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Preparations for Breeding


Brenton

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Hi all

I have my LFS boys in a dispaly tank in the lounge. Wife went out and got some Cichlid Convicts last night for the final free partition. Seems I'm becoming a fish keeper not just the Betta keeper/breeder I wanted to be...(this tank has solid black partitions so they dont see each other, unless they meet up at the vents at top or bottom, but they don't seem overly fussed with each other at present).

Anyway, the plan is to get a breeding pair of CT's from Jim (to start with). I have a smaller tank working through fishless cycling at the moment to be ready for them. I'm going to the hardware shop to grab some clear tubing to house the lady (if it comes in a big enough dimenesion), or look into getting some temproary partitions for the tank (where does one get them from?).

When/if this all works out and a new batch of fry grace me with their presence, then the lady will move into a third tank (about to start fishless cycling in that one), and the male will remain to look after the fry. When advised, he will then be transferred to the other side of the temp partition, or should he go into a completely seperate tank (which needs to be purchased).

As the Fry grow, I will either move the male into another tank (if not already done so above), and remove the partition. The tank will then become their grow out tank.

When big enough, I then need to look at seperating them into individual quarters (is this called jarring?), and move the females into a sorority tank (yet another tank I need to purchase, or can they go in with mum?).

Questions:

From the above description (if correct), it looks like I'll need up to four tanks. Is this where I need to start looking at a canister filtration system? Can they be setup to do all the tanks and possibly a barracks system as well?

What about heating? A heater for each tank or does the cannister setup look after this for me?

Jarring - do I look at lots of small containers or can this be a barracks system? With Adelaide winters being particularly cold, no heaters really arent an option. If I go to a barracks (which is my first option, can they be setup to cycle water for filtration and heating? Does this mean another cannister setup or will one system be able to handle all of this?

Has anyone had any dealings with Aquarium suppliers in this part of the world to recommend an establishement? I've visited a few and haven't been overly impressed with staff or products. I'm visiting another one this weekend (fingers crossed). Or can anyone suggest a place I can order from that won't kill me with shipping costs?

In addition to all this, I know I need to come up with a couple of live feed cultures. I'm thinking Grindal worms and Daphnia. Currently the boys are getting a once a week feed of frozen blood worms (which they love). The Grindal worms are cool because I'll be going soiless if I can source a starter culture, but the Daphnia will require their own tank won't they? Any suggestions on what that setup will be and where I can get a starter culture from?

I think that will be about it - at least it's more than enough for this post ;)

As always, any and all help and suggestion are appreciated.

BT

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OMG - wife has now been banned from buying fish if she happens to like the look of them while out on her own...

Me thinks another new tank will now be in order for the Convicts because they won't fit in their current accomodations for too long!

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Haha having a partner whose Ito fish is awesome

James is mine an we have something like 20 tanks setup

Haha

Anyway daphnia can be kept in its own tank it doesn't need a heater or anything

What people usually do though is split it up Into empty soft drink bottle with the ld off (so somewhere it won't get lost)

That way you aren't at risk to kill all you culture by over feeding it with yeast (happens a lot) and its very easy to see how your cultures are going

I meant knocked over no lost... Ours are in the garage on the window ledge out of reach of our crazy dogs...

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Hey BT,

Planning your breeding setup is a great idea, and asking as many questions as possible from those of us that have made the mistakes, might save you some hastle and money in the future, I had a pretty ORGANIC approach to my plan and ended up with more glass and water in my bedroom than actual living space.

From the above description (if correct), it looks like I'll need up to four tanks. Is this where I need to start looking at a canister filtration system? Can they be setup to do all the tanks and possibly a barracks system as well? <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannister filtration is god, they're expensive and if you buy products like eheim, you'll have them for decades (mine is going on 12 years) however it can be over-kill on some tanks, and the water flow is particularly strong.

I can't quite imagine your system without a diagram plan (artist brain) but if it helps, I've usually got a plan of my current setup written down somewhere.

At a very basic level I have the following tanks (all with heaters) and the following filtration

* Community display tank (just for my eyeballs) - Eheim 2217 cannister

* Spawn tank 40 lt (filled only to 12cm for spawning) this also doubles as a primary grow-out until I'm comfortable to move them - this has an airline and a sponge filter bubbling at varying strength for the occasion.

* Grow out tank 80-100 lt depending on size of spawn, This has two large sponge filters and bare bottom, I move the fry at about 2 weeks

* Baine-Marie jarring setup with a large long & low under-bed-storage plastic container, filled with water and one heater in the bottom, where I float jars/boxes/tupperware and do daily changes.

What about heating? A heater for each tank or does the cannister setup look after this for me?<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannister won't heat for you - unless you have an "in-line" heater witch is expensive and not really necessary. Heat each tank, that way you can monitor each temp - I'm suggesting you don't actually need a cannister for a betta breeding setup.

<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Jarring - do I look at lots of small containers or can this be a barracks system? With Adelaide winters being particularly cold, no heaters really arent an option. If I go to a barracks (which is my first option, can they be setup to cycle water for filtration and heating? Does this mean another cannister setup or will one system be able to handle all of this? <br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">Cannisters are god, but have too much flow to slap into any betta tank directly... I've lost adult size male fighters in the intake of a cannister - HOWEVER if you can put it into some sort of protected sump area that the fish can't get to, it can work.

Some people subscribe to the Growth inhibiting hormone, that means if young fish share the same water they stunt eachother's growth (I think it stands to reason) so I like to separately jar, others have sucessfully grown out in shared water barracks like the Aqua-One betta barracks.

Has anyone had any dealings with Aquarium suppliers in this part of the world to recommend an establishement? I've visited a few and haven't been overly impressed with staff or products. I'm visiting another one this weekend (fingers crossed). Or can anyone suggest a place I can order from that won't kill me with shipping costs?

Have a look through my bad DIY threads, I get tanks made up and go to bunnings and do all the plumbing myself with irrigation supplies.<br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);"><br style="color: rgb(28, 40, 55); font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.200000762939453px; background-color: rgb(250, 251, 252);">In addition to all this, I know I need to come up with a couple of live feed cultures. I'm thinking Grindal worms and Daphnia. Currently the boys are getting a once a week feed of frozen blood worms (which they love). The Grindal worms are cool because I'll be going soiless if I can source a starter culture, but the Daphnia will require their own tank won't they? Any suggestions on what that setup will be and where I can get a starter culture from?|

Starter cultures are pretty available from gumtree, or if you do a shout-out on here most people will send you things - I really like microworms because I can't kill them (VE are good too)

Grindals are stage #2 food, so I'd suggest training yourself to hatch baby brine shrimp too.

GOODLUCK!

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Excellent and extremely informative response - ta muchly (Ness, isn't it?)

Believe it or not, I only just discovered Brine Shrimp are also known as Sea Monkeys - never had them as a kid.

I'm definitely going to have a play with BBS, VE, Grindal, and Daphnia to figure out which way I want to go - all this will be done before I look at spawning.

Planning is what I do, and seeing those plans through to fruition is where I get a lot of enjoyment from - that and the Betta, of course. On that note, any diagrams, etc, you would be happy to share, then I'd be forever grateful.

Only ever plumbed a sink but I'm happy to give anything a go at least once. Currently I'm also looking into tank designs, including sourcing Perspex cut to size, and including a sump setup. I'm a big believer of getting things setup right the first time, and this can only be done by research (and learning from others who have done it all before).

I was thinking that by doing a sump setup, I could get a single heater (to do whatever the volume of the tank is) which would make things easier. This also hides the filtration, etc so nothing is spoilt from the front, or interferes with the fish ion their daily lives. Will now go off and find your DIY threads - thanks again.

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Hi I would like to share my way of breeding Betta, not a professional way but works for me.

- Set up a 1 foot or 2 foot spawn tank, 50w heater, small sponge filter, IAL leave, rectangle piece of floating foam.

- condition pair for a week and release the female when she show signs of breeding, I usually do it at night after lights out.

- after spawning I remove the female and leave male in there for 3-4 days until the fry are just about to free swim properly and not dart up and down, I'm lucky enough to have good males though.

- when they start to swim i feed them boiled egg yolks, break a small piece add water into a bowl and squish it good then dip my finger in and distribute a small amount around the tank, feed them regularly in small amount instead of a lot at once. If over fed try to wait a few days before siphon out debris with an air line and great care.

- after a week they would be large enough to eat larger food, bbs is what I feed them. You can find many useful links on how to hatch bbs but I use a 3 litre glass jar, 25 w heater and rock salts bought from Coles and don't forget brine shrimp eggs and use an air hose to siphon out the bbs after 24 hours.

- after a month it seem my 1 foot is over crowded with 30 guppies looking fry at 1cm I move them into a 2 foot with a 100w heater, 2 sponge filters . At 1cm+ my fry doesn't seem to be satisfy with just bbs, at the time I had no other cultures of live food available so I actually crushed up Hikari food sticks which I feed to my flowerhorns and ever since I have been raising my Betta on flowerhorns food sticks and it work wonders 100% carnivore food.

- after 4-5 months maybe less if given larger environment to grow to can spot the males and its time the go into a 2l coke bottle with weekly fresh water change. I've actually been collecting quite a few bottles, at all time 20+ are filled and aged with IAL so when it's time to change water I just put my fish into the already prepared bottle.

- and the females just stay in its grow out tank or move to a community tank.

Note i usually try to avoid spawning in winter because I don't want to worry about keeping the jarred Bettas heated, but the air in my fish room usually stay at 20-23 degrees.

Hope this help you in some what

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Interesting stuff. With what I've been reading around the place and everyone's anecdotal evidence here, I should be able to come up with an almost fool-proof routine.

All together now...yeah right!

;)/>

Seriously though, thanks, Alucard, for sharing.

With all the breeding going on in the eastern states, what do you all do with your offspring?

Edited by Brenton
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  • 4 months later...

Haha having a partner whose Ito fish is awesome

James is mine an we have something like 20 tanks setup

Haha

Anyway daphnia can be kept in its own tank it doesn't need a heater or anything

What people usually do though is split it up Into empty soft drink bottle with the ld off (so somewhere it won't get lost)

That way you aren't at risk to kill all you culture by over feeding it with yeast (happens a lot) and its very easy to see how your cultures are going

I meant knocked over no lost... Ours are in the garage on the window ledge out of reach of our crazy dogs...

Maddie, do you still have Daphnia cultures? Willing to sell me one?

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