I have an express interest in breeding my beautiful male bettas I have got from petco. I am gonna set up a 10 gallon tank as a quarantine/breeding tank. My main question is can I cross different species of bettas? For example can I cross a male half-moon with just a regular female? 3 of my 4 males r hapfmoons the other is a crowntail. I know I can get a crown tail female but I have yet to come across a half-moon female. Also I know to get the bettas ready u should offer them live food (if possible) I recently tried to feed my males some thawed out brine shrimp and they elevate not interested. What else could I offer them to get them in breeding condition? This is something I have wanted to do for a while now and I am very excited to get started on it! Any info would be wonderful. I have gotten as far as the "couple" having eggs and the male placing them in the bubble nest. But they never hatched and that has been almost 3 years ago. Also I am used to themales building bubblenests in their homes but none of mine have done that yet? How should I get them stated on this? They can kinda see eachother but r not really close...I dont want to stress them out by putting them to close. Should I just introduce a female near their homes?
Breeding bettas is a time-consuming and expensive venture. You need to have your breeding tank (generally a 5-10gal with a bare bottom and about 3" of water in it), a grow-out tank for the fry (30-40 gallons), individual jars or containers to separate out the males when they become old enough to start fighting, and time to do water changes on each of the jars every day (100% water changes since they aren't filtered). You also need to have homes lined up for the potentially HUNDREDS of fry you could have.
As far as breeding different "species," you are talking about breeding different tail types, not different species. All the bettas you get in the pet stores are betta splendens. This includes the tail types: halfmoon, veiltail, crowntail, delta, super delta, plakat and halfmoon plakat. Breeding a normal (veiltail) betta to any other tail type is not advised because the veiltail gene is a dominant gene and all your babies will end up being veiltails. Also, breeding pet store bettas is not advised because of their unknown genetics. You don't know what kinds of deformities (which could be recessive) or anything that may be passed on from the parents.
Brine shrimp don't have enough protein to properly condition your bettas. Try something like frozen bloodworms thawed in garlic juice.
To be completely honest, I would highly advise AGAINST breeding your bettas. I would also look at the reasons why you are breeding them. Is it to create a show line (which you can't do with pet store bettas...they won't be accepted into the IBC)? Is it to make money (good luck with that...most betta breeders LOSE money, just like most dog breeders LOSE money)? Do you have the money and time to commit to raising and caring for the potentially HUNDREDS of fry, and do you have good homes line up for them once they are old enough to go to new homes?
