Round 2, betta breeding

Hybridfish7

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MFK Member
Dec 4, 2017
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I had a bad run with trying to breed bettas awhile back. Started with an expensive pair that was prone to alot of genetic issues because of their coloration, spawned them in too large of a tank, didn't have successful live food cultures set up on time and didn't feed/clean enough. (by the way, this is everything you shouldn't do when breeding bettas). The fry grew super slow and eventually ate eachother and died off, my live cultures failed a few weeks in, the pair died to genetic health issues. (they were marbles, the male grew a tumor out of his swim bladder, became crippled as a result, and died.)
Now that I've cleared out most of my tanks for other reasons, have some money to spare, refined knowledge, and alot of time (and boredom) as a result of quarantine, I think I want to try again, just for fun, and to have something to sell to the LFS because I know he's in the market for common varieties of bettas.
Also a tip for new betta breeders, if your local area doesn't have a market for wild bettas or expensive bettas and you're not willing to sell online, don't breed either, as you're either going to end up with alot of wasted money or an unnecessary number of either lying around your house.
or both.
Either way don't start with an expensive pair, because if something goes bad, there isn't much room for forgiveness when your $40 male dies a few years early.
Gatekeeping fish isn't usually justified, though it is when it's for the fish's sake. However in the case of most domestic bettas, try not to buy them. Marbles and dragonscales are prone to tumors or their amplified scale pigments developing over their eyes, as a result of the line breeding their immune systems are pretty much non existent and they usually will not live long. This of course depends on the grading of the fish, say you get a low quality one from a chain story, that one's probably going to live longer than one line bred for showing. It's like flowerhorns, lifespan wise. Koi bettas also count as marbles.
Rosetails and feathertails have too many fin rays for their actual hard rays to support, which can eventually lead to the hard rays snapping permanently. Most dumbos die of exhaustion as fry because of their enlarged pectorals. Giants have shorter lifespans because of gigantism.
Now, I don't mean to kill them to put them out of their supposed misery, but just, try not to keep them.
 
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