you're the kind of person who has an active social life, lots of after school activities and stuff like that then you won't have time to take care of fry.


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## Curlyfatbottom (Sep 29, 2011)

indjo said:


> If you age the whole culture and after a few 25-50% water changes every 2-4 weeks, parasites will die out without a host. .... IME 1 week is adequate to avoid parasites (direct tap water + direct sunlight).
> 
> But if you immediately use them, problems do happen.


I've agree
After a few week of getting pond daphnia 
I'll test them out with my fancy guppies
If they don't get sick or die in a month
I'll start to feed them to my betta
I've treat every culture the same way.
Even if it from a breeder or pond


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Sorry, Jeff. I must have misunderstood or read your post wrong. lol


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

Where should I get jars? Jelly? Peanut butter? Or would it be cheaper and faster to go and buy little tupperware containers at the dollar store and poke some holes in?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

www.ccwproducts.com is a great place for jars.

Also thrift stores will have mason jars sometimes. I have three stores down the street that sell mason jars.


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

How big must jars be in oz?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

32oz would need to be changed 100% daily. 64oz would need to be every other day.


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## jeffegg2 (Apr 5, 2012)

Liquid said:


> How big must jars be in oz?


Smaller Jars = more work. I see the bottles used in Thailand are about 1 pint? Lots of water changes.....

I am using 1 gal plastic jars from wallyworld.

Jeff.


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## Liquid (May 12, 2012)

Just need to find a new home for my goldfish then my 30 gallon tank is open...


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## Wz10 (Apr 7, 2012)

Sorry if I'm interrupting, but how do you guys maintain your daphnia cultures? Ie what's fed and all!


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I just use a big tub full of dirty tank water with live plants, snails, and plenty of sunlight and I feed them a bit of bakers yeast. Then I scoop out my daphnia and place them in fresh clean water with IAL. Then after a few days I feed them.


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## Wz10 (Apr 7, 2012)

Any snail would do? Not too sure how much yeast to use though, killed my culture a few times...
What's the point of putting it in clean water with IAL btw?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I just sprinkle a bit of yeast.

The clean water is to clean off the daphnia. Wouldn't want them getting my fish sick. I use ramshorn and common pond snails in that tub.


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## Wz10 (Apr 7, 2012)

Roughly 1/8 of a teaspoon? Do you stir it in or? Isn't ramshorn the GM fish? Hmm, would assassins be find in the daphnia culture?


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Ramshorn are a pond snail.

I don't measure so I couldn't tell ya.

Assasin breeds of snail attract prey and use a "trap" door to catch it. Not recommended by moi.


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## Wz10 (Apr 7, 2012)

Lol haha. 
Could you measure it for me if possible just to be 100% sure.
And do you stir the yeast or leave it on the surface? 
Alright, thanks!


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