Alrighty, so I am setting up all of the necessary things for my betta breeder tank.
I was going to use a ten gallon, but I may be able to borrow a twenty gallon from a friend, which would be way better. I have yet to buy any sort of sponge filtration or anything like that, because I haven't gotten the tank I'm going to borrow yet. But, I have a few questions.
1) I have an undergravel filtration system set up in my other twenty gallon tank that I am not even using because I have a different filter and it was silly to keep the air pump running if the other filter is working just fine. Could I use this in place of the sponge filter that is recommended for betta spawning tanks?
2) What kind of plants are best for breeder tanks? I suppose since the silk plants are more expensive and cost just as much as the live plants that I could do either or, but I've never had a planted tank before and I would hate to mess up with this tank, so are silk plants sufficient?
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
3) I was reading a betta breeding website and it said something about how betta fry in the wild feed off of micro-organisms in pond scum and how if at all possible, you should set up a pond setting in the tank to keep them healthier . How exactly does one go about breeding micro-organisms found in pond scum?
I don't recommend using an undergravel filter system. Fry, as well as breeding parents, require excellent water quality to condition them to breed successfully. I 'm not saying it wouldn't work, but sponge filters are just a better filter to use in a breeding setup, as they have a very high surface area for beneficial bacteria, are easy to clean and less likesly to give you problems.
I recommend using floating plants in your breeder tank, although I recommend adding other live plants sparsely, since you will need to do frequent water changes and lots of plants in the way will make this more cumbersome.
You can feed the fry Infusoria once they become free swimming. You can culture this by putting a piece of boiled potato in a jar of water. Leave the jar in a dark, warm place, and within a week the water will be cloudy with infusoria . Simply squirt a tiny amount in your fry tank with a pipette.
The subject of undergravel filters is very controversial. If you have a small one in a 5 gallon tank, cleaning is easy. betta experts maintain that larger ones have to be removed completely to clean underneath and shake up your whole tank. You can't grow live plants with a UG filter. Also eggs can fall into the cracks and disappear.More people stay away from them than use them. Penn Plax corner filters are still very much in vogue, or canister filters.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Sponge filters are excellent as they don't product the turbulence of an outside hanging filter.
Watersprite is the plant of choice for breeding Bettas. Males like to use it as a base for nests. Any bushy plants for females to hide in are Ok. Check the Yamatogreen.com website for plant tips.
To grow infusoria take a crushed lettuce leaf and put it in a cup of tank water and let it sit in the sun for aa few days until it gets cloudy. That means bacteria are growing. As the water clears up, you will notice the patches of infusoria that developed and ate the bacteria. remove them as feed with an eye dropper. These are roughly the same infusoria found in pond scum.They do much better in well planted tanks. As far as other foods professional breeders suggest Microworms and baby brine shrimp in an eyedropper for the first 3 weeks. once you start supplementing with other food, the only recommended ones are Hikari and OSI as these contain a parasite control agent.
Yeah twenty gallon!
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
1. I would go with the sponge filter. The bottom of a spawing tank is supposed to be bare bottom so the male can find fall egg and fry. If they fall into the grates of the undergravel, they're toast and he can ' t retrieve them. Also being in the corner and having the sponge like it does, the fry don't get sucked up while swimming around. They could potentialy be sucked up into your under gravel and then no more fry.
2. Silk would work just fine. If you don't have the right lighting for the live plants I find they just go to pieces and foul the water. You don't have that trouble with silk.
3. There are foods you can buy that are a micro-culture. It's called "Liquid fry food" or something along that lines. Other prople have a way of culturing their own with cooked cabbage leaves and sunlight, but I don't have a handy link for you right off the top. It probably wouldn't be that hard to research though. I believe you can also feed egg yolk (hard boiled?).
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com A couple links for you:
Betta breeding guide. You can double check your set-up against what they recommend. It's one of the best spawning tank guides I've found:
http://www.flippersandfins.net/BettaBree ...
