bubbzy81 Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 There's been something playing on my mind for weeks. A few weeks ago I went into an LFS on my way home from work & there were 2 cute CT girls. I took both of them & joked with the guy "I only need one, but they're both so cute", to which he replied "You should always give the male at least 2 females to pick from"... Huh? Has anyone heard that before? I know with livebearers I try to keep a ratio of 2 females to 1 male, but how does that apply to bettas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxBETTAxx Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I would say if you go to the trouble of setting up a breeding tank it doesn't hurt to condition an extra male and female incase things don't go to plan you have a few different options then...As with my green dragon x green snake face spawn the tank was set up to breed a yellow female ct to an orange ct male but that didn't work but because i had the greens (and all my other fish lol only because i can't feed one something nice without giving it to all of them) on the same conditioning program they went into the tank instead.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbzy81 Posted April 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Oh, ok. The way I took it was that he was implying that in the spawn tank there should be 2 girls for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxBETTAxx Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 maybe that is what he ment but that is a recipe for disarster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ninoid12 Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 i have been told that by quite a few non-betta ppl/lfs's. But actual betta books etc never reccomend it, or not that i've seen anyhow. I condition a few girls and few boys at same time. MY PROBLEM is that i actually breed all at the same time so i get soooo many fry tanks to clean sigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbzy81 Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Oh Nina, you know you love it. lol When the LFS told me that, I just fobbed it off as him trying to sell me more fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishchick Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 the theory is sound, just the application flawed. Males do have a preference for some females. not all pairs are compatible. So if you have no luck with one female, try the other. When trying to get males to flare for photos, I find they prefer red females. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishbites Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Hey bubbzy if the shop owner is knowledgeable about betta breeding he might have a point as someone said - good to have a backup just in case. But if he's not that knowledgeable - your hunch could be correct - just a pushy fish salesman! For my money - saying "you should always give the male at least 2 to choose from" sounds like a sales pitch! Are you supposed to show the male a line of jars and wait for him to flare at the one he likes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuckie Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Give the male 2 females to choose from? Who is in charge of this breeding program, you or the betta? If I let my males choose and as Jodi said they prefer red females, where would my gold dragon and black lace colour lines end up? In the toilet, LOL. Maybe have a few females with similar characteristics on hand in case one is TSTB, or the male hates one's guts, but if he was suggesting you are supposed to house them in trios like they're killies, shell dwellers etc then that's just not true. It can be done - in fact I have done it - but it isn't something you should "always" do. Totally sounds like a (misinformed) sales pitch to me. Edit: by "in the toilet" I did not mean that I would flush unwanted offspring!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbzy81 Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Are you supposed to show the male a line of jars and wait for him to flare at the one he likes? Yeah... "Numbers 2, 5, & 7 can you please step forward?" lol But to be straight to the point, I don't have enough room to keep more fish than I have. So I try to pair them accordingly, as best I can, but I just don't have the space for a 2nd choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queenserpentine Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 well, as the other guys have said just buy the girl you like the most. Its true you should have back ups but generally when buying from Aquariums I only buy what I like if its a really stand out fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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