Breeding bettas

fishisme said:
i am using a 5 gal, only tank thats free. So drain the water half way, i have read that but i just dont no why?
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Well, there are a few reasons...
#1 The male doesnt have to travel as far to get to the dropped eggs and fry...He can repeat this process several hundred times hence getting pretty tired...The shorter distance is easier on him...
#2 There is no way to clean that tank when the fry are young...They are waaaay too small and you will vaccuum them up. Sooo, instead of removing water to dilute wastes, we add...

A 5 gal is really not a great idea...If you get a large spawn you will have to move them sooner to a grow out tank...Betta fry are fragile and sensitive to these changes.
 
Robush: Basically what you are talking about is "infusoria" and yes, it is a great first food for tiny fry...Takes a few weeks to culture your own, but it does work...BBS for the most part is way too large for most newborns...There is also discussion about it causing swim bladder disorder in Bettas...Not sure if this has been proven yet, but I avoid them and never have a problem...Also, microworms live longer in the tank and wiggle alot..This attracts the fry to them...
 
microworms

i have no experience with microworms. how would you set up a culture of them or obtain them ( as cheaply as possible...im pretty broke) last time i used BBS and got okay results. i had about 10 make it all the way thru. i expect the problem was more in other first time mistakes because i still had about 60 when they made it past that first crucial stage where feeding them is so hard. however, i would like to try again now with microworms. i was about 15 when i did it last time, too. it was a genetics experiment. now i am in college and thought it would be fun to try again. thanks
 
Robush- You can try "the bug farm" for some interesting "combos" of fry foods...These cultures will carry them through to a juvenile stage easily...OR, you can go to www.aquabid.com... Microworms are cheap and easy to culture...Almost too easy...I feed my microworms regular flake fish food, basically gut loading them with vitamins, then feed them to the fry...As long as you keep those wormies warm (70-80) you will be able to harvest them every day, sometimes twice...They are a real fry saver. Another thing to consider is infusoria as a first food...usually consumed within the first two days after the yolk sac is empty...I just float some "water lettuce" in the tank and let the dead leaves rot...You will notice the fry hanging around these rotty leaves... I only add about 3 small plants, but thus far they have carried a few spawns through...Good luck :)
 
Ok i still need micro worms, Then when its time i got to empty my tank half way, i might try live food cultures, I cant find the prices? were are they?
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fishisme said:
Ok i still need micro worms, Then when its time i got to empty my tank half way, i might try live food cultures, I cant find the prices? were are they?
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I would shoot them an email at questions@livefoodcultures.com and see what response you get. If you do not get a response you can always try this site as well. http://www.aquaculturestore.com/fwinverts.html
If you have questions, Paul is pretty good with responses there. I order my hets , scuds and daphina from him.



PS, also keep us updated with your photo diary of your fish. I would love to see how things go for you. Also if it fails, don't loose hope and try again, sooner or later your fish will get it right.
 
Ya i cant wait, i email them, hope they reply soon, I wonder if they take pay pal? i dont want to take all the time and send them a $ order :(
 
TheMightyQueenPixie said:
NOTHING is small enough...NOTHING...Microworms it has to be.
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When I bred my bettas, I used infusoria as a first food. I let a piece of lettuce soak in some water in the sun..After a day or two there was a nice cloud of infusoria in the water. If you shine a light on one end of the container, the infusoria is attracted to that end and you syphon them out and put them in with the fry. That's how I did it anyway....when they were a bit larger I fed the bbs.

I imagine if you have a good amount of java moss in the tank with the fry, there should be enough infusoria in that to feed the fry until they are large enough for the bbs. Their stomachs always looked good and full so I knew they were getting plenty to eat.

Microworms are a good food though, so I would use those if you can get them. But the infusoria is a good idea if you want to get going and can't wait for the worms. The only issue I had when I used the microworms was the gunk that gets into the water when I put the worms in. The worms I had were cultured in oatmeal...a bit messy. But if you put a popsicle stick in the culter the worms would crawl up it and then you can dip it in the tank with the fry.

I had no problems syphoning out my tank with the fry in there. I had them in a 10 gallon and used an airline tube to syphon the water out...watching very carefully for any fry that might take a trip. If any did I just put them back in the tank after I was done removing water. Just suck them back up the syphon tube and back into tank. I did a water change every day in my tank for a quite awhile using this method. I also had a 5 gallon standing ready all the time with aged heated water to replace what I took out...and syphoned it into the fry tank with an airline tube, so it didn't create a big current. The change water tank was on top of my hutch next to the fry tank so that I could do this.

Just a few ideas for you to knock around Fishinme. Have fun....wish you all success in your first attempt !! :)
 
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Oh ok, Could i use a light because there is know sun out, well there might be but its -20. so could i use a light?
 
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