# Breeding Questions



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

I am going to pick up a pair of bettas this weekend and try to breed them (first time). My question is when i am conditioning them what size container is okay? I see them in super small jars at the pet store but is something like that to small? Also can they be keep at room temp? If not how would i heat the jar? What type of betta jars do you guys recommend? In my 10 gallon breeding tank i have a heater in it should that tank be heater? 

Thanks so much! sorry if i am asking beginner questions..


----------



## flyingpony22 (Oct 17, 2012)

The pair need to be kept in separate tanks AT LEAST 1 gallon each, preferably bigger. They both need to have heaters in them. The spawning tank needs an adjustable heater as well.


----------



## flyingpony22 (Oct 17, 2012)

Read this like a million times over lmfao. I'm about to try my hand at breeding in the next month or two and this really helped me figure out everything I needed to buy:

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=116065


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Why are you trying to breed them if you have never owned a betta?


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

MattsBettas said:


> Why are you trying to breed them if you have never owned a betta?


Umm I have owned TONS of bettas but never breed them lol. Where did you get the idea I never owned one?


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

flyingpony22 said:


> Read this like a million times over lmfao. I'm about to try my hand at breeding in the next month or two and this really helped me figure out everything I needed to buy:
> 
> http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=116065


Sweet thanks a lot I will check this out :-D


----------



## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Well, you asked "can they be kept at room temperature?" Any experienced owner would know that they cannot.


----------



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Do you have the spawn tank set up?
What size grow out tanks do you have?
What are you going to keep all the males in once they become aggressive in the grow outs and how are you going to heat every one of the containers?
Do you have micro cultures already ordered and growing? How about BBS?
Live plants?
How do you set up a breeding tank?
Grow out tank?
Where are you going to find homes for these fish? Anywhere from 10-300+ fish? 
What tail types are you planning on breeding?
How much money are you willing to invest into this? Minimum is a few hundred (and that is using used items and plastic bins), with all new items and actual tanks - for a 2 spawn set up it can cost upwards of a thousand dollars or more.. I think my set up to start, with only 2 grow out tanks, ended up costing roughly $1200-1500, that includes shipping costs and fish. Don't forget the electric and water bills will go up.

Lots and lots of research needs to be done first before attempting.. as mentioned, and not trying to be mean.. but if you don't know about whether they need heat, or if the tiny cups are okay to keep them in.. then you should not be breeding any time soon.. can get the fish, but will need a couple weeks to condition them, so during that time do the research and purchase everything you need - from air pumps and valves to live foods, etc.


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

Myates said:


> Do you have the spawn tank set up?
> What size grow out tanks do you have?
> What are you going to keep all the males in once they become aggressive in the grow outs and how are you going to heat every one of the containers?
> Do you have micro cultures already ordered and growing? How about BBS?
> ...


The breeding tank is 10 gallons.
All the males and females are going to be kept in .5 gallon jars in the house so they stay warm.
What are micro-cultures?
Live plants are i will be getting at pet store.
Setting up the 10 gallon this week end.
No grow out tank. Going in to jars.
The homes for fish are friends/family. and the rest i am going to keep. If i have to many i will just feed them to peacock bass.
Just going to pick out the tail type i like most 
Its fine i REALLY REALLY need the advice. i order two 1 gallon tanks and heaters to start the conditioning in today.


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

MattsBettas said:


> Well, you asked "can they be kept at room temperature?" Any experienced owner would know that they cannot.


Well i am sorry i dont mean to get off on the wrong foot but i always keep bettas at room temp.


----------



## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

You will need a grow-out tank as you can't just put your fry into jars. Generally a 15-30 gallon tank is recommended depending on the size of the spawn. 

You will need live food cultures to feed your fry with. Betta fry are incredibly small and generally will not take processed food such as pellets until they are older. 

Many breeders hatch out baby brine shrimp daily to feed their fry (the BBS loses nearly all its nutritional value after around a day) and this will need to be done until the fry are big enough to be weaned onto other foods. 

Unless your room is consistently around 80-82 degrees your bettas may not even spawn. Splendens like it hot and the cooler it is the longer your eggs will take to hatch (if they even hatch). 

Your pair also needs to be conditioned for a week or so before being introduced. This is usually done with high-protein live and frozen foods.

Honestly I would suggest you don't breed based on what you have posted. But since you are probably going to do it anyway I thought I would at least offer some further assistance.


----------



## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

Betta Bro said:


> The breeding tank is 10 gallons.
> All the males and females are going to be kept in .5 gallon jars in the house so they stay warm.
> What are micro-cultures?
> Live plants are i will be getting at pet store.
> ...


Look at bettysplendens.com, or betta territory.nl they have a lot of good information on breeding for beginners.
There are also some good stickies in the breeder section of this forum.
But -- you absolutely will need a grow out tank. A 10 gallon will be too little to house all those bettas after the first month, and you should move them to something bigger rather than small jars for the next 2 months before you can sell them.
Micro cultures are live foods - like microworms, brine shrimp, vinegar eels, etc.

I think you need to spend as much time as you possibly can going through all the betta breeding articles you can find.

And please don't breed a VT. HM and HMPK are the 2 most daughter after tail types at the moment, DT CT &PK coming in next, VT and "'mutts" coming in last.

I hope you are getting these from a breeder


----------



## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

LittleBettaFish said:


> You will need a grow-out tank as you can't just put your fry into jars. Generally a 15-30 gallon tank is recommended depending on the size of the spawn.
> 
> You will need live food cultures to feed your fry with. Betta fry are incredibly small and generally will not take processed food such as pellets until they are older.
> 
> ...


We must have typed at the same time --- +++++++++++++1!! You said it so much better than I could


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

Okay thanks so much! do you think the bettas could go in my 20 gallon with peacock eel when they get to big for the 10? and i am going to be heating all tanks.


----------



## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

20 gallons would probably still be too small. You could possibly move 2/3 into a 20, 1/3 can stay in the 10. But like I said, if you got a good sized spawn thatd be way too small and you'd have to do atleast daily water changes to keep up with them. the last thing you want to do is not keep water quality perfect -- that'd cause growth to be stunted, deaths, etc.

If you want to do it the cheap way, you can go to walmart and get one of those large plastic storage bins. Sterilite I believe is the brand? Something like that, anyways they are like 40ish gallons and work well -- Just make sure its the clear type so you can see in a little bit and so it doesnt leache paint chemicals into the water. Also you'd have to buy another heater for this.


----------



## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

All I can say is there is very good advice in this thread. It is a bigger undertaking to do well than most people realize but worth it. You've come to the right place and good luck with the spawn.


----------



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Betta Bro said:


> The breeding tank is 10 gallons.
> All the males and females are going to be kept in .5 gallon jars in the house so they stay warm.
> Jars are good, but room temp is not. You will have to keep the room they are in at 85*F, which is awfully hot to keep your house at.. normally people who use jars have a "fish room" with space heaters, etc to keep the room really hot.
> What are micro-cultures?
> ...


You can't leave them in room temp - the heaters need to be the adjustable kind that can easily get the breeding tank and grow out tanks to 82-84*. 

And no.. the eel can be peaceful with bigger fish.. but you are going to need to move the betta fry from the 10g while they are still pretty small - and small fish = food for the eel. 

Can't half a.. breeding, it takes lots of money, hours, patience, space to properly breed them.. anything less you will have sickly or dead fish. If you want easy to breed fish, live bearers are easy and multiply like crazy.. they have special requirements too.. but won't cost you as much money/time/space. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself, and trust me, this is only the tip of the ice burg. I have no trouble in you learning, but you are rushing things without being properly ready both in knowledge and in equipment. Buy the fish, but don't breed them just yet - they need a while to condition, use that time to purchase the proper equipment, foods, etc and research some more. 

I don't mean to sound rude - but we've all seen people who want to breed these fish end up failing because they get the fish to breed, then are not prepared with how to care for the fry. Here are a group of videos (35 pages of them) with a lot of great breeders videos.. some aren't so good, some are great. I would go through them as they show things from setting up the spawn tanks, feeding the fry at different stages, setting up the drip system, etc that may help you learn a bit more.. good luck.


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

Myates said:


> You can't leave them in room temp - the heaters need to be the adjustable kind that can easily get the breeding tank and grow out tanks to 82-84*.
> 
> And no.. the eel can be peaceful with bigger fish.. but you are going to need to move the betta fry from the 10g while they are still pretty small - and small fish = food for the eel.
> 
> ...



Thanks for this!! I did not realize how hard it was to care for the fry. I have a 10 gallon tank all cycled and ready. If I wanted to breed livebreeders what are my options? Is this the place to Ask about breeding all fish?


----------



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

This is for bettas, but don't give up this idea if you really want to do it. Just be aware of what it takes.. bettas differ in the fact you have to separate so many fish into their own containers, and have to clean each container daily, etc.

The "mother" forum to this forum is TropicalFishKeeping, there you can learn about a wide range of species and their care. Are you just wanting to breed any type of fish for a hobby? If you really want to breed bettas, stick it out and ask questions as you go.. ask specific questions, make a list of items you think you need and post it, we can help edit it if needed, etc. 

We are here to help, I personally just wanted you to know what you are getting into when it comes to being a responsible breeder of these particular species.


----------



## Betta Bro (Feb 6, 2013)

Myates said:


> This is for bettas, but don't give up this idea if you really want to do it. Just be aware of what it takes.. bettas differ in the fact you have to separate so many fish into their own containers, and have to clean each container daily, etc.
> 
> The "mother" forum to this forum is TropicalFishKeeping, there you can learn about a wide range of species and their care. Are you just wanting to breed any type of fish for a hobby? If you really want to breed bettas, stick it out and ask questions as you go.. ask specific questions, make a list of items you think you need and post it, we can help edit it if needed, etc.
> 
> We are here to help, I personally just wanted you to know what you are getting into when it comes to being a responsible breeder of these particular species.


I definitely want to keep the idea of breeding bettas in mind. But I got the idea because I thought they did not need much room (which I am clearly wrong). I will be getting two bettas anyway and keep researching them as I go. Thanks so much for helping me! I think I might first go with guppy breeding and then if I want challenge I will think abou bettas again. I just need more space than I thought for it.


----------



## GhostFeather (Jun 23, 2011)

Guppys can be as demanding as Bettas!
First you have to decide why you want to breed for ,pets or show.
What are you going to do with all the Guppies you end up with?
For show,you still need alot of individual tanks-,the females need to be separated so they stay virgins.
Actually,show Guppies are alot like show Bettas.
My Dad and I raised Show Guppies for awhile,when I was younger.
Not trying to burst your bubble,but any fish you decide to breed can get expensive and time consuming.
I have a 55G,community tank that has Guppies in it,I just let nature take it's course and really enjoy the color mixes I get.


----------



## Myates (Aug 2, 2011)

Guppies can be demanding, but they don't all need individual containers like bettas... for a fun hobby to give fish to friends then you don't need the perfect guppy. You can make it as big or small as you like by culling the fry.. or as Ghost said, just let nature take it's course


----------



## LadyVictorian (Nov 23, 2011)

I would say if you want to breed guppies get a 20 gallon tank and put in two females and one male or three females and one male. Then just let them do their thing. Make sure it is well planted with fake or real plants for the fry to hid in so the parents don't eat them all.


----------

