Not to long ago I got a male crowntail and a female veiltail. Everyone here was asking if I wanted to breed them but I was unsure. Male really wanted it but the female didn't care and I had 2 weeks of school left so no time. While I was washing the sink(dirty from the rats bath) I noticed my female looked fat. At first I thought she might be ill but then I noticed the egg spot. Oooooo its so tempting to breed them and I only have 3 days of school left so I have the time now.

I went to LFS to buy a thing to hold the pellets in place in my goldfish tank and noticed that they have all the food for fry that is mentioned on here. So now I have everything I need except food, which I can run out and buy. What do you think? Go for it?

Do you have enough good homes to give the babies to? In my opinion, Petstores do not count. They receive their own shipment of bettas and may not even take them in. Most of those bettas they sell go to plant vases that rarely get cleaned out anyway. Breeding bettas is just like breeding cats or dogs: It should only be done if they are high quality specimens of their breed and if you know they will all find good homes, not just for fun...that is the most important thing that most people over look before breeding most animals.

I wouldn't to be honest, atleast not right away, I was researching betta breeding and there is more to it than one would think. First you need special fry foods, like baby brine shrimp or a microworm or eel culture, second you need to have the proper set up, the space an the money to do it. usualy you will have around 400 fry, which means about 20-40 males and a whole lot of females. Females can be kept in a community tank but after a certan age males will need to be jarred and seperated. plus bettas need frequent waterchanges if you dont have filtration so you will have to work hard to change the water in the males jars

then of course you have to find homes for them, and that can be a challenge, because you want to give them to people who will take care of them, and giving them to the pet store for nothing I strongly advise aganst, because most petstores are notorius for not taking proper care of the fish.

If you still want to breed them though there are a few things you can do to lessen the load on yourself, and I know of a site with lots more information, http://www.bettatalk.com/ on the front page there is an article about responsible betta breeding, you can also order cultures and such from here, although if you plan on going with brine shrimp I am sure you can get a hatching kit from a petstore.

Wait untill you have food for the fry, and know the proper set up. again this site has tons of info on the proper setup, how to keep the male and female from killing eachother ect. Do your reaserch first and beleive me you and your fish will be happer in the end.

also crowntails are notorius for killing non crowntail mates, so you have to watch them closely during the spawning process

Everyone says not to breed, that I will end up with 300+ babies! From forums and website that I have read most people get stuck with less than 100 eggs hatching and even less surviving but even so I have plenty of friends who are begging me to breed them because they want bettas. Also my aunt offered to take 20, if that many even survive and if I even do it. There is no way I would ever give them to a pet store, I just don't trust them.

Yup, the LFS has brine shrimp and those little eel things.

Who knows the male may hate her once she is in with him, so I may not even be able to. Anyways, its still 50/50 I don't exactly want to spend all summer raising fry since I'm getting a pond in about a month. I got lost of thinking to do.

I'm just excited like I was last time. Didn't breed them last time either.

Don't worry about me doing something stupid. There is no way I would breed them till I made sure I had everything set up and ready to go. Its not like I'm going to breed them tonight.

Wow, I never knew that he might kill her because she is a veiltail. Thanks for all the info.

I'm glad you are not rushing in to anything. Wow 20 bettas...are you sure your aunt can take care of that many?

Its just that breeding, caring for and finding homes for the fry is so much responsibility (too much for my liking ) and a lot of people don't expect it. I volunteer at an animal shelter so sorry if I seem a little "anit-breeding"

yeah i didnt mean to seem anti breeding ether lol I wanted to breed them myself but then my environmental project came up and now I am devoted purely to my goldies! as for the egg issue, it is always better to be safe than sorry, The site I told you about has an article on betta birth control, lol a method for keeping down the number of hatching fry. so you can still breed but at the same time keep your stress to a minimum the most important thing though is to have food ready!

I understand. Its ok. In fact I try my hardest to get them to let me volunteer at the local shelter but the answer is always not until your 16. lol, I'm against bredding mutts and unwanted dogs. Don't worry all the bettas are wanted. Even my brother is interested and he doesn't like animals that much.

lol, yes 20. My aunt is a fish freak! She has 2 very large ponds, one houses my pretty bluegill that I caught on a fishing trip.

Oh it must be so nice to have fish freak friends and relatives! I don't know a single soul who has kept more than a betta in a vase Oh wait, I think my grandpa kept a 50 gallon koi pond (way too small by the way) when he was alive, but I think it was mostly decoration in his garden. Anyways...fish people seem limited around here!

Maybe you can ask another animal shelter? I volunteered when I was as young as 12 or 13 at my own. I had to start out being heavilly supervised, but it was still fun. Since then I think they made the age requirement 14 unless you are with a parent, and under 18 supervised by an adult. I quit a few years ago to focus on school but now I started again. It is so fun, and I'm excited to start working with my supervisor/friend again. She was excited to have me back and since she knew I was mature etc I was able to bend a few rules. I turn 18 in a few months and she wants me to become an adoption counsellor!!! I'm so nervous but so excited about that.

Youll definately end up with lots o bettas and youll have to feed the fry constantly and seperate them later.

if you leave the male in with the fry he will cull the weak and deformed and also make the brood smaller so its easier for him too care for so i would say why not if you want to i would say yes

ok, thanks. Still a 50/50 thing for me.