Tips for new breeders

Lots of people have been asking, what tips can you give for breeding bettas. Though we don't want to say that we're expert, there are things that we learn that may help you a bit, so here they are, in no particular order...

1. Always have more than 1 male and 1 female in your stock. You will need the "spare" ones in rainy days! Either as speed dating replacement, replacement for sickness, moodiness, etc, you're going to need it ! We always keep at least 3 pairs for ourselves, no matter what. Spawning itself is very difficult to be successful, sometimes you're lucky with your chosen pair, but many have just failed. Without spare ones, you'll just grew distress. This makes the hobby very frustruating journey for some, so, by all means, get your backups! Back in the old days, we always had backups for our fish. They were (and still are) very expensive when each pair would either need to be imported or bought from the very few individuals. It could cost from $20 to $150 per fish, many of which won't even had pictures or arrived in state that you can't differentiate from VT of your local petstore :) Some aquariums or your transhippers would help you import for around $25-$50 per fish, that's becoming the norm these days, but at least you have a "choice". This is also the main reason why we always sell you bulk, cause we wanted it so much in the old days and no one was offering it (not the one that cost you an arm and a leg at least!). With bulk buying, you need not to worry anymore about the pairings, or backup pairs etc.
   
2. Do not rush into it. Don't rush the spawning. Prepare them properly, feed them well, make them comfy (read our spawning 101 or this breeding technique if you're a newbie). Lots of bad decisions came from rushing things. Have you prepared the fry needs? Have you got their foods? How are you going to grow them later? Do you have containers/tanks/barrack? Once you've got that sorted, then you can enjoy the spawning. Don't try to spawn fish that are too young, too old, or simply too large. They need more experienced breeders rather than newbie. Sure you may get lucky once or twice but most probably you'll just fail.
   
3. Can you afford the cost, the time, and the efforts? Spawning is like raising a new family, you need to be able to put lots of efforts to it. We spent a good 2 hours every day for the fish, sure sometimes you can cut off the time by being slack on feeding or not paying much attention to them. Of course the time spent depends on how large your fish collection, but you still need to spend sometime, so put that into your consideration. Feeding, changing water, cardings, they all take time and patience. How about fitting that into your holiday plan? Who's feeding the fish? Can you use automatic feeder (which we find not suitable for bettas unless you conditioned your fish eating pellets).
   
4. Do not become "over protective parents"! Lots of people are so nervous or over-protective that they "crash the party". Fish, provided they are well taken care of, in terms of foods and environment, should be a lot of fun for most people. You can skip water changing once in awhile, they won't die. Sometimes you've got sick fish, so what, just separate and treat him. No need too stressed out about it...You didn't feed your fish this morning, don't worry, they won't die either. You can be forgetful from time to time, nothing to worry about. Should I turn on the lights? Go with your guts, if you think it's good for them, why not...if you worried about electricity, turn it off or put a smaller-watt lights. Stop buying those medicines, you won't need it if you take good care of your fish. The only meds in our place is a water conditioner and tripple sulfa (antibiotics). The latter is hardly used and had expired a couple of years ago...

Hope the above helps you. We'll add more when we remember other tips, otherwise just keep reading our blogs, sure you'll find lots of good lessons in them.