Spinalcore

I'm sorry to hear about you losses and lack of luck with trying to breed them.

I'm trying to get my hands on a pair of opaque Crowntails over the next few months to try to breed. They are such a nice color.

They also work great for betta breeding to seperate the female from the male. I normally use the 1 liter ones for the hurricane lamp chiminey substitute as I only have the one actual one as it is if I am working on multiple spawns.

Welcome to the group. Any ideas on weither you are going just a "community" planted or a Biotope planted tank?

The only way to find out if you have 2 compatible males is to try it and keep a real close eye on them. Also try to release them at the same time so that they don't have any terittories established. (They recomend that you do that with the females as well.) Just make sure that you have a large enough tank for them. And remember all bettas have their own personality just like people so what works for 1 won't always work for the other.

I know a few people that actually like the idea of seeing what you may end up with from different hybrids. These people of course seem to just be the type that aren't interested in breeding for anything thing other than more fish for their tanks and don't have any intention of distributing. I feel that if you are curious about different out comes from the hybrids then you shouldn't worry about what anyone else thinks. It's just like I was told when I was younger about tattoos, coloring my hair funky colors, peircings, etc. "It's your body you have to live with it. No one else has to." well in this situation "It's your tank and you are the one that has to live with it." So you should be free to experiment and see what happens. If you look at most goldfish they are pretty much hybrids. They lay their eggs with other species eggs and have the males of the other species fertilize the eggs if there are no male Goldfish around. And they do that in the wild. you can probably find most of the hybrids that man makes from fish that are from the same geographic area in the wild anyways. It's just evolution. They do what they have to in order to keep their own "Legacy" alive. But that is just my opinion. I beleive the only way to truely learn things is to try. Just like the saying "The only stupid question, is the question not asked." if you learn something new from it, then it is a good experience. If you don't then it is just an experience and you can say that you at least tried.

I have found a search engine to help find out about different aquatic plants. It is: http://www.disky-design.dk/fish/PlantSearch/

You can count on me to be there. Just let me know when and I will be there. I might even be able to get Kaytania to join us.

Even Pisces had alot of them just a couple of weeks ago for $1.99 I heard.

I use a variety of Betta foods and Freeze dried blood worms for 3 to 5 feedings per day to condition. For Fry food I just use nutrafin Fry Food, Algae and Java moss (Infusoria in the last 2). I just use that because I don't have anything live yet.

I have a fair bit of Java ferns and rock caves in my African tank. You can also use Anubius in an African tank. Both seem to be safe bets for surviving the Africans from what I have heard.

I love all those bettas especially the CTs. My personal favorites are blue or white Crowns. How much do they sell them for at Chums?

Update on Spawn 1: They are both starting to get the father's white body and have the mother's Crowntail. They are almost the same size as my adults. Update on spawn 5: It has been 1 week since they hatched and there are Approximately 20 of them that are visible and swimming around they are starting to gain in size. They are roughly half the size Guppy Fry at the moment. They are currently more active than my previous spawns were at the same age before losing them.

Great pics I love them.

Here are a couple of the sites I use regularly http://fish.mongabay.com/ http://badmanstropicalfish.com/ I normally tend to find what I am looking for on one of these 2 sites.

I currently have Java Moss, lots of Java Fern, Water Wisteria, Green Cabomba, Dwarf Sagittaria and Duckweed. 72 Gallon Betta Biotope Have: Java Fern, Java Moss, Water Wisteris Need to pick up: Wendtii, Rotala Indica, Various other Crypts and Various other Hygrophila

I would be up for a local meeting. (I can't really get out of the city too easily)

Only the newest one is a pure CT the other is a CT female and a CT/VT cross male.

Thanks Mike. I would love to buy some of the equipment but a little low on cash. I will let you know over the next month if I can get any cash together.

I love all of the pics of your fish. What kind of cam did you use to take them?

Thanks for the compliment Mike. What are you planning on putting in with them? Anything? I chose Danios because they are active and help to reduce aggression from the bettas. I'm thinking about upgrading them to either the 40 Gallon tank that the Africans are in or a 72 Gallon that I have in the back yard at the moment. I am currently building my stand for the 72 and have none of the equipment for it yet. I'm glad I'm not the only one trying this out. I picked 3 of mine up at Pisces and 1 from a breeder. 2 more of the setups at my place. My Betta Breeding Setup My Mom's 20 Gallon She has 2 male guppies and 1 pair of small Swordtails. Still to come: My African tank My Swordtail Tank My Convict Tank My 5 Gallon Fry Tank My Mom's 50 Gallon Goldfish Tank

I finally managed to get a pic of 1 of the 2 Survivors. Sorry about the quality. She was about 0.75" last weekend and is now about 1.25" as of today. Here is a pic of the setup that I use for breeding bettas minus the Lantern Chimney. This is 24 hours after the current spawn in it hatched. This is a pure Crowntail spawn. Here is a pic of his bubble nest as it is at the moment. I need a better cam to get pics of the smaller Bettas.

Thanks Smokey, I will be sure to keep everyone posted on this. Feeding: 4 days after they hatch I start them on Infusoria then Algae seems to also help them. After about 1 week they get Nutrafin Fry food and frozen BBS. That's just my way of doing it since I haven't been able to get my hands on any Vinegar eel or Microworm Cultures. You should feed them 4-5 times a day in smaller quantities and make sure that you do a 10-15% W/C every day or 2 for the first couple of weeks. At around 3 weeks you can start larger water changes every couple of days to reduce the Growth stunting hormones in the water that they emit to help them survive their siblings. I have read that it is best to give them Live Vinegar Eels after the first 4 Days then at the 1 week mark give them the microworms and when ever they are large enough you start including BBS in their diet. Just make sure that they get a varied diet once you start the BBS as there have been reports of it causing Swim Bladder problems from feeding just BBS once you start. I will be trying to get some pics posted this week. (They biggest problem that I will have with the pics is a poor Digital Cam.)

I wish I could get pics that clear of pics of my tanks. I love your setup.

Here are pics of a couple of the tanks I currently have running. First is my 15 Gallon Planted with 4 female Bettas, 2 2.5 month Bettas and 5 Zebra Danios. Plants are Water Wisteria, Java Fern and Cabomba. Second is my 10 Gallon Planted with 8 Female Guppies. Plants are Water Wisteria, Java Fern and Duckweed. More pics to come of the other tanks and a few of the fish.