Jump to content

would you and at what price?


fighter boy

Recommended Posts

hay all. first off im not sure were to post this so please dont ridicule......

im getting into the breeding game and ive decided to start off with a veil tail pair to see if i can do it. i decided that this is a better option than trying to breed a more expensive tail type for my first spawn...

what i would like to know is that if or should i say when i have the juviniles ready for sale would anyone be interested in buying some and at what price would be best for you.....

i dont want to breed these fish and find out later that no one wants any..... it would be a bit of a waste and i dont think i could possibly find it in me to feed them to my oscar...

so is anyone interested and at what price is good for you.....

for vt i was thinking about $5.00 a male and $3.00 a female......

what do you guys think?

the parents will hopefully be a red male for the father and possiblly a blue female for the mother..

regards, rob

all tips are greatly appreciated......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While VT is a safe type to work with in terms of breeding success, not many people want to buy them. You may have trouble selling a bunch of VTs for much more than $2 each to fish stores/pet stores. Stores source VT at dirt-cheap prices.

It requires the same amount of time, money and effort to raise a spawn of VT as it does to raise any other type.

Breed for enjoyment, not profit. Any money you make from your spawns should be regarded as bonus. But if you do want to get some money back, higher quality types can be sold for more.

May I suggest breeding two fish of similar colour? Red x Blue will result in blues with red wash.

Culling in some form or another is necessary when breeding bettas. There are more humane ways to kill fish such as clove oil, which you'll find out about by searching AAQ.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to admit my first spawn was a case of see if I could. Having said that, I'm so thrilled I have the babies and I refuse to cull, unless there is a good reason, like they are so deformed they just won't survive. If out of my own stupidity, I have to keep them all, then so be it. I don't understand this culling thing. It reminds me of dog breeders I know that do the same thing, and I have to confess, it infuriates me. Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with Stefan, try choosing a pair of similar colours, be prepared it will likely cost you more to raise than the money you could make selling them, unless you are prepared to do it yourself you could recoup your costs. Culling is a pretty hot topic, you could do some searches on here for information if you wanted.

:wub: disturbed to read about the dog breeders, I would guess they aren't registered and ethical either! *steps off of soapbox* Sorry for the high jack fighter boy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ditto. I did the same thing last year, bred a veil with a crown just to see if I could and got 2 spawns. It ended up costing me more to feed them in the end then it did to sell them. Mind you I was feeding them frozen bbs, this time around we have heaps of self sustaining food eg VE and MW and bbs eggs (just got to get a hatchery) so it's not been AS expensive. I ended up selling my females for $2 ea and males $3 ea at the LFS for in store credit. They also took about 20 of my guppy fry for 80c ea so in the end I had like $30 in store credit to spend. If you are looking to breed a high yield fish I suggest guppys. They may not get much ea from the LFS but with females dropping 30-40 fry every 3 weeks you end up with a lot of fry in a short period of time and in my opinion they are worth it in the end. I would love to have a set up specifically for raising guppys but every tank we have here is cannibalised for the Bettas at the moment. I'm still going to save as many guppy fry as I can. I currently have 2 adult females and one smaller one that is pregnant, but she is so small I doubt her fry will mature enough to survive the birth. All my fry end up pregnant in the end...interbreed with their brothers as they mature they do! haha.

I doubt anyone on the forum would be interested in buying veils especially because they are so readily available from the LFS. In my experience most breeders on here are concentrating on developing more exotic tail types to ensure strong lines are developed in Australia and one day hopefully we won't need to import them from over seas.

Good Luck though!

I have to admit my first spawn was a case of see if I could. Having said that, I'm so thrilled I have the babies and I refuse to cull, unless there is a good reason, like they are so deformed they just won't survive. If out of my own stupidity, I have to keep them all, then so be it. I don't understand this culling thing. It reminds me of dog breeders I know that do the same thing, and I have to confess, it infuriates me. Sorry, I can't help myself sometimes.

I don't like to cull either but I understand why some breeders do, especially if they are trying to breed one specific fish for show or for stronger lines etc. It's much easier to cull 50 fish that aren't the type you want and raise say 50 that are rather than raise all 100, especially when it comes to jarring time. You would end up spending more time and money feeding and caring for all 100 and end up with 50 fish that are useless to you than you would the 50 you actually wanted. In saying that though we don't plan to cull any fish at all from our current CT spawns. Which ever we don't want to use to breed an F3 (parents are siblings so this spawn is already an F2) we will just sell privately or to the LFS. I was going to cull some of the most effected by white spot as it seemed to attack the smallest and weakest ones the 2nd time around but after 3 days of treatment they all seem to be pulling through nicely. We have lost about half a dozen of them though, died from the white spot of their own accord. Culling is sad but a fact of intense breeding especially if you want show fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

disturbed to read about the dog breeders, I would guess they aren't registered and ethical either! *steps off of soapbox* Sorry for the high jack fighter boy

No offence but you guessed wrong. You would be surprised what supposed registered and 'ethical' dog breeders do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Honestly, I love VTs as pets, but wouldn't buy any more. I have two guys who are stunning, but they're not breeders. There's such a limited market for VTs - in most cases pet shops get their VTs from large-scale suppliers, and will pay very little to local breeders if they'll take them at all.

It's more expensive to start off with a fancy tail type, but from discussions I've had with my local fish shops and pet stores, they're very willing to buy CTs and HMs, but are very reluctant to buy VTs from private sellers, since they get them cheaply from suppliers.

I'm about to start breeding myself, but I'm starting with show stock, which will be infinitely easier for me to move than pet shop bettas. I just think if you start with the best you can get, you make your life easier when it comes time to sell the excess. Just my two cents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to agree with you Danielle, but before I even knew anything about bettas my first male was a VT and so was my first girl. When my VT male died, I decided to just give the whole spawning thing a try, so I put one of my CT males with my VT girl and voila! I now have a gorgeous red CT female I would like to try with one of my CT males but I'm not going to attempt anything until my fry are grown up and I have decided what I'm going to do with them first.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm using a VT female currently for breeding - it's not to breed more veil tails though. Its because I think she's half giant and am trying to get more giants by breeding her with my plakat giants! If I get veil tail giants, that would still be better than no giants. I also have some of her offspring from when I crossed her with a CT - they're not big enough to sell but I'm planning to cross them to get gold CT's. Even though she's veil tail, she's YELLOW so she's got some handy little genes there...

Anyway, point is, I'm going to get a few fish there that I can't sell and that don't fit with my line breeding plans. It's either cull or feed them. I'm currently feeding them but it won't be sustainable forever. Whatever you do, this is not a "get rich quick" hobby - expect to put more money into it than you make from it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Start getting friendly with your local fish shops. They are the best market for veiltails. Even if you're breeding veiltails there's no reason to forget about colour genetics. Veiltails seem to spawn more readily than Halfmoons. So let's say you imported an expensive pair of Copper Halfmoons from AquaBid. And the male refused to cooperate and spawn properly and then died. If you had a line of really good steel blue veiltails, you could breed one of your steel blue veiltail males to the Copper halfmoon female and save the line. It may take you a few generations to get back to halfmoon but you would have Copper veiltails probably by F3. And I think an LFS might pay a bit more for that.

Don't start off with the hope of making money from breeding bettas. Do it for fun first. Then if you're able to cover some of your costs it will be a bonus. If you make a small profit even better. But if you start thinking that you're going to be able to make some money out of this, and you can't sell your first batch of fry, you're going to be really disappointed and chuck it in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i still like veiltails, i am only bredding them a tiny bit though coz i'm working on a dragon vt line, i think i would but a veiltail if it was something a bit different (e.g. dragon) i have a petshop nearby that has recently taken a big interest in my bettas becuase the ones they get from their supplier are usually half dead and are never what they order. they've seen that my fish are healthy and a good deal nicer so they take anything i don't use and don't consider worth selling to other breeders

Link to comment
Share on other sites

thank you all. yes i am aware that i will have to spend alot of money. and that i wont get anything back from it until later down the track.

this spawn is a more of a test than anything. to see for myself first off if i can breed successfully then and only then will i go onto more expensive types. there is no point in buying a halfmoon for an arm and a leg if you have never had a successful spawn. therefor ive decided to go with the viel tail. he cost me $5.00 and even if he doesnt spawn ill still have a nice fish and i wouldnt have lost alot of money.

im keeping a step by step diary on my progress. the money at the moment doesnt worry me..... as i said this is more of a test. once im successfull i will go a bit more dearer and get halfmoons and such..... here of coarse my money will increase and the cost wont be as dear.

ive designed a breeding room using our old shed. this will consist of an old cupboard with no doors. on the shelves will be 2 rows of fighter housings. 3 on one side and 3 for a selection of females on the other.... for 6 fighters all up...

below will be on the right are draws for storage. and the left is a shelf for jars for juvinile housing.

below that will be breeding tanks. 2 infact for my spawns......

all this is on your right as you enter the room.

on the left will be 2x 2ft tier tank set ups. each holding 3 2ft tanks.

the top 2 will be breeder tanks.

the middle 2 and the bottom 2 will be grow out tanks for babbies to live in until they are ready for bottling.

this will all hopefully happen once i have a successfull spawn....

if all falls through and i go without a successfull spawn then ill just have a barracks or two for my beloved fighters and a few tanks for my other fishies...

sorry for the huge reply... im greatfull for all replies by you guys.

thanx again,

regards, rob.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like you have a great setup!

I have to say, I'm not a huge believer in the 'pet store practice run' simply because it can result in an enormous spawn, and you might be stuck with dozens of fry you can't unload - especially since you need to wait at least four months before most lps and lfs will accept males.

That's my personal preference, though. I've got three sets of breeders lined up (two HM trios and a CT pair). The fish are all young, so I have plenty of time to get it right with them, and they're all great fish who I think will sell well - I've already got some fish shops and individuals expressing an interest in the fry. I'd rather make mistakes with sellable stock, rather than risk having precious room taken up by VTs that I can't sell.

Then again, if you can talk to your local stores and build up a relationship prior to spawning, you might have no trouble offloading them anyway!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds like you have a great setup!

I have to say, I'm not a huge believer in the 'pet store practice run' simply because it can result in an enormous spawn, and you might be stuck with dozens of fry you can't unload - especially since you need to wait at least four months before most lps and lfs will accept males.

That's my personal preference, though. I've got three sets of breeders lined up (two HM trios and a CT pair). The fish are all young, so I have plenty of time to get it right with them, and they're all great fish who I think will sell well - I've already got some fish shops and individuals expressing an interest in the fry. I'd rather make mistakes with sellable stock, rather than risk having precious room taken up by VTs that I can't sell.

Then again, if you can talk to your local stores and build up a relationship prior to spawning, you might have no trouble offloading them anyway!

i agree there danielle. the aquarium i am thinking of loading them off at will take them no doubt. even if they sell for $2.00 each. im just doing it for the experience. plus i use to work there and am freinds with the boss. the question remains.... will i be successfull? ive read plenty and have kept fighters for the last 4 years.... all i can do is wait and see...... if it really come down to last resort they can be oscar food.... dont yell my head off people i know it may be cruel but i feed him live food regularly to vary his foods and fighter juviniles will make great snacks for him to mung on.... its cheap and cost me no money... id rather him get something out of eating the ugly less desirable ones than me wasting them and using the good old clove oil and water treatment on them.....

i know there will be plenty of people that will strongly disagree with my methods but try and think of the pros.... add the pros and cons and see which is more useful when it come down to serving them on a dish to my oscar or culling using decapitation or clove oil methods.....

kindest regards, rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have no problems with culling. I used to use an oscar to cull my unwanted fry. They eat really fast. I think it would be too fast to cause much pain.

i admit it is a little sad and that i do feel remorse... but it means food and saves me money in the long run by not having to feed or grow up the deformed fry.... just to find out that no one will want them because of there deformities.

thanx all, rob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

to cut down on costs i recommand getting either microworm or vinegar eel culture for your fry. And save as many 2lt soft drink bottles as you can you will need to seperate the fry eventually its how we do it :(

100_1316.jpg

thanx misfit...... shouldnt you have a lid or something on the bottom ones. they jump right......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i would say useing a heat knife would help..... it would melt the edges so as to dull thema nd avoid cutting or graizing the fish's sides when being put in...

that is a good question. i used a trusty pocket knife of mine. 1 of 30 or so to be honest. im a bit of a collecter.

even then i still managed to get a bit of an edge on it. so i used a pair of scissors on top of that....

how do others do theres??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I use one of those "stay sharp forever" knives to cut the bottle and then I just run the scissors around the top to even out any sharp edges

hay i got one or two of those forever sharp knives.... they are good and sharp... why didnt i think of that??

lol

thanx.

ill go and attack the other 5 or 6 bottles i have now...

hehe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...