# DIY Betta Project



## henningc

Well it has been a while and with the weather shipping has been an issue. I am finally ready to do my first betta spawn in at least 5 years. I plan to use a female that looks like a cross between a cambodian and a red-She is pink and red and a metalic blue combtail male who also appears to be some sort of color cross. This is just my test run to make sure everything clicks. I'm currently waiting on some delta and halfmoon fish spawned by a professional breeder I've come to know on another fourm.

My goal is to rear fry and make them available to other forum members. Most folks here just want a nice looking healthy betta. The big box stores, "Pet Whatever," have half dead poorly maintained fish that are imported. If my project catches on I hope to guilt, I mean encourage others to do the same so we can take a little bit out of the importers. I'll update this thread once the fish have spawned, hopefully Monday. Once again a quick thank you to all that have provided rescue fish to this project. Keep your fingers crossed.:betta:


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## henningc

Place #1 choice male in breeding container and 12 hours later placed female, still in clear container, into the breeding set up. That was Saturday and so far the male has only blown maybe 20 bubbles under the fake lilly pad. He has spent most of his time displaying for the female. I'm thinking he will need to wear down a bit more before I can turn her loose in the container. The female has been pointing head down while the male displays, so she is ready to mate once he is.

As a backup, I have two more pairs and a spare female just incase. I'll keep the thread running.


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## henningc

First Batch Of Fry Started!!! Finally!


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## sephnroth

Good luck! I look forward to seeing them grow!


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## majerah1

Good luck, though I do not find it fair to target the imports, as many of them try their best to maintain the same quality we as hobbyists look for. hermanus is one, as is Kit. Note these are not the same ones who sell to the big box chains. I am sure even the ones found in the chains were well cared for before being sent here. Its the care they receive from the stores that determine their health, not necessarily the breeder.

Also if you are truly interested in breeding, join here: http://ibcbettas.org/2012/

You can further educate yourself about the colors, and strains of many bettas and possibly start to show off your own lines.

I forgot to ask, what are you feeding the fry? Do you have live foods for them? Or planning another route?


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## chipmunk1210

While I do understand the reasoning behind your project, some of it is quite flawed. The bettas that you see in the stores, while imported from a breeder that breeds for that reason, the conditions that the bettas are in when you see them is not the result of the breeder but of the particular store. This is evidenced with LFS that get their bettas from local breeders but still keep them in the same conditions a place like PetCo would keep them. While in your eyes since the bettas were bred here in the US they should be better quality than the imported ones that Petco has, both places will have lower quality fish when viewed because of the way they keep them once they arrive. Labeling imported fish as the bad part of the equation is not fair to the breeders overseas many of whom we would not have the quality of fish we have here today if not for them. Specifically with the species I breed some of which are not in the US yet and have to be imported in.

With that said, I see no problem with you breeding. Do you have a plan for your bettas as far as tail type and color that you are going to work toward? This will def help you in the future for selling your spawns. How are you going to raise the spawn? What foods will you be using for the fry? How are you going to market your spawns?

I highly recommend joining the IBC so you can get some great advice and info.


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## henningc

OK, just to clarify several things for those in the know. First, almost all commercially available wholesale bettas provided to retailers in the U.S.A. are imports. As for imported bettas, there are breeders who provide cutting edge fish that are well breed, maintained and shipped appropriately. These breeders typically compete in the international compatition and make their proceeds from high quality, genetically superior fish. They are the cream of the crop as far as bettas go. These are the people that U.S. breeders purchase stock from to compete on the show circuit.

Not all the asian exporters are as qualified as those discussed above. These other breeders breed for numbers and quality is secondary. Not saying that some very nice fish don't get through, they do, but that is basically to make sales numbers. I have a lot of prior experience as a wholeslaer and yes, importer of large quantities of bettas. I have had my share of 500-700 finger bags packed into one standard styro box that spend 5-7 days in shipping. I also know fish are raised by the thousands in 12oz cups and spend most of their lives in the cup until being baged and shipped. Once here, the big importers either leave them in the finger bags or put them in 10oz-12oz cups with lids and send them out to the big box stores. Most of the stores than sell them in the very same cups. Many of these fish are lucky to have lived in a total of 2gal of different water until purchased by the public. So, the statement that their care is appropriate until ending up in the pet store here is just wishful thinking. There may be a rare occasion where this is not the case, but the overwhelming majority of the time that is not the case.

My goal is not to breed for show quality per say, rather breed well maintained, genetically stable veil and delta tailed bettas. I also have some halfmoons that will be bred later in the summer. I've breed for show and grew very tired of it back in the 90s. This is simply to improve the quality of available fish and provide a break to the new folks who purchase bettas that are half shot in my opinion. I value your comments, but one must be realistic and understand that not all suppliers or their sources are folks we would buy stock from if we knew how they maintained their fish. Unfortunately, U.S Aquaculture is ill prepared to commercially breed bettas and make a profit doing so. Hope this clears tha air and hey, the new guys get free fish.

I do plan to work on the quality of the finnage as I go forward. I do have food for the fry, I use green water, then microworks, brine shrimp and scuds. I will also be using mosquito larva as I'll have a good supply the next few months. I also use gut loaded livebearer fry once they are conditioning to breed.


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## majerah1

What are your plans for any fish you raise who are not pet quality ( Meaning culls) ? Or those who no one wants? To me I can understand the passion behind the decision because well, I too would very much love for bettas to get a better start on life. However knowing they can have 200 and up fry, you will need to cull some or end up looking for 200 plus people to take fish. Even if they are free, you cannot guarantee they will go to homes who will care for them properly. Do you plan to hand out caresheets with the correct information? 

Im not trying to step on your toes in any way so I apologize if it seems that way, I just want to be sure that you can provide the fish with the best possible homes and such, or your efforts would be on par with a pet shop, Or those overseas breeders who breed for profit. 

Just curious if you have seen Aquastar71s hatchery? Kit has a massive area with thousands of fish. That is what I would love to do!


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## henningc

First batch of fry are coming along. Going to try to do a double with two couples next week.


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## rtmaston

hey guys I have a male betta in a 2 gallon tank.i got it last month.im going to get a female over the weekend.can I just put it in the 2 gallon with the male?i notice after I got the male for the first week I was seeing bubbles on top of the water but now its not making anymore bubbles.will thay breed quick and do I need to remove the male or female from the tank?can you tell me about how many babies thay have?thank guys


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## majerah1

rtmaston said:


> hey guys I have a male betta in a 2 gallon tank.i got it last month.im going to get a female over the weekend.can I just put it in the 2 gallon with the male?i notice after I got the male for the first week I was seeing bubbles on top of the water but now its not making anymore bubbles.will thay breed quick and do I need to remove the male or female from the tank?can you tell me about how many babies thay have?thank guys


http://www.aquariumforum.com/f52/breeding-bettas-16897.html
Refer to that. 

Also just because the fish is pretty you really have to make sure you have homes lined up or are prepared to cull. They can have anywhere from one to 300 babies, all needing jarred about four to six weeks old. Many people who spawn have at least 100.


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## henningc

I knocked the second go round down to one pair. Introduced the female tonight. She is still in her jar, but the male started blowing bubbles within 20 min. I'll cut her lose tomorrow. Hopefully this male will do his job.


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## henningc

Second spawn is in the books. The male covered 2/3 of the tank with the nest and my way over egg laden female filled it up.

Third spawn this weekend.

Edit Note: Fry are doing well and just began feeding on Antaxathin and spurlina powder mix and feed with an eye dropped. 

Launch next pair tomorrow!


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## sharkettelaw

good to hear..all my females died so i managed to get 5 female deltas. Three are in their second week of conditioning, and one turqoise and pink will be spawned with a multicolour crowntail, the other turqoise is going to be spawned with my white and purple double tail male and the purple one, with the turqoise HM male..all depends on which males raise their eggs


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## rtmaston

I have a pair and I want to try and breed them now I have them in separate tanks. can you give me some advice on the right way to breeding them.thanks


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## majerah1

I want to share a little story from a good friend who breeds bettas, and decided to sell some of her stock at one of the best pet stores she knows of. I mean she really trusted this place. 

This person I have known for a good five years and bettas are her passion. She thought that it would be a good idea to replace the imports with her quality stock at the store. A month later, she went back in for some supplies. She was shocked to see two of her boys sitting on the shelf, in the same cups with what looked to be the same water she brought them in. One had severe swim bladder issues and the other looked awful. She had to buy them back, in order to hopefully heal them. They are recovering... slowly and will never be the same fish they were when she left them there. If I can get her permission I will share pics of these fish with you guys. 

Moral of the story? make sure your stock goes to a place where they will get the proper care.


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## chipmunk1210

rtmaston said:


> I have a pair and I want to try and breed them now I have them in separate tanks. can you give me some advice on the right way to breeding them.thanks


Majerah1 answered your question the first time you asked it as well as a couple of other questions you asked.  

OP -- I am glad that your pairs are working out well for you. Just like I said before though, once the fish get to the store (if you sell them to a store or take them there to be sold) the quality will go down no matter how high it was when they were with you. It is a sad hard truth that the stores do not give the bettas much attention or care. While there are a couple of places that will do the correct thing with them those places are few and far between and even when you think that they are a good place they might not be that way all the time. As much as I tutor my LFS owner about bettas, I would never sell him any of mine that I have bred. The bettas are just not something that most shop owners want to take the time. effort, and money to keep them in conditions they need to look their best. So while I do agree that there are most likely some that do come in wholesale from breeders overseas that end up looking horrible even before they reach the store, the store's part on the bettas loosing quality and condition should still be looked at.

Another thing is how are you going to compete with these stores and get your fish out to push their sales down to where there is less importing? Most betta purchases are impulse buys when one is actually at the store. Unfortunately not a long thought out purchase that it needs to be. This will not help you in your end target of encouraging people from buying the imported fish from the stores. You will have decent sales from the forums ect but I really don't see any impact in the number of imported bettas being sold. Also most people that are going to be looking for a betta and taking the time to do their research on keeping it will most likely want one of the more desired fin types than VT or deltas. Although I personally like both of those tail types most people now a days would prefer a HM or PK.


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## henningc

Update:

PHOTOS COMING THIS WEEKEND. THEY ARE COLORING UP!


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## sharkettelaw

would be awesome to see! My males are finally starting to raise their eggs..just bred a crowntail with a female delta. Now the real work begins!


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## henningc

First Fry Not Sexed Out Yet But Ready For New Homes!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## henningc

OK, anyone for an unsexed blue / turquious betta -Shipping only


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## henningc

Anyone want a free Betta? Check the Henningc Gallery


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## smvpune

Congrats on your betta project, nice experience!


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## henningc

Wow, one of the DIY Betta males is headed for WI. I still have some very nice males and females that only cost postage.


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