# Questions, Questions!



## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

Hi! Before I breed for the first time, I have a few questions.;-)

1: I would like to breed in a bin/tub. How large should the breeding or grow out tub be? 

2: As for jars, the boys will hopefully be in brand-new plastic cups with lids.
Can I use/ How would I clean old jelly/applesauce jars as another container for males?

3: Can someone tell me what age fry get which foods?I know that up to two weeks can be infusoria, then how long for M larva?

I will start the fry on infusoria and maybe Hikari first bites, then move on to mosquito larva, then eventually flakes and pellets.

I might have a spawn thread...
I have done my research, and continue to do so! :-D

Thank You!!!!


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## GunsABlazin (Jun 1, 2011)

1. A 10-15 gallon works really well.

2. I use old canning jars for my fish during water changes. Rinse them really well, peel lables off and just run them through the dish washer.

3.for foods ( i may be wrong) BBs can be fed from free swiming to 2 months, BW, WW, MW and Grendal worms can be fed after 1 month. Im not sure for the ML, probly not untill they are a month or so.


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

I wouldn't feed infusoria for 2 weeks.. not much nutrition there. Brineshrimp or some sort of micro worm would be a better option. Never fed mosquito larvae so I can't tell you what the schedule is like on that but I think that they're on the larger side so you can probably feed them for quite a while. I'm sure OFL will chime in on that.

For tank size it really all depends. A small spawn can be done in a 10 gallon but you have to be willing to keep the numbers way down. Preferably you'd spawn in about a 10 gallon and then move to a larger tank for grow out. Grow out tanks can be upwards of 55 gallons or more. My grow out tank is 29 gallons but I also have larger rubbermaid tubs that hold about 30 gallons as well.


For jars anything that is food safe and holds water will work.


To correct gunsablazin

Micro, Walter, and Banana Worms (MW,WW, BW) can be fed from free swimming up to 1 month.

Baby Brine Shrimp (BBS) can be fed from 2 weeks up to 2 months or longer, some brands of brine shrimp can be fed from free swimming.

Grindal worms can be fed from 1 month on.


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

Isn't infusoria mostly for supplementing the frys' diet rather than a main food source?


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

From what ive read the first few days at least infusoria can be the main source. After that its a nice snack between feedings, but i know some people use it for the whole first week if they have their tanks heavily planted.


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

Alright! Thanks everyone, I might breed in a 5 gallon tub, then 15-25 maybe for growout. Would Hikari first bites along with infusoria be good for maybe the first week? I will have a few live plants, hopefully, maybe a cave, or tunnel. hopefully a sponge filter...I will culture infusoria, seems more fun.:roll: Like I said maybe a spawn thread. Thanks again!:blueyay: :hmm:I thought that in the fry foods and feeding thread, it said that infusoria could be fed for the first 2 weeks......


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

I think they are small enough to see it/pick at it for the first couple of weeks but after the first week especially they will need other things as well. Hikari first bites, i planned to pick some up but ive read in a couple of places about it being too big for betta fry for the first couple of weeks, i need to get some for the future though.
For me, ive been letting them feed off infusoria through this first week along with doing the egg yolk as food, and just being really careful to vac up any leftover egg yolk 2 hours after each feed. I planned bbs but they ended up being a bit too large for week 1, but now they will work


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

OK. Thank You all! I have been very informed.:thankyou: How would I go about feeding egg yolk?


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## Punki (Apr 30, 2011)

I boil an egg, cut it open, take about a pellet sized piece of it, put it in a ziplock with a bit of tank water and moosh it all together awhile, it should make cloudy water, i keep it thin. Then i dip my finger in it, and then dip my finger into their tank where i see their groups. At first they didnt accept it so i took some infusora water and put that in at the same time. The mix of wigglers and egg made them all follow the leader and snack on it )


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

Hikari first bites can be fed from free swimming however I should caution you that it will foul the water extremely fast. Basically what hikari first bites is is a mass produced egg yolk type food.

Infusoria is good for about the first week but after that you really need to look into bigger and more nutritious foods.


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## Pitluvs (Jun 22, 2011)

I want to ask... why would you be putting bettas in plastic cups? Don't we condemn pet stores for doing that? lol Mason Jars are like 12 for $6.. much more room.


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

Ok, I was thinking something like this http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariums005&1311879000 Because I thought it would be cheaper. If mason jars are 12 for $6 than I will look into that. I had thought of plastic cups because I don't want to spend a lot of money and I had heard of people using them on this forum.


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

Also, when you (In general) bred for the first time, how many fry made it to adulthood? I'm just wondering how many fry a beginner like me might have on hand. And what was your setup/procedure? Thanks!


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## 1fish2fish (Sep 10, 2009)

My first two spawns I didn't get any fry. One spawn was very small and I lost the survivors to velvet, the other I had 12 fry but when I moved they all died... most likely they were too young to deal with the water change.

My first 'successful' spawn I had 13 fish.


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

Anyone else? What procedure/setup did you use?


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## PitGurl (Feb 22, 2011)

I lost my first spawn to a power outage :-(. There were around 20 fry. I took a break from bettas for a few year but have got back in to them over the past year (understatement :roll. I've purchased a few bettas off Aquabid and I'm about to attempt to start breeding again. I plan on doing an outside spawn, the more natural way you could say. I live in the south so the weather is just right. I have a couple 7 gallon feed tubs for spawning and a 35 gallon water trough for a growout. I've spent as much time at Tractor Supply as I have at Petco, lol.


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## bettalover2000 (May 10, 2011)

*How's this sound?*

conditioning with ML...3gal at 80-83 deg...20 gal growout tub...sponge filter,infusoria and hikari first bites for the first 1-2 weeks... then ML and frozen bloodworms...then aqueon pellets. Sorry, so many questions.....


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