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Betta's And Their Tanks?

AverageWhiteBloke said:
From an average spawning I would probably end up after losses with about 40/50 fish maybe a third being males. At the time I could give away to a few friends locally a few and there were 3 small LFS which would happily take them off my hands. Since P@H opened round my way we are down to one LFS who now bizarrely has a policy of not taking in fish based on they need quarantined and they were sick of people bringing fish back because they weren't getting on with other fish in the tank. I have explained that I've been dealing with them 20 years and all my fish are healthy but there you go. If I had a pet shop and local breeders brought their results to me I'd be over the moon from a pure profit, locally kept in local tap water and environmentally friendly point of view not getting dragged around motorways in wagons. No fish farms or taken from the wild and fish that should be kept with their parents if that's what they should be naturally so the fry learn those parenting skills rather than being artificially raised to keep numbers up.

As it stands as interesting as it is I don't breed fish intentionally any more because I have no where to house the offspring.

I don't think think there is much need to read into betta breeding, just add water :D as you've seen the fish are pretty much bullet proof. Ideally I would say softish water more for the eggs than the fish. I used tanks with no gravel which was easier to keep clean by syphoning off food remains etc and when fry were free swimming the baby brine shrimp would sink to the bottom and the fry would hoover them up. A sponge filter which collects bits and pieces for the fry to graze on, doesn't cause too much surface agitation breaking up the bubble nest and adds a bit of o2. A few floating plants and a bit of wood with hidey holes in with a bit of java fern or similar tied to it. The bit of wood or any hidey hole is important as the male is extremely aggressive towards females when done with her for the want of a better phrase.

Firstly I would let the male build a decent bubble nest, add the female who will keep hovering around under the nest but gets chased away until the male is happy with it and usually they would spawn that night or next morning. Soon as the spawning is over get the female out and usually 2/3 days later the fry are free swimming and leaving the nest. Male will continuously catch them and spit them back but you need to judge a time most fry are free swimming and lure the male with some food to take his mind of parenting and get him out sharpish as well. Sometimes if you don't net him first time he can panic and start troughing his own young. From then it's baby brine shrimp and fine dried foods but they pretty much take to most food straight away.

Oddly I found Betta males are fine together in the same tank even when they are clearly semi adults with full finnage. They only get aggressive towards each other if they are separated and reintroduced into another tank.
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Interesting. So why is soft water important for the eggs? Your right about them being bulletproof, it's a tough one to call tho, who's more harder Betta's or goldfish? I would say goldfish because I once watched a YouTube video of a goldfish rescue, some person put up for sale a 50L or something like it filled with big common goldies, murky water it was just bad. You know what here's the link. It's sad but a good video, glad I watched it.

 
Smells Fishy said:
Interesting. So why is soft water important for the eggs? Your right about them being bulletproof, it's a tough one to call tho, who's more harder Betta's or goldfish? I would say goldfish because I once watched a YouTube video of a goldfish rescue, some person put up for sale a 50L or something like it filled with big common goldies, murky water it was just bad. You know what here's the link. It's sad but a good video, glad I watched it.

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That's why I said "I would say" soft water. I have to admit this was a bit of an assumption. I have soft water coming out of my tap at around 39tds. I haven't had any issues with breeding any soft water fish including discus with nothing more than tap water.
I have read about people who managed to spawn some soft water species but the eggs weren't viable because the water was too hard.
Most fish are quite adaptable to different water chemistry as long as the change is gradual but I'm not sure if this also applies to the eggs. They can't adapt if you like.
So based on in the wild these fish would live in muddy puddles in rice fields and ditches with river run off and rain water combined with decomposing leaf litter and very little mineral content plus the success I have personally achieved with them I would suggest soft water would be beneficial although I've no doubt there will be people who have had success with harder water.
The fish have been in the game for a very long time so they may be adaptable to lots of conditions.

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I've been iffy regarding this whole idea now because I'm came to the conclusion that I'm conning myself. I've recently bought a brand new Aqua one Aspire 130 + cabinet but the reason I'm not doing anything with it atm is because the whole process has been a big hassle with messed up deliveries and the cabinet is a load of crap. It didn't come with all the screws to make it but I tried anyway to get a feel for it and I'm fairly sure it has a few factory faults because parts didn't seem straight when added together and screw holes were drilled to deep. It's crossed my mind a few times to just get rid of it all and I suppose that's why I've been looking else where. It's a pretty radical approach but I think I'm gonna just get a carpenter/joiner to make it for me. Then I can get on with making a nice underwater garden.
 
Shame that, I know the feeling. Most of the flat pack cabinets are low quality that I've came across. Having said that I'm surprised with aqua one, I had a AR850 for years and the quality was and still is great, looks like new. Unfortunately it didn't go with my decor so I bought a TMC signature in Glacier white. Not so good, the first one that came was damaged in transit and the second one had a few ropey bits on the lamination. Because I had two of them I selected the best bits from both boxes but there was panels as equally crap as each other so I just had to tolerate it. It's been set up about 12 months now and the door doesn't line up squarely with the carcass which I'm assuming is because the cabinet itself must be twisting slightly under the weight and there's a few areas on the front where water has ran down the glass and caused a few bubbles and lifting on the laminate.

Another option you may consider, something that I will probably do next time is to buy a normal domestic cabinet and strengthen it up inside to take the weight. They are usually better finished, have more choice in finishes to match your deco and who cares what the inside looks like as long as it does the job.
 
AverageWhiteBloke said:
Shame that, I know the feeling. Most of the flat pack cabinets are low quality that I've came across. Having said that I'm surprised with aqua one, I had a AR850 for years and the quality was and still is great, looks like new. Unfortunately it didn't go with my decor so I bought a TMC signature in Glacier white. Not so good, the first one that came was damaged in transit and the second one had a few ropey bits on the lamination. Because I had two of them I selected the best bits from both boxes but there was panels as equally crap as each other so I just had to tolerate it. It's been set up about 12 months now and the door doesn't line up squarely with the carcass which I'm assuming is because the cabinet itself must be twisting slightly under the weight and there's a few areas on the front where water has ran down the glass and caused a few bubbles and lifting on the laminate.

Another option you may consider, something that I will probably do next time is to buy a normal domestic cabinet and strengthen it up inside to take the weight. They are usually better finished, have more choice in finishes to match your deco and who cares what the inside looks like as long as it does the job.
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Yeah next time I plan on buying a nice big tank I won't be buying the matching cabinet. I mean this tank has curved corners but the cabinet hasn't got curved corners, the picture made it look like it did. I'll probably try and do something like you with next time round.

Imagine how tricky it would be to build the cabinet for a tank like the Aquience Bow Front 1800. I wouldn't know but I would like to think that when they are that size its going to be delivered already made.
 
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