Round Two!! Finchy + Ruby

[Iggy]

Sell them mostly, as many as I can directly, and then try to trade some of them in for store credit, then keep a few.

I have been busy making small contacts with fish store owners (smaller privates for now) so that I have a good relationship and will be able to give them a small supply, a dozen at a time, over a few weeks, for money or partial credit towards supplies.

No, there is no big money in breeding bettas for pet sales. I did it for the experience and and I not sure if I will ever do it again, depends on my sucess at selling them and if I found some pleasure after the whole thing is done!

 

[mcshell]

Originally posted by Iggy
CUPS! CUPS! NEVER CUPS!

LOL. if you are afraid that they may jump out, try to get those cups that come with a lid! LOL.
(Anyway, I was just joking about the cups!)

Do you have any idea how much they will take the betta?
I wonder if it worths to start a business for breeding betta - provided the cost seems high and it takes so long to grow them to selling age

 

[Iggy]

mcshell,

Just ask www.bcbetta.com if it's worth breeding for profit.

I will sell my bettas direct for $5.00 CDN each plus food plus conditioner (if they don't have it already).

I will resell my bettas based on order quanitity, from $1.00 to $2.50 each to start off with.

I am not looking for a profit this time around, just some money to reinvest in better equipment.

 

[PreciousGems]

LOL, the guy I get my bettas from just spend $88 on a melano DT pair. Their spawn siblinings are going for $120+ on aquabid. I bet once you get started, you can make some money, but the first years you go broke! Believe me! Between heaters and tanks, and of course, the bettas, the cost catches up to you.

Alexa

 

[Iggy]

I have spent around $450 CAN so far on the heaters, sponge filters, and food, etc etc etc. I have +/- 210 fry @ $2.00 ea would not quite break even.

This batch is targeted for the 'pet' market, not the trader market. If you want the trader market you need to buy your pairs from a breeder at around $25 to $120.00, not a pet store like I did for $8.00 total.

However, Finchy (those of you who know about him) is one tough, beautiful betta I just love! I am certain his spawn (FinchySpawn!!!) will be tough, personable and a great pet for most first timer fish keepers.

 

[Lotus]

Breaking even isn't so bad -- as long as you're not trying it as a business At least you will cover most of your expenses. If you decide to do it again, you will still have the equipment, and you might turn a small profit.

 

[Iggy]

Latest Update for December

Well, I am now down to about 200 fry. I lost about 20 or so from starvation. No, I am feeding them all fine, however certain fry would never to got the surface to eat, so they slowly starved themselves

Natural selection I guess. I did not want to use another kind of food because they need to adjust to what I feed them, not the other way around, plus I have plenty of spare fry!

I have a few fry around 1 inch long now, one I call 'Big Red' because he is the biggest and reddest in the tank. I am pretty sure he is a he, he has longer fins and more of a gill 'beard' than the others.

Surprisingly, at two months, I don't have a lot of nipping going on yet, just a little during feeding. I have only about 1/3 the jars I need, so its time for me to get serious about getting more jars (I need 100 at least)

If the fry are not too bad, I want to wait till the Christmas break before I start jarring the fry.

I am hoping to get a 55 gallon tank for a present also, so I will move my goldfish into the 55 and transfer most of my fry to my 38 gallon to grow-out faster.

I am not all that excited about water changing 100 jars. I might still have to take some runts out and turn them into feeders

 

[mcshell]

I heard one other friend says if the fry grow up together, they may not fight. However, after you separate them for a while and put them back together, they might!

A while ago I put ~4-5 bigger fry with my platy fry, and i saw one of the betta fry is quite thin. So i thought I'll put her (or him?) back to the other betta fry so she has a better chance for getting food. but she started a fight with other fry! yes. fight. they were curlying their bodies, and flaring... i was shocked and i had to put her back with the platies...

btw, Iggy you really have big frys. I guess it must be your hard work and good job of feeding them.
Mine are ~ 3 months old now, and they're just ~ 1 inch. Some of them still ~1.5cm.

 

[PreciousGems]

A breeder told me the same thing. That once you seperate the fry, their fighting instincts kick in, although there are usually bullies that pop up in the grow out tank.

One way to have everyone heated, but seperate is a bottle/bucket method. The same breeder I mentioned and get my bettas from recommended this.

First you heat a 5 gallon bucket to the temp you want it at. Then you cut the tops off of 10 bottles (he uses the regular, 24 oz or whatever bottles) and rinse them really well. Then you punch 5 small holes in the bottom, and on near the edge at the top. You put a hook through the hole on the top and hang each bottle on the bucket (like a betta barracks thing for tanks, only you can adjust the bottle size). You can also put a betta in the bucket itself for an 11th space.

Let's see. You have 200 fry....you will need at least 19 buckets, lol! I am going to set this up when I move my fish to our new house (we are moving accross town to a bigger house). Good luck!

Alexa

 

[Iggy]

I spoke with another (more experienced) breeder today, and it looks like I have till the 5th or 6th month before I should see any really nasty fighting.

Also, she said that in her experience, the fry that grow fastest are typically always female, while the smaller fry are generally makles. One theory behind that is that the females excrete some sort of hormone that stunts male growth, because once you seperate the fry, the males go through a fast growth spurt.

I have a few months (2) before I can sex the fry. The taletail sign of a male is the bottom fin. Male's bottom fins back edge will go straight down while females go out on an angle.

You know whats funny, I have over 200 betta's in total and today I bought another male! I am one sick puppy!

 

[Iggy]

2 month old Finchyspawn!!

Here is a picture of 'Big Red' my largest betta fry of 2 months old.

I also added a picture of my 17 gal fry tank at:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=29

Its pretty cute... my betta fry actually sleep ontop of the java moss I attached to a rock.

 

[theeyrietrainer]

wow, hes so beautiful! the beauty of your fry are making me impatient and wanting to breed my bettas. i hope my fry will be just as cute as yours! yours are adorable! too bad i cant find a same colored female as my male...like your reds, so cute! keep up the great job iggy! hope they make it into adulthood!

 

[Iggy]

New Update - 29 gallon tank

Ok, I just picked up a really (really) old 29 gallon from a neighbor. This thing is ugly, I mean 1970's car sort of ugly. Someone recaulked the tank seams and it looks terrible, not to mention the friction fit 'sliding' (but they really don't) glass top with a sort of industrial light sitting ontop. Like I said, ugly.

But hey! Its 29 more gallons of water and a good little grow-out space for my bettas. I moved all my betta fry from my 10 gallon and 5 gallon into the 29, so now they have double the space to grow.

Its still pretty crowded, and here is the actual, complete physical count of fry I currently have:

17 gallon - 100 betta fry
29 gallon - 148 betta fry
Current Total: 248 fry
Lost (various reasons): 80 fry
Total orginaly spawn size: 328 fry

So, for all you would-be betta breeders that think you might only get a few dozen fry your first time out - think again. I had NO IDEA that I had over 300 by looking at the nest, and any more than 100 is impossible to count until you seperate them.

I just saw my first 'nipping' territorial action today, otherwise everyone seems to be getting along.

Ps. 'Big Red' is still with us, he/she is really beautiful with fins about 50% larger than the others. Still not old enough to sex yet, but soon!

 

[theeyrietrainer]

congrats on the tank and the fry! wow, you have so much fry, they'll all eat you out of your house! lol, jk, good luck with them! so what are you feeding now? are they old enough to be feed commercial flakes?

 

[Iggy]

Musical Bettas

I moved all my betta fry from my 17gal tank (100) plus a few in the 29gal tank (25) into my empty 38 gallon tank. I have a Topfin 40 (aka Whisper) and a 150w heater I moved from the 17gal to the 38gal. so those fry now have 0.30gal each to grow-out a little more.

My 29gal has only 120 fish in it now (with 2 sponge bubble filters I used during spawning) and now those fry have 0.24gal each for grow-out.

I am also taking the first steps towards my adult betta barracks divided tank system

 

[Iggy]

Its Jarring Time!

Well, the time has finally come to start jarring my fry. Its been about four months now, and my fry are still a little on the small side. So, after talking with another breeder, she suggested I start jarring any identifiable males so they can grow faster.

Right now, I have 237 fry, and 44 jars... so I am on the hunt for jars! I plan on canvasing my neighbors and friends houses to get as many free jars as I can.

I have a sturdy 3/4" plywood reinforced shelving unit screwed to the wall that will hold about 60 to 85 jars, and a 2nd smaller bookshelf that can hold 40 to 60 jars (depending on jar size)

I have enough room, but those water change (120 ish jars) seem pretty daunting, so I am devising a plan a crude manual water change system, or at least get a big barrel of water I can pre-treat and heat-up.

I will be jarring on Tuesday, Feb 24th, so wish me luck!

 

[mcshell]

I went to lfs, and they suggested going to SaveOn / SaveWay to buy some jars from them.
They said you may get different deals from different store / store manager; just make sure you don't pay for over $1 for each jar. Last time, they were able to get a bunch of jars for 30 cents each. But the next time, they got the jars for 60 cents each

 

[Iggy]

Thanks mcshell... I found a good deal at Value Village (thrift store) for $0.50 each.

I jarred 24 today... basically 2 shelves worth. I will jar another 16 tomorrow and then I will need to get a few more jars.

I have a room heater and its kicking out a lot of heat, so the jars should not get to chilly during the night.

Each jar has a little piece of Java Moss in it, and is covered with fiberglass insect screen mesh I cut into squares, notched a hole in the middle for feeding, and used a rubber band to hold it on.

Wow, I am NOT looking forward to 100 jars .... I will certainly need to find a way to make water changes quickly... not to mention the daily feedings.

 

[PreciousGems]

When I had 60 or so jars I just filled 120 (or double the amount)jars with clean water. Then you put your bettas in one set of them and keep the other jars so you can just transfer a betta from a dirty jar to a clean jar in no time. I used to clean jars twice a week by mixing the water treatments into aged water, netting, dumping, filling, and transfering fish into new jars. However, that took a looooong time compared to using double the amount of jars. Good Luck with jarring! I only have 3 betta fry right now that are growing out and I think I can find a place for them, lol.

 

[Iggy]

So what your saying Alexa is you have spare jars to give me......?

Just kidding. I am actually trying to get my hands on a 55gal barrel I can use to pre-treat and age the water....

I don't think I will try to get 200 jars, but maybe 116 and only change 16 jars at a time.